hey there, puddin’

incase you havent read my previous posts or figured it out yourself, i spend a lot of time at the grocery store. no seriously, a LOT. there are days where i am there three times in one day, and i go at least two days a week. and as you may have guessed, a decent amount of it is in the baking aisle. every so often they have these little tear-off sheets with recipes next to the spices or other ingredients. i am generally a very giving person and am not greedy, but i have to admit that i take one of each. i flip through to make sure that i didnt miss any since there are sometimes several alternated in one stack.

this one must have been next to the chocolate since it seems to be sponsored by baker’s chocolate, eagle condensed milk, and ziploc. although it isnt anything fancy, when i saw it i knew i had to make them. i am a texture person, so it is rare that i will crave pudding, but i enjoy the flavor and thus got excited at the prospect of pudding cookies. after making the doughnut muffins i went to refill my sugar canister and found that i was plumb out; how this happened, i am not sure, i am still puzzled and amazed. i have had a terrible headache all day and i really didnt feel like going out to the store, so when i saw that these did not require any granulated sugar, i knew this is what i was making for my chocolate snack.

i will give you some advice that i wish i had been given a few hours ago- if you cook them until you think they are done, it is too long. they are still good, but they are not light and fluffy, but flatter and chewier. it said to bake until the edges were slightly browned which is really difficult to tell when the cookies themselves are brown, so i baked them for a minute longer than the cook time when they started to look somewhat done. i am wishing that i had taken them out at the middle of the cooking time range, i think they would have been perfect. as you can see in the pix, the middle is still moist, but i know they will be chewier than i want tomorrow.

UPDATE– these were a big ol’ hit… the right amount of chewiness! my coworkers blew through these mighty fast and i got plenty of disappointed folks looking for seconds (or in some cases thirds or fourths) and some who came too late to sample them at all (a couple hours in).

Recipe:

2 sticks butter or margarine, softened

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 pkg (3.9 oz) chocolate pudding mix

2 eggs

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 pkg white chocolate, chopped (or white chocolate chips)

heat oven to 350. beat butter and sugar in a large bowl with mixer until light and fluffy. add dry pudding mix; beat until blended. add eggs; mix well. gradually add flour and baking soda, beating until well blended after each addition. stir in chocolate.

drop tablespoons of dough, 2 inches apart, onto baking sheets. bake 10-12 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. cool 1 minute on baking sheets; remove to wire racks. cool completely.