Rainy Day Cooking

Today was one of those gray, dismal, rainy days.  It's the kind of day where you just want to crawl under a blanket and take a nap.  I decided to cook.  I didn't have any place special to go, and I needed to bake some cookies to send to our military next week.  Before I started baking, I made doughnuts in my Dazey doughnut maker - yum!  And I juiced some oranges that my friend Crystal had given me.

I made pudding chip cookies for the soldiers; it's one of my favorite recipes.  I got the recipe from the "All New Bake Sale Cookbook."

Pudding Chip Cookies

1 cup butter or margarine, softened

3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 package (4-serving size) Jello Instant Pudding and Pie Filling*

1 tsp. vanilla

2 eggs

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 pkg. (12-ounces) semi-sweet chocolate chips**

1 cup chopped nuts

*butter pecan, chocolate, milk chocolate, chocolate fudge, french vanilla, vanilla, or butterscotch (my favorite)

**I use different flavors of chips too; butterscotch chips with butterscotch pudding or chocolate chips with vanilla pudding or white chocolate chips with chocolate pudding - feel free to mix it up.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.  Beat butter, sugars, pudding mix, and vanilla in large bowl until smooth and creamy.  Beat in eggs.  Gradually add flour and baking soda.  Stir in chips and nuts (dough will be stiff).  Drop by teaspoonfuls 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets.  

Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned.  Remove from cookie sheets and cool on racks.