Perfect Pudding Chocolate Chip Cookies–and My New Site!

I’m beaming with the power of a thousand and fifty-two suns as I type this, so here it is:

Wallflour Girl has moved to a self-hosted site and domain! Ta-da! *drums bells and whistles*

Everything you see here–the new layout, design, even this beautiful new visual recipe index–I created. I know, right? Scary.

So if you were wondering why it’s been so quiet around here lately, it’s because two weeks’ worth of late-night CSS/HTML epic battles were happening in this tiny madhouse apartment. You might like to take some time to browse around all the new menu pages and content, even, if you catch my drift!

***Please make sure you update your RSS feed/email subscription on the right-hand sidebar! I’ve also finally got my social media groove on, so please follow me on Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter while your mouse is clicky-clicking over there.*** (I’m especially obsessed with tweeting at the moment, sooo you have been warned #honeymoonphase #relationshipwithTwitter)

Done? Great! Can’t wait to see y’all on the social side–now, read on!

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After nearly two years of blogging, I finally built a snowman up the courage and cyber-smarts to purchase my own domain. My awesome, computer-savvy friend Shawn helped me transfer my site and set up my new self-hosted blog, which has been going through tons of exciting design/format changes these past weeks, as you might have noticed. How do you like them so far?

I especially want to apologize to you fantastic folks who have been emailing me all week frantically asking for recipes since all of my links were down during the crazy domain move. I have to admit, I was panicking a bit myself from all the technological hubbub that tried to eat my brains a la zombie (I’ve survived–barely–thanks for asking). I’m so glad so many of you reached out to me about it, though! That is exactly the right thing to do, and I’m grateful to be reminded just how many eyes come across this blog every single day.

I’m back now and ready to write again, though–boy, am I ever!

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Apart from blogging, there are a few other pretty exciting things are in the works as well that I haven’t told you guys about. Now that I’m finally back at school for good instead of prancing around the globe like a vagabond unicorn, I’ve been spending ample time these days researching and writing papers for not one, but two upcoming children’s literature conferences–which is always a blast because children’s lit scholars really are the coolest kids-at-heart on the block.

This means I’ve been hard at work meeting professors, reading secondary texts, and preparing my critical study of believability, fantasy, and knowledge systems in Stuart Little. I know what you’re thinking. Work, eh? If you said that my job sometimes rocks harder than a 7.1 earthquake, I would have to agree with you 117%.

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I’m also taking my first ever photography lessons from this amazing man Raiko Hartmawho (as it turns out!) actually taught in the same media/digital program I taught two years ago…and I didn’t even remember it. D’oh! Anyway, you’ll want to keep your eyes banana-peeled for some fun shots these upcoming weeks, because the stuff this guy does and teaches is amazing.

The final thing. I’m going to be spending a lot of time on these weeks not only posting recipes, developing recipes, and giving updates on a much more regular basis but praying super fervently to the Cyber-Gods of Everything Internetty brushing up on my web design, social media, content, and marketing as well. Wallflour Girl has been pining away for a makeover since Miley Cyrus chopped off all her hair two years ago. No wait, when was that even? Never mind–I stopped paying attention to pop culture since relevant celebrities suddenly became wayyyy younger than me (see #20 here). I considered hiring a designer for a while, but in all honesty I blog because I love every aspect of it: the writing, the photographing, the baking, and now–designing. I’m fairly new to this type of thing, so I’d love to hear what you guys think as you continue checking back here for more updates!

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Speaking of major excitement, though, it’s high time to share these perfect pudding chocolate chip cookies with you. I know you know that I know that you’ve heard everything there is to hear about the fabled pudding cookie. No? Well, just in case, here’s the run-down…

Puffy. Like, insanely puffy. The dry instant pudding mix acts much in the same way as cornstarch (it does, in fact, contain cornstarch!), making these cookies super pillowy but still…

Chewy. Yeah, no cakiness in this cookie! Even though it’s puffy as heck, not a dry crumb will be found in them cookie parts. Annnd it is also…

Thick. Because are we looking at the same photos here or what.

