Chocolate Chip & Heath Cookies

Fancy grocery store inspired chocolate chip and toffee cookies.

My mom taught me how to bake, but the best chocolate chip cookie recipe ever came from my friend Richalle. Richalle's mom makes amazing cookies - the secret ingredient is instant pudding.

About the same time she shared the recipe with me, there was a fancy local grocery store that sold chocolate chip and toffee cookies. So, my recipe was inspired by the fancy local grocery store.

Pudding and chocolate chunks
the key to awesome cookies.

Ingredients

• Nestle Chocolate Chip Chunks
• Heath Toffee Chips (I use half a bag)
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup butter softened (not melted)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3/4 brown sugar
• 1/4 sugar
• 2 1/4 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 package french vanilla pudding (dry)

In a bowl: mix flour, baking soda and pudding - set aside.

Mix the butter with a mixer for about a minute - I use a KitchenAid stand mixer. Then mix in the sugars. After the sugars and butter are mixed well, add the vanilla and the eggs. Gradually mix in the flour mixture. Add in the chips. Spoon/drop the cookie dough on the cookie sheet.

Bake at 375 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes. Let the cookies cool on the cookie sheet while baking a second sheet ... cool the cookies for about 8 to 10 minutes. My preference is to make one tray at a time using a Pampered Chef stone, but I rarely have time to make them that way.

I use the 'base' of this recipe to make white chocolate and macadamia nut cookies in addition to other combinations. The pudding seems to help the cookies stay moist for several days.

I get about 50 two inch cookies out of this. According to the Weight Watchers recipe builder, they are 4 points each. You could reduce the points by using less chips and substituting for healthier flour and sugar alternative.