Chocolate Chip Cookies

Last night I had a craving for chocolate chip cookies and milk! So I pulled up a recipe that had high reviews on Allrecipes and went to work, making a few changes based on what reviewers recommended. These cookies were SO moist and chewy! I've never made choc chip cookies with pudding mix before, but I would definitely make these again! You couldn't really taste it, but I would love to experiment a little with different flavors - I'm sure chocolate would work great too! These cookies don't spread out much when baking, so you can line the dough up pretty close on the cookie sheet. And they are perfect with a tall class of ice cold milk! Yum!

INGREDIENTS:
* 2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 cup butter, softened
* 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
* 1/4 cup white sugar
* 1 (3.4 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix
* 2 eggs
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract ( I doubled the vanilla based on reviews I read)
* 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
* 1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Sift together the flour and baking soda, set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar. Beat in the instant pudding mix until blended. Stir in the eggs and vanilla. Blend in the flour mixture. Finally, stir in the chocolate chips and nuts.

3. Drop cookies by rounded spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Edges should be golden brown.

Yields: approx. 3 dozen cookies