It’s been such a heavy start to the week, and I’m feeling like telling a happy story. How about you? Up for it?
It’s sort of a love story, and everybody knows those are the best kind!
Of course… every love story needs a little history…
I spent my formative teenage years living just down the road from my cousin, who is a little bit older than I am. I thought he was the coolest person on the planet. Seriously. And so did the rest of my high school, which only added to my high opinion of him. After all, popularity carries a lot of water as a teen! Especially when you’re sort of geeky, like I was…
One day, I was approached by someone I considered to be “super” popular. She sidled up to me in gym class like we were best buds. I didn’t understand it, but I so didn’t care. Because this was it, my big break! I was going to be one of the cool kids for sure– the only reasonable assumption I could make at this point. But, it turned out, she had seen me getting out of my cousin’s car that morning and thought we were dating. Once I had corrected her, we immediately resumed our appropriate status roles, thus ending our 5-minute BFF-hood.
Anyway. Fast forward a few years. I was in college now, and my cousin was serving an LDS mission in California. We wrote letters to keep in touch, and he told me that his girlfriend had stopped writing him and was dating somebody else. He was so sad, and it just broke my heart. So I stuck his picture on a piece of notebook paper and taped it to my dorm room door with a note that said “Who wants to write my cousin? His girlfriend just dumped him and he’s really great!” (best sell ever, right?) Only at BYU would this actually work…
And work it did! One of the most beautiful gals I’ve ever met knocked on my door. When I opened it, she was holding the note, and said “I’ll do it!” And that’s how we became best friends.
We roomed together the following year after we moved out of the dorms. She wrote my cousin for the rest of his mission, and I wrote to Chris. We spent Friday nights watching Friends and eating Almond M&Ms and gushing about our fellas as only 19 year old girls can do. It was blissful.
Eventually, the boys did come home, and we managed to peel ourselves away from the TV and the bags of M&Ms. She became a permanent fixture in my life when she married my cousin a couple of years later, and we are very happily in-laws.
There’s really not much of a point in me telling you this story– other than it makes me happy, and tonight needed a happy story.
Besides, these cookies always make me think of the happy couple. Chocolate dipped peanut butter cookies are my mom’s signature cookie, and my cousin has always loved them. My friend and I sent a package full of these cookies to my cousin on his mission. Making them brings back happy college memories 
.
As I’ve wholeheartedly jumped on the pudding cookie bandwagon, I added a package of cheesecake pudding mix to the dough. It makes them super soft, and gives them an extra layer of flavor. So good!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup peanut butter (I like crunchy)
- 1/2 cup shortening
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 1/2 cups flour
- 1 - 3.4 oz package cheesecake instant pudding mix
- 2-3 cups melting chocolate for dipping
Instructions
- Beat together the peanut butter, shortening, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until creamy.
- Add the eggs, one at a time, beating in between each addition.
- Add the vanilla and baking soda, mix well.
- Add the flour and pudding mix. Mix well.
- Scoop by rounded tablespoons onto a parchment or silcon lined baking sheet. Use a fork to press a criss-cross into the cookie dough.
- Bake at 375 degrees for 10-14 minutes, until the bottoms are golden and the middle is set.
- Let cool on the baking sheet. Dip each cookie in melted chocolate, let cool on wax paper to harden.
Notes about this recipe:
- Feel free to drizzle the cookies instead of dipping them in chocolate– it’s a time saver. The dipping just adds an element of nostalgia for me, and I can’t eat them any other way
Pudding Cookies from Friends:
- Chocolate Chip Pudding Cookies by Chef in Training
- Gingerbread Pudding Cookies by Inside BruCrew Life
- Oatmeal White Chocolate Pudding Cookies by Crazy For Crust
Please don’t forget to join us on Friday for Cookies & Crafts for Sandy Hook!
If that story made you happy, imagine how happy it made me feel reading it for the very first time–talk about some year-round holiday spirit indeed! Thank you so much for sharing, this was a much-needed lift to the week.
Ala recently posted..7 Days Until Christmas: Orange Cheesecake Gingerbread Blondies
I love a sweet love story! Thanks for sharing. And the cookies…omg yum!
