My favorite dessert is definitely a freshly baked chocolate chip cookie. When I don’t know what to bake for friends and family, I default to chocolate chip cookies. When it’s cold and snowy outside, there is nothing more comforting and delicious than baking up a batch of my favorite treat.
I have tried to turn many many recipes for these perfect treats from dairy to dairy free and most come out fine. Replacing the butter in cookie recipes is not always so simple. Then one day I stumbled upon a recipe that called for a secret ingredient: vanilla pudding. I gave it a shot, replacing the butter for margarine, and now it’s my favorite recipe. I even developed a Passover version that my family has dubbed “I can’t believe these are not chometz cookies”.
These cookies come out thick and soft in the center with crispy edges. They don’t spread too thinly in the oven, and they freeze beautifully. My favorite feature of this recipe is that there is no need to chill the dough before baking. When I’m in the mood for these beauties, I mix up a batch, scoop them out, and after 9 minutes in the oven, they are ready to devour. Here is my dairy free and printable recipe; enjoy!
- 1 cup (2 sticks) margarine
- ¾ cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1 tsp, vanilla extract
- 2 eggs
- 2¼ cups flour
- 1 package vanilla pudding mix
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- ¾ tsp. salt
- 12 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- In the bowl on an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the margarine with the sugars and vanilla extract until smooth.
- Add in the eggs, one at a time, and mix until combined.
- Mix in the flour, pudding mix, baking soda, and salt, and mix until combined.
- Add in the chocolate chips and mix just until combined, trying not to break up the chips.
- Using a 1½ Tbs. size cookie scoop or spoon, scoop cookie dough onto parchment lined cookie sheet and bake for 8-11 minutes until edges are lightly browned. Remove from oven and let cookies cool on baking sheet to firm up a bit. Enjoy!
Here are some more comfort foods for you to try!
Those cookies look awesome. Love the use of color in your pictures too.
These cookies look amazing!
These cookies look AMAZING. Recipe seems simple as well. I will have to try these!
Great photos! The cookies look fabulous, and I’m sure they taste great, too.
wow vanilla pudding mix I have never seen that! will have to try!
im sure theyre amazing with the pudding mix, my mom adds vanilla pudding to everything!
wow, vanilla pudding mix! Never heard of this but those cookies look awesome.
I can’t believe you never shared this yet on your site, every baker has their favorite so it is great to have yours.
I know! I have been meaning to share this recipe for 2 years. Glad I finally did!
These cookies look wonderful and I want to make them for Santa but what size box of vanilla pudding and is it instant pudding?
I’m pretty sure I’ve used both instant and the mix you need to cook. I’ve also used the 2.75 ounce packet as well as the 3.4 ounce packet and never noticed a difference. Just buy your favorite brand!
These look awesome! I agree with Tamar…glad you posted it 🙂
These cookies look great!
What a great secret ingredient, i will have to try that!
interesting trick, i’ll have to compare these to my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe…
I am really intrigued about the addition of vanilla pudding mix to the recipe. I should go buy some pudding and try this recipe.
You just can’t go wrong with chocolate chip cookies!
Could we sub the margarine with oil?