Quadruple Chocolate Pudding Cookies — These pudding cookies are packed with cocoa powder, chocolate chips and chunks, and chocolate pudding mix to deliver seriously chocolatey flavor!
Table of Contents
Chocolate Fudge Cookies … Using Pudding Mix!
My first foray into pudding cookies went so well that I wanted to try a chocolate version. So I did with four kinds of chocolate in one cookie. May as well go big or go home.
These chocolate fudge pudding cookies are super soft, tender, slightly chewy, and are for true chocolate lovers. Chips, chunks, cocoa, chocolate pudding.
They’re thicker, bakery-style cookies that are bold and rich, not overly sweet, and oozing with melted chocolate. As you bite down, there’s a little chocolate explosion that happens in your mouth.
There’s an abundance of melted chocolate in every bite between the chips and chunks. I like to use both so that there are varied chocolate flavors and textures present. If you only have one or the other, use what you have.
Keep in mind that chopped chocolate melts in an oozing way, whereas chocolate chips have stabilizers. So while they do melt, they stay more intact.
Sometimes darker chocolate cookies can be almost overpowering but these are one of my favorite non-peanut butter, all-chocolate cookies that I’ve ever made. Pudding mix, I’m sold.
Chocolate Pudding Cookies Ingredients
These chocolate chip pudding cookies use most of your typical cookie ingredients, plus lots of chocolate. Here’s what goes into these chocolate fudge cookies:
- Unsalted butter
- Light brown sugar
- Granulated sugar
- Eggs
- Vanilla extract
- Instant chocolate pudding mix
- Unsweetened cocoa powder
- All-purpose flour
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Semi-sweet chocolate chips
- Chopped dark chocolate
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How to Make Chocolate Cookies with Pudding Mix
These chocolate chip pudding cookies are made like most of my cookie recipes are. Quick, easy, and no-fuss!
Here’s an overview of how the fudgy pudding chocolate cookies are prepared:
- Cream together the butter, sugars, egg, and vanilla.
- Then, mix in the dry ingredients followed by the chocolate chips and chunks.
- Scoop out the cookie dough and shape it into balls.
- Place the cookie dough onto a plate, cover with plastic wrap, and chill for at least 2 hours in the fridge.
- Once chilled, place the cookie dough onto a Silpat-lined baking tray and bake until the edges of the pudding cookies have set and tops are just set, even if slightly undercooked and glossy in the center.
Recipe FAQs
The pudding mix helps keep the cookies softbatch-style soft, supple, and gives them a surprising lightness. That’s paradoxical considering how much chocolate is packed into them, but they’re not lead balloons. Nor are they airy or cakey. They’re just right, says Goldilocks.
Yes, absolutely. Do not bake with unchilled dough because the chocolate chip pudding cookies will bake thinner, flatter, and be more prone to spreading.
If you’re not into pudding mix or don’t have it in your area, this probably isn’t the recipe for you. You can simply omit it, although the results won’t taste the same. There’s really no substitutions. Luckily I have oodles of other chocolate cookie recipes that don’t use it and recommend one of those.
The instant pudding mix gets added to the cookie dough like a dry ingredient. You do not actually make the chocolate pudding — just dump it into the cookie dough straight from the box.
You likely can add other mix-ins like chopped nuts or dried fruit, but you’d need to scale back the amount of chocolate chips you add to the cookie dough to compensate for the extra mix-ins.
Make sure to buy instant pudding mix and not the cook and serve kind. You also can’t use sugar-free pudding mix in this pudding cookie recipe. Don’t ask me why, sugar-free instant pudding mix just doesn’t deliver the same results.
Yes! I prefer using dark chocolate in this pudding cookie recipe, but you’re welcome to use a mixture of milk and dark chocolate if that’s what you have on hand.
I have made these for my family and friends on many occasions and everybody loves them! Around the holidays I’ll dip them in white chocolate and sprinkle peppermint crumbles on top. My favorite cookies ever!
Patty
Recipe Video Tutorial
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Fudgy Chocolate Pudding Cookies
Ingredients
- ¾ cup unsalted butter, softened (1 1/2 sticks)
- ¾ cup light brown sugar, packed
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 packet instant chocolate pudding mix, about 3.7 to 3.9 ounces (not sugar-free and not ‘cook & serve’)
- ¼ cup unsweetened natural cocoa powder
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- pinch salt, optional and to taste
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 5 ounces dark chocolate, chopped (I used Trader Joe’s 72% Pound Plus Bar)
Instructions
- To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or large mixing bowl and electric mixer) combine the butter, sugars, egg, vanilla, and beat on medium-high speed until creamed and well combined, about 4 minutes.
- Stop, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add the pudding mix, cocoa, and beat on low speed until just combined, about 1 minute.
- Stop, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add the flour, baking soda, optional salt, and beat on low speed until just combined, about 1 minute.
- Stop, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add the chocolate chips, chopped chocolate, and beat on low speed until just combined, about 30 seconds.
- Using a large cookie scoop, 1/4-cup measure, or your hands, form approximately 17 equal-sized mounds of dough. Roll into balls, and flatten slightly.
- Place mounds on a large plate or tray, cover with plasticwrap, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, up to 5 days. Do not bake with unchilled dough because cookies will bake thinner, flatter, and be more prone to spreading.
