Award Winning Chocolate Chip Cookies

I will be honest. I am a wife, I am a mother, and I am a daughter and grand daughter and (much more) have NEVER in my entire 27 yrs of life made soft, chewy cookies of ANY kind. A friend gave me a link to a great cookie recipe and I tried it last night. To my great surprise they came out soft and chewy and a day later they are STILL soft and chewy.

Here is the recipe (oh and it is a recipe for 6 dozen-72 cookies)

Ingredients

• 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 cups butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 (3.4 ounce) packages instant vanilla pudding mix
• 4 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 4 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 2 cups 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. Drop cookies by rounded spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Edges should be golden brown.