Aimee @ ShugarySweets recently posted..Eggnog Cheesecake Cake
What a sweet, sweet story! I love it. And these cookies, well I love the sound of them too! Looks like I’ll be on the hunt for some cheesecake pudding today
Katherine R. recently posted..Melt in Your Mouth Sugar Cookies
What a great story! Just what I needed this morning…and one of those cookies would have made it perfect!
Liz recently posted..Cherry Pecan Chews
I love your story! I needed that smile. These look amazing, my friend’s mother makes a similar cookie dipped in melted Andies Mints mmmm
What a sweet story! See, things like that are why I believe soulmates exist – because how could they not after a meeting like that? LOVE these cookies. I can say – they must be dipped. There is no other way!
Dorothy @ Crazy for Crust recently posted..Eggnog Pie
This story is so so cute! And how awesome that they ended up marrying each other years later? Things like this make me feel all warm and gooey inside, like soulmates really DO exist or true love really is a thing. I love it! (I’m a sap haha). And I love these cookies. And their dippage. Yum.
Hayley @ The Domestic Rebel recently posted..Salted Peanut Butter Toffee
What a sweet story! Love these cookies, great idea to add cheesecake pudding mix!
Jessica@AKitchenAddiction recently posted..Quick & Easy Vanilla Fudge
These cookies look fabulous and I love your happy story
Pinning!
Nicky @ Pink Recipe Box recently posted..Chocolate Peppermint Brownies
These look so tasty! But even more so… such a cute story… thank you. The internet needed a little brightening up
I looooooove pudding cookies and these look divine! Peanut butter AND cheesecake? Yes, yes, and yes.
Karly recently posted..Holiday Block Party & a $500 Gift Card Giveaway!
What a sweet story
Katrina @ In Katrina’s Kitchen recently posted..Cinnamon Clove Coffee Cookies
Such a nice story and memory! Great recipe too
Brenda recently posted..Cranberry Almond Bark … Put(ting) on the Ritz
That was such a sweet story! It made my day. Love the cookies too!
Jocelyn (Grandbaby Cakes) recently posted..Red Velvet Mississippi Mud Pie
I love the stories about how people meet!!! Beginnings are wonderful! I love that you dipped these into chocolate! Perfect!
What sweet cookies and an even sweeter story!!
Bonnie and Trish @ Uncommon recently posted..Gift Wrapping Ideas … { Boxwood Wrapped Gift }
What a SWEET beginning! I love their love story!
I think I need to get on the pudding cookie train! Yum!
Holly Lefevre recently posted..Tickled Pink 127
I still want to do a little holiday baking so I think I need to join you on the pudding side of things!
Tonia@thegunnysack recently posted..Finding My Holiday Style At Sears
That is an AWESOME story!
And I just pinned these cookies b/c they’re the things dreams are made of!
Averie @ Averie Cooks recently posted..Vanilla and Chocolate Stevia Giveaway
Can these be made a day or two before I want to serve? How do you store these? Also can you you a diff. Flavor of pudding mix?
You can make these a couple of days ahead and store in an airtight container. Like all cookies, though, they’re best fresh. You can change the pudding mix if you want but then they wouldn’t be “cheesecake” cookies
you could also just omit the pudding altogether if you wanted b
That was such a sweet, sweet story – definitely works with these delicious cookies! I will have to try these ASAP – they look AMAZING! Pinning!
Trish – Mom On Timeout recently posted..17 Candy Cane Recipes and Crafts
Peanut butter and cream cheese together is almost better than peanut butter and chocolate!
Erin @ The Spiffy Cookie recently posted..Christmas Magic Cookie Bars
Where do you find Cream cheese pudding mix? Never seem that one. Love to make them.
It’s not cream cheese pudding mix, it’s cheesecake!
How many cookies does the recipe make?
Approximately 4 dozen
Made these for my hubby for Valentines Day as he is a crazy person for peanut butter and chocolate cookies. So soft and yummy and they turned out just like the picture . Couldn’t find cheese cake pudding (only the sugar free variety,.. yuck) so I used white chocolate pudding mix instead and dipped them in dark chocolate. FABULOUS!
These cookies sound delicious! Can’t wait to try them. I know you posted this over a year ago and you needed a happy story that day and maybe you do today as well. Well not a story but my favorite joke. What do you do if you get swallowed by an elephant? Jump up and down till you get all pooped out! I hope you have an excelent day and conference is coming up which always makes me feel good as well!