For an easy year-round treat, give these Super Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies a try! They're super soft and chewy on the inside with a little bit of crispiness on the outside, loaded with chocolate chips, and topped with some sea salt flakes. And the best part? There is NO chilling required for the dough! They're absolute perfection!
Table of Contents
- Ingredients Checklist
- Vanilla Instant Pudding Substitute
- Additional Substitutions
- How to Make Super Soft Chocolate chip Cookies
- How to Keep Your Chocolate Chip Cookies Super Soft for Days
- Recommended Baking Tools to Make Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Chocolate Chip Cookies FAQs & Troubleshooting
- More Easy Desserts to Try from Beyond the Butter!
Ingredients Checklist
Here are the ingredients you'll need to make these incredible chocolate chip cookies! The star ingredient in these cookies is the instant vanilla pudding!
- All-Purpose Flour
- Baking Soda
- Instant Flavored Vanilla Pudding
- Vegetable Shortening
- Granulated Sugar
- Light Brown Sugar
- Large Eggs
- Vanilla Extract
- Semi-Sweet Chocolate Baking Bars
- Sea Salt Flakes
Vanilla Instant Pudding Substitute
If vanilla instant pudding is hard to come by in your area, you can use this as an easy substitution. It's a homemade version of vanilla instant pudding and can be stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container.
This vanilla instant pudding substitute recipe makes approximately 2 ½ - 3 cups. And this Super Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe calls for 1 packet of instant vanilla pudding mix which is 96 grams or ½ cup.
Ingredients
- ¾ cup Non-fat Dry Milk
- 1 cup Granulated Sugar
- ⅛ teaspoon Nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon Salt
- ¾ cup Cornstarch
- 2 teaspoons Vanilla Powder
Instructions
- Whisk all ingredients together in a medium-size mixing bowl and store in an airtight container.
- Use ½ cup or 96 grams of this homemade instant pudding mix for the super soft chocolate chip cookie recipe.
If you still run into trouble with finding any of the above ingredients to make the instant vanilla pudding mix, you can omit it entirely from the recipe. The purpose of the instant pudding mix in this recipe is to boost the moisture and the flavor.
Additional Substitutions
Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips. Instead of using semi-sweet chocolate baking bars, you can use semi-sweet chocolate chips or milk chocolate—it's up to you!
I did not test this recipe using any alternative flour or egg substitutions.
How to Make Super Soft Chocolate chip Cookies
Here's a quick overview on how to make these ridiculously soft chocolate chip cookies! And bonus—no chilling is required for this recipe!
Break up the bars of chocolate. Use a heavy spoon, hammer, or your hands to break up the bars of chocolate. If you're using chocolate chips, you can skip this part.
Whisk the dry ingredients together. This includes the all-purpose flour, baking soda, and instant vanilla pudding.
Mix the wet ingredients together. You can use either your hand mixer or stand mixer with a paddle attachment for this part. To start, beat the vegetable shortening and sugars. Then add in the eggs and vanilla extract.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet. Do this gradually over low speed. Anything faster and you'll have the dry ingredients everywhere.
Fold in the chocolate chunks or chocolate chips. Use a spatula to do this. Please do not use your mixer because it will grind up the chips and chunks.
Scoop 'em out! You can use a spoon or a cookie scoop to do this. I used my 1 ½ tablespoon size cookie scoop. Space them out about 1 ½ inches apart.
Sprinkle then bake! Sprinkle a little sea salt flakes onto each cookie (optional step). Then bake for 8-10 minutes at 375ºF (mine baked for 10 minutes), until lightly brown.
The cookies should be a nice light golden brown with a slight crispy outside. They will be very soft so let them cool first for about 5 minutes on the baking sheet before you transfer them to a wire cooling rack.
How to Keep Your Chocolate Chip Cookies Super Soft for Days
After you've baked your chocolate chip cookies, store them in an airtight container with a slice of bread.
The cookies will take in all the moisture from the bread, leaving them all nice and soft for A LOT longer.
And props to my hubs for teaching me that little tip almost 15 years ago!
Recommended Baking Tools to Make Chocolate Chip Cookies
Chocolate Chip Cookies FAQs & Troubleshooting
I used Guittard Milk Chocolate Maxi Chips.
No, I did not.
It's used to boost the moisture and the flavor the cookies, and boy does it ever!
I include an easy substitute above!
