Soft & Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

The quest for soft and chewy cookies is a long one...full of trial and error, but lots of fun & excitement when you hit jackpot. Here's a recipe I'm gonna share that was adapted from allrecipes.com's "Award winning chocolate chip cookies" (that aren't award winning until you add the one extra step) hehehe

Ingredients:

• 2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour + 1 tablespoon
  
• 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 (Feel free to switch in flavors)
  
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (I like the WholeFoods chips!)
  

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
   
2. Sift together the flour and baking soda, set aside.
3. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar.
   
4. Beat in the instant pudding mix until blended.
   
5. Stir in the eggs and vanilla. Blend in the flour mixture. Finally, stir in the chocolate chips and nuts.
   
6. Cover dough and refrigerate for up to 45 minutes. (We get impatient and skip to 20 minutes)
   
7. Drop cookies by rounded spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
8. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Edges should be golden brown. DO NOT OVERBAKE!!!!!
9. Take out and let cool for about 5 minutes before digging in. :)
   

THE secret to soft and chewy cookies lies in how much moisture is in the dough AFTER you bake it. If you like your cookies softer, you gotta make sure you do the following:
1) Add an extra tablespoon or two of flour
2) Refrigerate your dough!

The scientific explanation behind this is just so you can have moisture sealed INSIDE the cookie (aka it's a little under-done compared to the outside).

ENJOY!!!