This summer, I’ve been relying heavily on a few things to keep me from turning into a total stress case: late night leisure reading, snuggles with my favorite fuzz nugget, and regular doses of chocolate and peanut butter. The first two, however, are somewhat less reliable. I tend to gravitate towards mystery or suspense novels, but the good ones often leave me jumpy and a tad sleep deprived (I have a hard time putting them down, even in the wee hours of the morning), and the bad ones are just plain disappointing. As for Phoebe, she’s a cuddlebug by nature but there are times when she can’t be bothered to deviate from her busy schedule of sunbathing and guarding against the threat of invasion by UPS or FedEx personnel. Luckily, chocolate and peanut butter are solidly dependable. It’s hard to go wrong when you put the two of them together! So when I found a box of chocolate pudding mix in the pantry (left over from making chocolate tiramisu last fall), I decided it was time to try making pudding cookies—and adding peanut butter was pretty much a no-brainer.
Have you ever made pudding cookies? I’ve been drooling over them for quite some time but this was the first time I’ve made them. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the idea, the pudding mix (which is added in its powdered form, directly from the box) makes for incredibly soft and chewy cookies that remain soft and chewy for days. I was a little bit surprised by the dough, which wasn’t as sticky as most that I’ve worked with—some of the candy pieces even fell out and I had to press them back in—but the end result was delicious nonetheless.
These chocolate peanut butter pudding cookies are basically a cookie version of peanut butter cups, which are basically a candy form of pure happiness, so if you’re feeling stressed (or even if you’re not), I highly recommend taking a few minutes and whipping up a batch of these cookies! They pair nicely with a good book and a fuzzy sidekick, if you’ve got those handy 😉
- 1/2 cup butter or margarine, at room temperature
- 1/2 cup peanut butter
- 2/3 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon water
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 small box (3.4 ounces) chocolate pudding mix
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup peanut butter candies, divided
- 1/4 cup chopped peanuts (optional, see note)
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Place the butter, peanut butter, and brown sugar in the bowl of a mixer and beat until smooth. Add the egg, vanilla extract, and water and mix until incorporated.
- In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, pudding mix (note: ONLY add the contents of the box – do not prepare the mix according to the package instructions), baking soda, and salt. Add these ingredients to the mixer bowl and stir until combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a spatula as needed. Add 3/4 cup peanut butter candies and the chopped peanuts (if using) and mix until combined.
- Scoop the dough into balls, about 2 tablespoons each. Place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone mat, leaving about 2 inches between cookies. Press the remaining 1/4 cup peanut butter candies on top of the cookies. Flatten each cookie with a spatula or the palm of your hand.
- Bake for 9-11 minutes (the cookies should no longer have a shiny appearance). Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack. Once cooled completely, store in an airtight container.
- Makes 24-30 cookies.
- Feel free to use either creamy or crunchy peanut butter. I typically buy creamy peanut butter, so I add 1/4 cup chopped peanuts for additional texture; if you use crunchy peanut butter, you may not need the additional peanuts.
You gotta watch out for those UPS and FedEx people…they’re sneaky! Every house needs a Phoebe to warn them of possible “invaders.” Hah! But I hear ya on books. I do like to always keep a book by my bed, but lately I seem to just fall asleep instead of actually reading. I need to pick that book up! Maybe if I had a batch of these cookies to keep me company… Speaking of the cookies, they look and sound delicious! I’ve used a bit (like a couple Tbsp) of pudding mix in cookies before, but it’s been years. I need to try them out again! 🙂
Oh yeah, I’ve definitely had some nights like that recently too, where I want to read but fall asleep before getting around to it. There just aren’t enough hours in the day! Perhaps I should start lacing all my baked goods with espresso powder…
These cookies look very inviting, but since it’s still officially summer, I won’t invite them until some time in the fall. The colors remind me of fall, so I will just have to file this away for several weeks. I have never used pudding mix in cookies, but the texture you describe sounds yummy. How do you get your cookies to look so perfect?
