I don’t think I have ever met a single person who could honestly tell me that they do not like chocolate chip cookies. They are the epitome of the feel-good comfort food. Chocolate chip cookies taste like a little bite of home.They never fail to make people smile. They’re the ultimate all-time classic dessert.  There are thousands of great chocolate chip cookie recipes out there for varying textures, flavors, and cookie to chocolate ratios, but after extensive research, I think I can say with confidence that I have finally found the recipe for the best chocolate chip cookie ever, and I’m not even exaggerating.

I found this recipe from Pinterest (surprise, surprise) because I needed an amazing batch of chocolate chip cookies for the kids on my bus for the last day of camp. I’m pretty much the greatest counselor ever. When I announced that I was going to bring chocolate chip cookies for everyone on the last day, one of my campers insisted, “They have to be soft chocolate chip cookies because the hard ones are gross”. I will not say that I fully agree with her. I think that crispy chocolate chip cookies are kind of in their own special category. My favorite of the crispy variety that I have tried is from Tate’s. I have made them numerous times at home from their cookbook, I have bought them in grocery stores for snacking, and have even been to their original bake shop in New York, which is an adorable mint green Victorian storefront situated in the center of the equally adorable town of Southampton. Tate’s cookies are rich and crunchy, and they really hit the spot. But my campers requested soft cookies, so that I wanted to give them soft cookies.

I found a recipe that uses an ingredient that I would have never otherwise thought of to go into a cookie– vanilla pudding mix. I was so intrigued by this special ingredient that I had to put it to the test. I decided that I absolutely needed to triple the recipe because the recipe said it makes only fourteen large cookies, and I wanted to have some extras for myself and my family. Well, I made the cookies average/ small sized and ended up with about fifty cookies. . .oops. . . and only brought thirty to camp and then we ate the rest in a day. . . oops again. No regrets. They were so worth it. The vanilla pudding mix was the perfect touch. The cookies were dense, buttery, chewy, and thoroughly addicting– everything you could ask for in a chocolate chip cookie. The recipe specifically stated that the dough must be chilled for at least two hours before baking, because it prevents the cookies from spreading and clumping together. The result of this process was that the cookies ended up more pillowy and cakey than flat and crispy. This insightful technique is excellent for any cookie recipe! Also, of course, as if the vanilla pudding mix was not enough, I decided not to measure the amount of vanilla extract I put in and just wing it– A.K.A. put in about three times the amount in the recipe, which is always a good idea. I didn’t have enough chocolate chips for the recipe, but it didn’t seem like the cookies had any serious lack of chocolate to me, so if you’re planning on tripling the recipe like I did, don’t sweat it if you only have a bag or two of chocolate chips.

Fast forward to my bus route on on the last day of camp. Eyes popped and little hands grabbed at my all-star chocolate chip cookies, and many confirmed what I already knew, announcing that these were, “the best chocolate chip cookies EVER!”. On the way home, a girl was crying because she was going to miss her friends at camp. She sobbed, “The only things that could make me feel better right now are a hug and another cookie”. Case closed.

Here’s the recipe: http://www.averiecooks.com/2014/02/the-best-soft-and-chewy-chocolate-chip-cookies.html

Enjoy!  Love, the Perky Foodie