The BEST Soft Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

If you want a chocolate chip cookie recipe that will stay soft several days after made, look no further. These cookies are soft and delicious, like pudding cookies but without the pudding.

I love chocolate chip cookies. They aren’t my favorite, snickerdoodles take the top spot, but they’re a close second. Chewy, chocolatey goodness is hard to say no to.

My favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe incorporates vanilla pudding mix into the dough. I’ve always liked the taste of cookies with pudding mix. To me, they turn out with better flavor and end up being softer than a lot of other recipes.

Truth be told, I could probably eat an entire batch of cookies in one night, but it definitely would not be a good idea. Most recipes, however, will start to get hard after a day or two.

For some people, that’s perfect. If you are one of those people that like hard, crunchy cookies than keep looking. This recipe will not be the one for you. But if you like soft cookies that have a bit of a cakey texture to them, read on because these cookies were made specifically for you.

Why Leave Out The Pudding Mix?

Vanilla pudding mix, at least most of the store bought ones, are loaded with artificial ingredients. Your body doesn’t really know how to process artificial anything. It does the best it can, but a lot of leading medical problems we face these days can be traced to the large amount of artificial ingredients, chemicals, and other things we consume that are not natural foods for us. Nutrient poor foods also contribute to that, but that’s a whole other story!

I try to stay away from artificial ingredients and chemical laden food as much as I can. I already battle a medical condition that started because of growing up on these types of “foods,” and I’m trying very hard to reverse the damage and fix my own medical issues.

Chocolate chip cookies are not necessarily helping fix the issues I have, but keeping them as clean as possible ensure that they aren’t doing as much damage as they could. We’re just going to pretend the sugar doesn’t count as being bad for you. At least the sugar I use is organic cane sugar. A perfectly natural ingredient even if it will cause issues if consumed in large amounts.

I have found more natural vanilla mixes, such as this South & Spoon vanilla mix that’s sold in my local grocery store. The trade off is that they come with an expensive price tag for a small packet of pudding mix.

These things drove me to develop a new recipe that tastes like it has pudding mix but doesn’t actually contain any.

What Makes My Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe Different?

The simple answer is cornstarch. If you look up how to make vanilla pudding from scratch, the main dry ingredient is cornstarch. This is what will make your pudding turn out thick and easy to spoon up. Everyone seems to like their chocolate chip cookies a little different, but no one likes runny pudding!

Pudding mixes also contain vanilla powder in them. I don’t have any need to keep vanilla powder on hand, so I increase the amount of vanilla extract I’m using in the cookies. You could easily use vanilla paste as well, but I don’t have any. Vanilla paste is expensive at the store and I haven’t taken the time to make it myself yet.

I also only use brown sugar in my recipe. Many recipes use a mix of granulated sugar and brown sugar

Making the Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix

Preheat the oven to 350F, 176C.

I use a stand mixer to mix my cookie dough, but it isn’t necessary. Use whatever bowl or mixer you prefer, it’ll all mix up the same!

In the bowl, add 1 cup of softened butter and 1 cup of brown sugar. It’s important that the butter be softened. If it’s too cold you’ll have a hard time getting it to incorporate into the dough and if it’s melted your cookies will turn out flat.

Mix the butter and sugar together until creamy. Then add 2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract or paste and 2 eggs. Mix until the ingredients are fully incorporated.

The dry ingredients are last. Add 2 cups all-purpose flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 3 Tbsp cornstarch, and 1 tsp salt. Mix only until the ingredients are completely mixed together and no more. If you over mix the flour will start to develop gluten and the texture won’t turn out right.

Last, add 1/2 a package, or about 5 oz, of chocolate chips. Use whatever type of chocolate chips you prefer. If you wanted to add some nuts, add them now too. Either fold them in, or use your mixer to mix the chips into the dough. It will only take a few seconds of mixing to get the chocolate chips evenly mixed through the dough.

Bake the Cookies

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicon liner. This step isn’t necessary, but you’ll be happy when your cookies slide off easily and clean up is a cinch.

Drop the cookie dough onto the cookie sheet, using about a tablespoon of dough for each cookie. This size will give you about 26-28 cookies.

Bake the cookies in the oven for 13-15 minutes. It took mine 14 minutes to bake. The cookies will seem a little under baked in the middle, but the bottoms should have a light golden color. Over baking them will make them hard and that’s not the goal with this recipe.

Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes. They will continue to cook a little bit more during this time, which is why we don’t want them fully done in the oven.

After 5 minutes, move them to a cooling rack to finish cooling.

The Hardest Part of This Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe!

Try not to eat too many! Definitely grab one or two while they’re warm, but leave some to eat over the next several days too!

Enjoy!

More Dessert Recipes:

Butternut Squash Bread

Apple Crisp Cheesecake