Nope! Just make and bake! You can chill it though it you're planning to make them a day or two later. Just keep the bowl covered with plastic wrap or place the dough in an airtight container.
I used a 1 ½ tablespoon size cookie scoop.
At room temperature, in a airtight container (with a slice of bread), the cookies will keep for up to 5 days.
I recommend letting them cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet before transferring them to a wire cooling rack to finish cooling all the way. And highly recommended tip—use a spatula to transfer them because they will be very soft!
More Easy Desserts to Try from Beyond the Butter!
- Chocolate Chip Cake with Chocolate Chip Buttercream Frosting - featured in Taste of Home's 2019 Holiday Baking issue!
- One Bowl Chocolate Zucchini Bread
- Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Salted Caramel Cookies
- Chocolate Chip and Pecan Pie
- Homemade Ice Cream Chocolate Chip Cookie Sandwiches
Super Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies
Author:Ingredients
- 2 ¼ cup All-Purpose Flour
- 1 tsp Baking Soda
- 3.4 oz Instant Flavored Vanilla Pudding
- 1 cup Vegetable Shortening
- ¼ cup Granulated Sugar
- ¾ cup Light Brown Sugar, lightly packed
- 2 Large Eggs, room temperature
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 16 oz Semi-Sweet Chocolate Baking Bars (2 bars), broken into small chunks - or - 11. 5 ounces Milk Chocolate Baking Chips
- Sea Salt Flakes, optional (for sprinkling over cookies)
Instructions
- Adjust the oven rack to the 2nd level position (just abov center) and preheat the oven to 375ºF. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
- Break up the bars of chocolate into small chunks using a hammer or your hands. Set aside. If you're using chocolate chips, you can skip this step.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, baking soda, and instant vanilla pudding. Set aside.
- Using your hand mixer or stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the vegetable shortening, granulated sugar, and light brown sugar together on medium-high speed until fully incorporated.
- Add in the eggs and vanilla extract until completely blended. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Reduce the mixer speed to low, then gradually add in your whisked dry mixture until well blended. Fold in the chunks of chocolate or chocolate chips.
- Using a spoon or cookie scoop (I used the 1 ½ tablespoon size), drop the cookie dough onto the parchment lined cookie sheets and space them 1 ½ inches apart.
- Sprinkle a little sea salt flakes onto each cookie (optional step).
- Bake for 8-10 minutes at 375ºF (mine baked for 10 minutes), until lightly brown.
- Remove from oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes before transferring them to a cooking rack.
- Keep stored in an airtight container for up to a week.
cheddarben says
ooof... these look so good! Problem with making cookies is that they are gone lickety-split. One I like to do is to use bread flour instead of all-purpose. It gives them a bit of a fluff in the cookie.
admin says
Thanks, Ben! Yeah, tell me about it—these are just about gone in our house. I really like the idea of using bread flour instead of all-purpose flour! I’ll have to try that next time. Is it an equal exchange in the amount you use?
Rita says
Can I use butter???
Jennifer says
Hi Rita! I've not made them with butter, but absolutely you can substiute the shortening for butter. It would be an equal substitution (1 cup butter = 1 cup shortening) and will more than likely spread out more.
Olga Solntseva says
Hi. What weight is of vanilla puding ?
Jennifer says
Hi! It should be the 3.5 oz package size. It's the typical size you'd find in most grocery stores.
Sarah says
So yummy!!! Made these while my ankle was sprained and realized I didn't have eggs so I used yogurt instead and I left the pudding mix out because we didn't have that either. They still turned out so soft and chewy! Just what I have been looking for in a chocolate chip cookie recipe. It's a keeper. 🙂
Jennifer says
Thank you so much for making this recipe, Sarah! Love the substitutions you tried as well!❤️ Hope your ankle heals quickly!
Ashley says
How much yogurt did you use?
Megan says
These were absolutely delicious! I loved the vanilla pudding mixture and sea salt addition!! Thank you so much for sharing your recipe! Will definitely make these again for the fam!
Jennifer says
I'm so glad you and your family loved them, Megan! Thank you for making them and for sharing them on Instagram!
Agatha says
Amazing, soft and tender choc chip cookies!
Julisha says
Would it be possible to use a cookie cutter after / before baking?
Jennifer says
Hmm...I never tried using one with this recipe. I've always just used a cookie scoop or spoons. Using it after could possibly work just to get them relatively the same size.