For the Love of Cookies

I love the way the house smells after baking cookies. 

I have tried various recipes through the years, and the best by far is the one that my mother-in-law gave to me when I first started dating my husband.

Ingredients:

2 1/4 – 2 1/2 cups of flour	1 teaspoon of baking soda
1 cup (2 sticks) of butter	3/4 cup of brown sugar
1/4 cup of white sugar	1 package of vanilla instant pudding
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract	2 large eggs (slightly beaten)
1 bag (12 ounces) of chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375̊

In a small bowl, mix the flour and baking soda together and set aside.

In a large bowl, mix the butter, brown sugar and white sugar together.  Then add the instant pudding and the vanilla. When the batter is smooth and creamy, add the eggs.  Add in the flour mixture until everything is well blended.  Finally add the chocolate chips.

The fun thing about having a recipe like this is the versatility.  You can use other things with your chocolate chips like walnuts or pecans.  Or, you can substitute other items peanut butter chips or raisins.

Usually I add to the chocolate chips.  This time however, I used a trail mix of chocolate and peanut butter chips, raisins, peanuts and M&Ms®. 

I also use homemade vanilla extract.  It's really easy to make your own vanilla extract. I found vanilla beans for a good price on Amazon.com.

In the comment section below, tell me your favorite cookie or recipe, or other comments on cookies or baking cookies.