Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

Homemade chocolate chip cookies are pretty hard to beat.  Chocolate, sugar, butter, what's not to like? They make me think of baking with my mom and eating raw dough till I got a stomach ache (which I continue to do despite the fact that I can still hear my mom warning me about salmonella poisoning).

I was always a fan of the Nestle Tollhouse recipe. That all changed a few years ago when I came across this recipe on Allrecipes.com.  These cookies were amazing and instantly became my favorite go to chocolate chip cookie  recipe.  Over the summer I came across a recipe that claimed to be the best, I figured I would give it a try and ended up being deeply disappointed.  From that moment I vowed to never try another chocolate chip cookie recipe again!

Award Winning Chocolate Chip Cookies
** adapted from Allrecipes.com

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 10-12 minutes per cookie sheet
Yields: 36 cookies

2 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 c. butter, softened
3/4 c. packed brown sugar
1/4 c. white sugar
1 (3.4 oz) package instant vanilla pudding mix
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
bag of semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Sift together the flour and baking soda, set aside.

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 optional nuts. Drop cookies by rounded spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake for 10-12 minutes in the preheated oven. Edges should be golden brown. (I only bake mine for 8 minutes but my oven temperature is always a bit off.)  Let cookies cool on wire rack or on a piece of parchment paper. Enjoy!