- Preheat oven to 350F, line a baking sheet with a Silpat or spray with cooking spray. Place dough mounds on baking sheet, spaced at least 2 inches apart (I bake 8 cookies per sheet).
- Bake for about 10 minutes, or until edges have set and tops are just set, even if slightly undercooked and glossy in the center. Don’t overbake which is easy to do with dark cookies. Cookies firm up as they cool.
- Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for about 10 minutes before serving. I let them cool on the baking sheet and don’t use a rack.
Notes
- Cookies will keep airtight at room temperature for up to 1 week or in the freezer for up to 6 months.
- Alternatively, unbaked cookie dough can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, so consider baking only as many cookies as desired and save the remaining dough to be baked in the future when desired.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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More Chocolate Cookie Recipes:
German Chocolate Cookies — An EASY recipe for soft, chewy, fudgy chocolate cookies that are topped with a rich and creamy pecan coconut frosting! If you love German chocolate cake but don’t want to deal with layering and frosting an entire cake, these cookies are PERFECT!
Dark Chocolate Chunk and Peanut Butter Chip Chocolate Cookies — Rich, soft chocolate cookies with chocolate chunks and peanut butter chips
Chocolate Crinkle Cookies — These chocolate crinkle cookies are slightly chewy around the edges with a very fudgy interior and perfectly crinkly seams!
Hot Chocolate Cookies — These gooey hot chocolate cookies are complete with big gooey marshmallows and chunks of melted dark chocolate. This is the perfect holiday cookie recipe!
Andes Mint Chip Soft Fudgy Chocolate Cookies — These quadruple chocolate Andes mint cookies are big, bakery-style cookies that are rich, not overly sweet, and loaded with chocolate and mint chips.
Caramel-Stuffed Quadruple Chocolate Cookies — The cookies are thicker, bakery-style cookies that are bold and rich, and are oozing with melted chocolate and stuffed with Rolos.
Chocolate Ganache Chocolate Cookies — There are chocolate chips and cocoa powder in the cookie dough and the cookies are topped with a rich, cream, fudgy chocolate ganache.
Mexican Chocolate Shortbread Cookies — These buttery shortbread cookies are full of chocolate, cinnamon-and-sugar, and a bit of spice thanks to a couple unique ingredients! They remind me of a good cup of Mexican hot chocolate, in cookie form.
Originally published February 8, 2014 and republished with updated text February 5, 2020.
These cookies were amazing! I made them with semi-sweet and dark chocolate chips (instead of chopped up dark chocolate) and they were so gooey and delicious! I shared with co-workers and they all requested the recipe which I happily provided them with. Thanks for this recipe!
Thanks for trying them and so glad you loved them and that your coworkers did too! :)
Ermagawd I have no words! These look amazing, Averie! Since I’m a chocoholic through and through, these cookies are everything I dream of and more. Love!
Making these for my Valentine this weekend. They look fantastic!
they look so ooey gooey and amazing!
Love that you did quadruple the chocolate. They look fantastic.
You stick to your peanut butter cookies, I will DEVOUR every last crumb of these cookies!! Get in ma belly! I LOVE LOVE LOVE and need them fresh out of the oven with a big ol scoop of vanilla ice cream!! DROOOL!
OMG! I just popped a warm one of these into my mouth…….Fabulous!!!!!!!’ I added a little instant coffee to the batter , and used dark chocolate M&Ms instead of the chocolate chunks, but wow, is all I have to say. I probably bake more of your recipes than from any other blog that I follow (and there are many). You just hit my sweet spot every time. Thank you so much.
Thanks for trying them, Joan, and glad you love them! I use the instant coffee granules in almost all other choc cookies I make. Not sure why I didn’t with these but sounds like you remembered :) Good call! And so happy to hear that you make more of my recipes than any other blog you follow! Glad these hit the spot!!
A couple of weeks ago I saw such cookies in the store and I bought them. They were extremely tasty. I am a great lover of chocolate, so this desert I really enjoyed! What about combination of white chocolate and cranberries?
I have a white choc & cran cookie here https://www.averiecooks.com/2012/12/cranberry-and-white-chocolate-chip-cookies.html
Or you could add white choc & cran to this dough base. Enjoy!
OMG these look awesome! I want one right now!
Quadruple chocolate! Now that is taking it to the next level Averie! Pudding cookies are so incredibly yummy and I’m so excited to be seeing your take on them :) Gorgeous!
Thanks for pinning, too :)
There are no words…well, maybe one: perfection!
Chocolate Pudding are two of my most favorite words. Add the word cookies and I can’t be responsible for my actions. GREG
As a good Southern boy, I can imagine you love your chocolate pudding :) These are like a big bowlful of soft fluffy pudding in cookie form!
FOUR kinds of chocolate?!! You’re killing me here. Now I’m not the BIGGEST chocolate fan except for that time of the month so these cookies will come in VERY handy during that time in need :)
How did I NOT know that about you & chocolate? Well that explains why you blog as much savory as you do :) Omg learn something new every day! But if you ever do want to make a choc cookie, these are the best I’ve ever made!
Can these be frozen like regular cookie dough, and bake off a few at a time? Thanks!
Yes.
As always amazing ooey gooey goodness!! Totally Pinning this!
Thanks for pinning!
Chocolate upon more chocolate, I’m sold. Plus I’m a firm believe that soft cookies are the way to go. Love this recipe Averie and the pudding mix trick. :)
Such a great little trick for SOFT cookies!