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It wasn’t until a few weeks ago that I finally caved into the hype and tried making this pudding cookie. Bingo and shebam–knocked the socks and shorts right off my friends. And while I’m still heels-over-head with My Favorite Thick & Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe, the visual drama of these pudding cookies is great for eliciting those coveted oohs and aahs when you walk in the door with your cookie plate and the Lord of the Rings theme song drumming with all the fury of Mordor behind you. At least that’s how I like to imagine myself when I walk into a room. And these cookies basically taste like what the LotR theme song would taste like if it were edible, i.e. EPIC. So. If you’re like me and have waited all this time as a Pudding Cookie Skeptic, learn from my mistake. Bookmark. Pin. Bake. And bake again. And again. This is for your own good, little Hobbit. As our dear friend Benedict says in his sultry bass voice….Promise.

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Since everything’s been so crazy around here with blog moving and designing, I’m going to let you guys off early as long as you promise to head to your kitchen and make these pronto. Oh, and next week’s post will deal with another pretty big event that happened recently, and that has got me really excited to expand my blog (as well as my baking/blogging resume–but more on that with photos then!). Because you have subscribed, right? Right. Just thought I’d put that out there as a little nugget to look forward to….

^ And okay, I was going to end my post there but couldn’t stop cringing over the dangling participle at the end of that sentence. Because that’s what being an English grad student has done to me. But it would be awkward to say “as a little nugget to which you should look forward,” so now I’m just going to shut up and go back to reading Stuart Little over a pan of these uh-may-zing cookies.

Happy baking!

Ala

How do you like my new blog layout? Any suggestions/comments? 🙂

Perfect Pudding Chocolate Chip Cookies–and My New Domain!!

Perfect Pudding Chocolate Chip Cookies–and My New Domain!!

If you love thick, soft, and perfectly pillowy but chewy chocolate cookies, you'd better get on board the pudding cookie bandwagon! The visual drama of these tall soft-baked cookies is sure to get oohs and aahs from your next cookie event audience.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup butter or margarine, softened
  • 3/4 cup dark (or light) brown sugar, tightly packed
  • 1/4 cup white sugar
  • 1 (3.4 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix*
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 2 1/4 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Optional cream cheese filling:

  • 1 (8 ounce) block cream cheese, softened
  • 1/3 cup white sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

  1. In a large mixing bowl, cream butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until light and fluffy (about 2 minutes of vigorous creaming by hand).
  2. Add pudding mix and mix until blended in.
  3. Beat in eggs and vanilla extract.
  4. Add flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir in until dry ingredients are just incorporated into the wet ingredients. Fold in chocolate chips.
  5. Cover bowl with cling wrap and chill in refrigerator for at least two hours.*
  6. When you're ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a baking sheet.
  7. Form 1-inch balls of dough using an ice cream scoop or your hands. Place dough 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheet.
  8. Bake in preheated oven for 9-11 minutes, until the edges have just set and centers are still slightly jiggly. Remove sheet from oven and allow cookies to continue cooling/baking for 20 minutes on the warm stovetop--this will help you achieve that ideal thick, soft-baked quality in your pudding cookies.
  9. Serve these sinfully soft cookies and watch your audience melt like pudding in your talented baker hands!

For the optional cream cheese filling:

  1. If you'd like to add an extra dimension to your standard pudding chocolate chip cookies, cream together all cream cheese filling ingredients in a medium bowl until smooth. As you portion out your cookie dough balls (see above), spoon about 1 teaspoon of cream cheese filling into the center of the dough, then wrap dough around filling to form a sealed ball. Bake dough as directed above.

Notes

Be sure to use instant cook vanilla pudding mix, NOT cook-and-serve pudding mix.

If you're in a pinch, you can chill your dough in the freezer for 30 minutes instead of in the refrigerator. If you decide to skip the chilling step altogether, note that this may result in slightly flatter cookies than pictured.

© Wallflour Girl. All images and content are copyright protected. Please do not use without prior permission. If you would like to republish this recipe, please link back to this post.

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16 Replies to “Perfect Pudding Chocolate Chip Cookies–and My New Site!”

  1. Congrats on the new site! Looks terrific. I was signed up for email updates under the old system, and this one came through fine — so I’ll hold off on signing up again, unless suddenly it stops working (which has happened at some other sites I frequent that updated). Anyway, great cookies! Wonderful way to celebrate the new digs.

    1. Thanks a bunch, John! Yeah, I had to twiddle with some settings and things, but fingers crossed that it will keep right on functioning (good to know, though). 😉

  2. Hi Ala,
    Beautiful new site. Congratulations!! as well as getting through exams and all the other wonderful things going on with you these days. I’m fairly new to your Queendom but I love it. Like John I received my email update as usual so should we just wait for a clitch?

