Orange Chocolate Chip Pudding Cookies

It’s almost Christmas time and the festive mood is apparent everywhere - houses are beautifully adorned with twinkling lights, cafes serve holiday specials and pretty much every store is full of red and green. It’s indeed a wonderful time of the year. It’s also a time to bake sweet treats and share with your loved ones! Worry not if you’re not really into baking. This is the simplest and easiest cookie recipe you’ll find. The trick is to use instant pudding mix powder which takes care of the sweetener and leavener. You don’t need eggs or any other liquid - just add butter and flour, and let the pudding mix do it’s magic!

Ingredients:

Recipe adapted from Eggless Cooking

1 packet (5.1oz or 145g) of dry instant vanilla pudding mix - I used the Great Value brand

¾ cup unsalted butter at room temperature

1¼ cup all purpose flour

Zest of 1 orange

⅓ cup dark chocolate chips

Omit the orange zest and chocolate chips for simple vanilla cookies.

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Sift the dry pudding mix into a large bowl. Sifting helps remove some of the large sugar granules which might not melt and could leave a gritty texture.

Add butter and beat on high speed for ~5 minutes. This might seem excessive but it helps break down and melt the sugar in the pudding mix. Melting the butter before adding the pudding mix also helps, however the dough doesn’t stay quite as stiff and spreads while baking, leading to thinner cookies.

Add the flour & orange zest, and beat on low speed until completely combined. The dough should be thick but not sticky. Mix in the chocolate chips using your hands or a wooden spoon.

Make 1” balls of the dough and place them on a parchment lined baking sheet at least an inch apart. Bake for 11-15 minutes (it took 13 minutes in my oven) until golden brown on the bottom and lightly browned on top.

The cookies will be soft to touch, so let them cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack.

Enjoy with a hot cup of tea, and store the rest in an airtight container once completely cooled.

Wish you all safe and happy holidays!

~Gayatri

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Quick, easy and delicious cookies for Christmas time..http://cooksofcakeandkindness.blogspot.com/2015/12/orange-chocolate-chip-pudding-cookies.htmlHappy holidays everyone!
Posted by The Cooks of Cake and Kindness on Wednesday, December 23, 2015