White Chocolate Snickerdoodle Pudding Cookies

There is a reason I try not to keep massive amounts of sweets at our house....I would weigh 200+ lbs.  This is also the reason I only make large batches of cookies/brownies/other sweets on the weekends....because I know on the weekends there will be people to share them with and I can send the leftovers with Eric on Sunday afternoon to feed the rest of the coaches.  They use it as brain food while they watch film for the following week's game.  I like to consider it my contribution to the game every week.

I have been on a cookie kick this fall. I'm pretty sure I have tried a different cookie almost every week this football season.  I blame thank pinterest for this. I will be minding my own business, perusing the pretty pictures on my feed, and BAM: cookie recipe.  But not just any cookie recipe, one I have never even thought of before that looks so delicious I have to have it immediately. The fact that most cookies have the same basic recipe with a few changes here or there doesn't help one bit because I ALWAYS have most of the ingredients on hand.

This week's cookie seriously might be one of our favorites which surprised me.  I am what some would call a chocoholic.  I won't even try to deny it.  The majority of the cookies I make have some variation of chocolate in them because let's face it what's the point in wasting calories on a dessert that doesn't contain chocolate?  In my book, if a dessert does NOT contain chocolate (dark or milk), it has to be REALLY good.  Enter the White Chocolate Snickerdoodle Pudding Cookie from SomethingSwanky.com. Not exactly a combination that one would immediately go to, right?  Do yourself a favor and make these RIGHT NOW.  I promise you won't regret it.

Intrigued yet?  You should be. 

What you need: 

1 cup butter, chilled but soft

3/4 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1 tsp baking soda

1 Tbsp hot water

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

3.4 oz. package white chocolate instant pudding mix (my t-niny grocery store did not have white chocolate pudding so I substituted a box of vanilla instant pudding mix)

2.5 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups white chocolate chips

1/3 cup cinnamon sugar for rolling (1/3 cup granulated sugar + 1 tsp cinnamon)

How to make it:

1. Beat butter in a stand mixer until smooth. Add sugars and beat until creamy--about 1-2 minutes.
2. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing between additions.
3. Dissolve baking soda in Tbsp of water and add to mixer along with vanilla extract, salt, and cinnamon.
4. Gradually add pudding mix and flour to the mixer and beat until dough forms.
5. Mix in white chocolate chips just until combined.
6. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
7. Chill dough in the refrigerator for 15-20 minutes.
8. Scoop dough with a tablespoon and roll ball in cinnamon sugar mixture before placing on parchment lined or silicon lined baking sheet, 2 inches apart.  *If using a baking stone you can place the dough balls directly on the baking stone--that's what I did without any trouble.
9. Bake for 10-12 minutes until edges are golden brown. Let cool on a baking sheet for a few minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

FYI:
-Since I can only cook about 15 cookies at a time on my baking sheet (and I am afraid to make cookies on anything else because I'm scared to burn them) I ended up rolling the rest of my dough balls after I put my first batch in the oven.  I just put the balls on a plate and put the plate in the refrigerator until I was ready to put them on the baking stone.  It saved me a good bit of time in the long run.
-This recipe will make 48-60 cookies depending on how large you make your dough balls. I used my 1 Tbsp scooper and ended up with 60 cookies.

These got rave reviews from my peanut gallery...aka Eric and his friends.  Like to the point that I asked Eric later if the guys were just being sarcastic about how good they were.  He said no and that I need to hang on to the recipe so I can make them again. If you didn't click on the link to SouthernSwanky.com earlier, do it now.  I promise you won't regret it.  I start drooling every time I look at the page.