Chocolate Chunk Vanilla Pudding Peanut Butter Chip Sea Salt Cookies

Now say that three times fast. I figured for the first cookies of the new year, it was worth doing some experimenting with some new ingredients. I also know that after two weeks of not providing my trusty coworkers with cookies, I owed them something very delicious tomorrow. I rang in the new year the way everyone should … in the middle of the caribbean on the world’s largest cruise ship. Lots of sleep, lots of relaxing in the sun far from the snow, and good times with my family …. kicked off the new year on the right foot.

Now tomorrow is back to reality. I’m not sure if the biggest adjustment will be getting up early for work, the cold Boston weather, or really … just the fact that my favorite bartender Vivian will not be bringing me a cocktail at 5pm every day. This mango martini was a highlight of the trip.

Not onto the cookies. I did not have any idea what kind of cookie I wanted to make today. I grabbed a bunch of ingredients out of my baking drawer and was just staring at them until I decided to test out this vanilla pudding mix in my chocolate chip cookie batter. I’ve seen a few recipes that adds a box of pudding and figured it was worth experimenting.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 (3.4 ounce) package vanilla instant pudding mix
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup peanut butter chips
• 2 cups chocolate chips or chocolate chunks

Step 1: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cream together the butters and sugars. Mix in the vanilla pudding. You will probably need to scrape the edge of the bowl to make sure all of the pudding mix gets incorporated and does not clump. Beat in the eggs and vanilla until well incorporated.

Step 2: Sift together the dry ingredients and mix into the wet mixture.

Step 3: Add in the chocolate chunks and peanut buter chips. I think there are a lot of varieties you could do with these cookies — I had debated using white chocolate chips or crasins or adding oatmeal or coconut. I wanted to get the right mix of sweet and salty with these.

Step 4: Using a cookie scoop, place even-size balls of dough on a sil-pat or parchment lined baking sheet. Top with a dash of sea salt. Bake at 350 degrees for about 10 to 12 minutes or until they are golden brown.

These are pretty delicious, definitely a unique flavor having the vanilla pudding in the mix. The consistency of the cookie is different from a regular chocolate chip cookies, a bit fluffier. Anyway, I will definitely be experimenting with pudding in the future. And now that my roommate moved in today, I have an official taste tester!