The colors are definitely reminiscent of fall, but the flavors themselves are ones I personally find appealing 365 days a year! As for the “perfect” appearance of the cookies, it’s all thanks to the cookie scoop I use 🙂
These look delicious, and your lead-in to the post was fantastic 🙂 Peanut butter cups are my favorite candy, so I have to whip up a batch of these later this week. I’ll just need to pick up pudding mix and Reese’s Pieces…
Thanks! I’ve always loved peanut butter cups, but I’ve really been grooving on them lately. The Trader Joe’s dark chocolate ones are superb – I thought about including them in this recipe, but alas, I already ate them all…
I can imagine how good these must be! Chocolate pudding and peanut butter…how can anyone top that? Thanks for sharing at FF
Thanks, Shinta! I hope you get a chance to try these sometime 🙂
Using chocolate pudding mix in a cookies recipe is a new idea for me, definitely worth trying – your cookies look scrumptious! Stumbled! Happy FF:)
Thanks, Monika, and thanks for sharing it 🙂 I hope you had a great weekend!
I haven’t tried making pudding cookies, but these look absolutely yummy! Happy FF, Mara and thanks for sharing!
I’m glad these caught your eye! Thanks, Jhuls 🙂
Amen to your definition of a “candy form of pure happiness”. I am a cookie monster myself, so I pinned this. I love cookies any time. Happiness comes from cookies!
I’m somewhat of a cookie monster as well – my childhood dog was even named Cookie! Let me know what you think if you try these 🙂
Yay 😊
I love chocolate and peanut butter, your cookies look awesome! I have never tried pudding cookies, guess it’s time! Thanks!
Chocolate and peanut butter really are a match made in heaven, aren’t they?! I hope you get a chance to try these!
Mmmmm. Chocolate and peanut butter are and A++ for stress management. I’ve never made pudding cookies before, but I’m pretty tempted now. These look soooo good!
Back in college, I always made sure to have chocolate on hand whenever finals were coming up, because I knew that the absence of chocolate in times of high stress could easily lead to disaster 😉
These look so fun and yummy! I’m going to have to make some for the kids. Love your blog name, too! So fun!
Thanks so much, Julie! I hope you and your kids enjoy these as much as I do 🙂
That shot with the bite taken out of it looks super yummy!! I always gravitate towards chewy soft cookies over their crunchy counterparts but have never tried a pudding cookie – these look like just the ones to make me an all out convert. PS – definitely am guilty of reading the night away too, it makes me super awake, it’s so hard to stop leafing through a good story
Yes – I’m all in favor of chewy cookies too! There are probably a few types that I prefer to be crunchy, but none come to mind right now. Have you read any good books lately? I’m always looking for recommendations 🙂
I’ve had trouble finding a really good fiction book to fall into but I read “The Magicians” by Lev Grossman and that was a fun series to go through. Lately, I’ve been really into non-fiction reads – I loved “Big Magic” by Elizabeth Gilbert. Would love any reccs you have to share!!
Ooh, thanks – I’ll have to check those out! I’ve had some trouble with fiction books as well lately – I enjoy them for the most part but certain parts of the plot don’t always come together as well as I’d like, or there are strange stylistic inconsistencies, etc. Maybe I’m just too picky! I finally got around to reading “The Girl on the Train” by Paula Hawkins recently, which was probably my favorite read of the summer, and “River Road” by Carol Goodman was also pretty good (you might like some of her other books too – “Lake of the Dead Languages” and “The Night Villa” in particular).
My feelings exactly! I’ve run into those same roadblocks with recent fiction reads. Thank you so much for all these reccs, Mara – I have been dying to read “The Girl On the Train”, just added those all to my Goodreads list so I have them on hand the next time I’m at the library 🙂
Fabulous cookies, thank you so much for bringing them to the party!
Thanks, and thank you for hosting 🙂
Wow these cookies look totally delicious!
Thanks, Kat! I hope you get a chance to try them.
Wow! those cookies look incredibly fudgy. I’m sold! Definitely will be making these soon:)
I hope you enjoy them as much as I do 🙂
These look so fudgy and delicious and anything with peanut butter is something I want to try!
I’m so glad these caught your eye! Let me know what you think if you make them 🙂