Cookie Spectacular.

I truly love the holiday season. Everything about it makes me happy. It is the time of year when I get to spend copious amounts of time with my family, bake obscene amounts of cookies, and finish the day with a wonderfully delicious Harpoon Winter Warmer. I really love that beer, I look forward to it all year long.

For my first of the many holiday cookie posts to come, I'm going to highlight chocolate chip cookies. This recipe was adapted from all recipes. This dough is by far the best cookie dough any of us have ever had.

Chocolate chip cookies - Makes 3 Dozen (we got closer to 5 dozen worth of dough, but we actually produced 4 dozen cookies)

Ingredients:

• 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup butter, softened (I like to leave my butter out overnight if I know I'll be baking the next day)
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1 (3.4 ounce) package jell-o brand vanilla instant pudding mix
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups chocolate chips

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
• In a large bowl cream together butter and both sugars. Blend in instant pudding mix. Add eggs and vanilla extract.
• Mix in flour and baking soda.
• Once blended stir in chocolate chips.
• Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until edges are slightly browned.