Chocolate Chip Cookie Craze

Like many households, homemade chocolate chip cookies have been a regular staple in our house since before our kids were born and with National Chocolate Chip Cookie day just around the corner on Aug 4, I thought this would be the perfect fun Friday activity. With just a few simple ingredients you can change your Fun Friday from Blah to Bonus.

First up the ingredients. Now I know you are thinking to yourself, how is this different than the recipe on the back of the chocolate chip bag? Well these have a secret ingredient that will level up your cookies and make you the hit of any bake sale. They are moist and chewy on the inside while crunchy on the outside. Don’t be afraid and let’s jump in.

To start you will need the following

· 1 cup salted butter (Softened)

· ¾ cup dark brown sugar (can substitute light brown sugar if you like)

· ½ cup sugar

· 1.5 tsp vanilla (not going to lie I have been known to put in as much as 1tbsp depending on my mood)

· 2 eggs (room temperature)

· 2 ¼ cup All purpose flour

· 3.4 oz package of instant vanilla pudding (DRY)

· 1 tsp baking powder

· 1 tsp baking soda

· 1 ½ cups chocolate chips

I use dark brown sugar for our recipe because I love the warm earthly flavor it adds to our cookies, but standard light brown sugar works great and may already be in your pantry.

Now it’s time to put this together. This is a great time for the kids to get involved. What kid doesn’t like to crack eggs, mix batter and dump in chocolate chips into a bowl for stirring. As my little says, “better than the cookie club at our local grocery store” I also include them in the clean up. I’ve taught my girls to put the ingredients away as we use them to help make the kitchen a lot easier to manage as we walk through any baking process. It saves space and my sanity when the kids are in the kitchen.

Time to make the cookies

1.) Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line your baking sheets with a baking mat or parchment paper.

2.) Cream together the butter and sugars in a large mixing bowl until smooth. Add in your vanilla and eggs. Make sure fully combined.