my two dads

first and foremost, i hope all you dads out there had a great day! so, i don’t actually have two dads, and it is not at all like the cheesy early 90s tv show… but i do have a father and a step-father. i am one of those people who really lucked out by ending up with two dads that love me and hold a special place in my heart! to show my love, i let each of them choose what kind of cookie they would like for father’s day: my father chose soft & chewy chocolate chip, while my step-father chose classic peanut butter– which doubles as his cookie of the month.

i know that i have been making an awful lot of chocolate chip cookies, but they have been different recipes since the quest for the perfect chocolate chip cookies never ends. this was an attempt to recreate a non-vegan version of what i made at my bbq. while looking for a recipe, i saw one that used pudding, and remembering how much of a hit the chocolate pudding cookies were, i knew they would be the ones to try. they stayed nice and soft without being too buttery, so i would say they are a keeper. also, as you may have noticed, i used a ton of chocolate chunks, which resulted in the insides being pretty much chocolate-filled. mmmmmmmm

for the peanut butter, i considered making these , but then i saw that i didn’t post the recipe… so i very well might have used the same one, but it didn’t feel familiar, so i doubt it. in any case, they came out pretty good, but i wasn’t paying attention so i accidentally left the oven at 350 from the chocolate chip cookies instead of dialing it up to 375. oops. they took a little longer to cook, but i don’t think it really affected them much. i also made a slight alteration… the recipe called for 1 cup of peanut butter. i decided to use a very loose, liberal interpretation of this measurement. don’t worry, i added a little extra flour.

i haven’t received the reviews from the recipients yet, so hopefully they both got what they were hoping for!

Recipes:

Award Winning Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

• 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 cups butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 (3.4 ounce) packages instant vanilla pudding mix
• 4 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 4 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 2 cups chopped walnuts (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Sift together the flour and baking soda, set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar. Beat in the instant pudding mix until blended. Stir in the eggs and vanilla. Blend in the flour mixture. Finally, stir in the chocolate chips and nuts. Drop cookies by rounded spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Edges should be golden brown.

Classic Peanut Butter Cookies (from AllRecipes)

Ingredients

• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 1 cup crunchy peanut butter
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

Directions

1. Cream together butter, peanut butter and sugars. Beat in eggs.
2. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir into batter. Put batter in refrigerator for 1 hour.
3. Roll into 1 inch balls and put on baking sheets. Flatten each ball with a fork, making a criss-cross pattern. Bake in a preheated 375 degrees F oven for about 10 minutes or until cookies begin to brown. Do not over-bake.