    My ONLY problem is the instant pudding mix. I’m try and not use “processed” ingredients so I’m going to see if someone out in cyber space has a “recipe” for instant pudding. Probably do, they have one for everything these days. But they look SOOOOOOOOO delicious.

    1. Wow, thanks so much for your kind words, T.R.! Can you feel me beaming at you through the cyber-pixels? (No? Well, I am!) As for the pudding mix–I totally understand what you mean, and since I’ve been in the exact same boat before…tada! Here’s a recipe that I love to use when I’m not feeling up to instant mix: http://www.browneyedbaker.com/2012/04/17/diy-homemade-instant-vanilla-pudding-mix/. I hope this helps and that you get to try these cookies soon! They are PHENOMENAL! (See you around!)

  3. Leila the Elder says: Reply

    Like your new sit, it is pretty and easy to navigate. I was already signed up and it came through fine. When I tried to sign in again I was told that I was already taken care of.

    The cookies are so lovely, they made me hungry just looking at them. I put the recipe, and your new site up on my wall…sharing you and your great recipes.

    Take care now, will let you know how the grandkids respond to the cookies.

    1. Thank you for the share and sweet words, Leila! I’m glad you are going to try them with the grandkids–the best taste-testers, in my opinion 😉 And if the 100-year mark is out of question, sometimes less can still be more. It’s great to have you stop by, hope to see you around again soon!

  4. Amazing cookies – “pudding all the others out of business” made me die haha. I love the new site, great colour scheme! It’s a pain moving to a self hosted domain but it is so worth it once it’s out of the way 🙂

    1. I totally agree! I was actually just browsing through your site the other day because I think it’s drop-dead gorgeous, so I can totally see the benefits now. (Plus, it’s just so much fun to fiddle around with.) Thank you for stopping by, Aimee! Great namesakes must think alike!

  5. Congrats on the new site! It looks awesome. I so wish I could re-do mine, but I do not have that talent. It’s awesome that you can do this yourself. Also the cookies look killer!

    1. Aww, thank you! It really didn’t take much know-how (I’m terrible with tech), just a knack for Googling things and plenty of patience 😉 that’s about all the “talent” I have, and I bet you could do it as well. Thank you for stopping by, Laura!

  6. I’m trying this today, and moving step-by-step…but there’s no mention of when to add the chocolate chips! (I presume it’s last, just after you add the flour/salt/baking soda…)

    1. How has nobody (including me) never caught that before? Thanks for pointing that out–and hope you enjoy some really great cookies! Glad you could give them a go.

      1. Oh, man, it happens to the best of ’em! Anyway, made the cookies, they were a HUGE hit, had to make them again, now these are being taken to work tomorrow and I’ll have to make a third batch. Absolutely delicious. I’m reducing the amount of chocolate chips in this third batch, because of the comments I’ve gotten is that the cakey cookie is so good, they want more of it in each bite of chocolate. 🙂 Thank you!

        1. SO glad to hear you and your coworkers loved it! This is one of my all-time favorite cookie recipes–if you liked these I’d also recommend my recipes for My Favorite Thick & Chewy CCC, as well as My Favorite Peanut Butter Puffy Cookies. They’re wonderful in a completely different way. Thanks for reporting back, it’s great to have you around!

          1. Our favorite for years has been Alice Medrich’s Chocolate Chip Cookies, which we made with Hershey’s Special Dark chips. As with your pudding recipe, there’s a resting period (overnight, in fact), and the melted butter-based dough is made in a saucepan — very caramelly and chewy. But we’re finding your Pudding cookies a marvelous new take. I’ll try your Thick and Chewy ones soon!

            By the way, how many cookies do you usually get out of a batch of your recipe? There’s no quantity listed…

            1. Ohh, thank you so much for coming back and updating me on that, that’s so awesome! I’m glad you love the recipe as much as we did 🙂 I just looked up Alice Medrich’s chocolate chip cookies recipe and it looks really similar to one I’d been using for a while before, *great* texture and taste! It’s also not far off from what I developed with the thick & chewy ones, although it looks like there’s slightly more butter and a few other differences. I always love reading your comments because I feel like I’ve jumped right into your kitchen history. Glad you’re still finding these cookie recipes a hit, and yes–do try my favorite recipe!

              As for yield, I find it varies just because I can be so sporadic with my dough ball size–but generally around 3 dozen? (Erk, I sort of flinched b/c I don’t want to give a wrong estimate, but I feel like that’s what I got….sorry, I’ll have to go through my notes and check if I can, it’s been a while! haha)

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