Chocolate Butterscotch Chip Pudding Cookies (aka Clean Out the Pantry Cookies)

I really wanted to call these cookies Clean Out the Pantry Cookies, but I'll admit that is not a great name for a cookie. Thing is that is how I made them and since the recipe can be so many flavors, I really struggled with how to define this cookie.

Last weekend, one of the many projects that I tackled was cleaning out the pantry. In the process, I found several partial bags and containers of chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, and chocolate chunks. I wanted to find a good recipe that could stand up to that amount of 'chippage'. I started doing some searches for Chocolate Butterscotch cookies, but it seemed that so many required oatmeal - of which I had none. I started to stumble across some cookies that took pudding and since I had also unearthed a couple boxes of instant pudding, it seemed like a great idea to me. I took a little bit of a couple of recipes and merged them. Then, I found myself short on brown sugar and substituted some turbinado sugar - which added an awesome little crunch to the cookies.

4 1/2 c flour
2 pkgs instant pudding (the smaller box)
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp kosher salt
1 1/2 c butter
1/2 c shortening
1 1/2 c sugar
1 c packed brown sugar
1/2 c turbinado sugar
4 eggs
3 tsp vanilla
4 c chips/candy bits

Sift together the dry ingredients and set aside.

Cream together the butter, shortening and sugars until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, mixing to combine after each addition. Add in the vanilla. Add the dry mixture a portion at a time, mixing to incorporate. Stir in the chips/candy.

Drop rounded spoonfuls on your baking sheet. Bake at 350 for 10 - 12 minutes. Allow to cool on the cookie sheet for a couple of minutes and then move to a cooling rack.

These cookies were a hit! I allowed my son to have a piece that had broken when I removed it from the pan. I told him it might still be warm. He took a bite and said to me, "know what makes a cookie good?", I said "no" and he said "still warm from the oven".

I actually used 1 package of french vanilla and one package of chocolate pudding. The moisture that the pudding brings and the crunch that the turbinado brings, accompanied by a mix of chocolate and butterscotch was simply wonderful! I will definitely make this recipe often. I think that it might be a great way to use up extra holiday chocolate too - just chop up all those mini-bars for a candy bar cookie. Swapping out the flavors of pudding can completely change the delivery on these cookies too!

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