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!
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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
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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.
I made these for my friend’s birthday and they were a smashing success! Everyone’s reactions went something like:
“Wow, these smell really good.”
(takes a cookie. Bites. Chews.)
“Oh my God.”
Thanks for the recipe!
So glad these were worthy of an Oh my God! :)
I’ve never been a huge fan of chocolate cookies, but they’re my boyfriend’s favorite, so I tried to find a good recipe. I made these for him, and they are DELICIOUS! Pretty much the most amazing cookie I’ve ever tasted. And, oh my goodness, I cannot wait to try your other recipes! You may make a chocolate cookie lover of me after all. Thank you for the great recipe, and for helping me to impress my boyfriend’s parents! ;)
So glad these came out amazing for you and that you’re going to be a choc cookie lover after all! That’s such high praise that you didnt even really ‘love’ chocolate cookies yet these are the most amazing cookies you’ve ever tasted! Thanks!
I made these today and was blown away by the results. This is THE best cookie I have ever made, hands down! It tastes like something from a bakery, which I did not expect. Most cookie recipes out there have the generic sugary sweet taste, which is fine, but this….the only words escaping my mouth had been “Oh my…oh my….oh my……” Hahaha. But seriously, thank you so much for this recipe! It even converted a chocolate-chip-cookie-lover-hater-of-all-else. He told me to only make these from now on. That’s something. (By the way I used chopped high quality truffles instead of the baker’s chocolate, which is all I had on hand. I think that made them even better!)
So happy to hear they’re the best cookie you’ve ever made! Such super high praise! Glad you love the recipe and yes I know what you mean about sugary sweet, generic taste. With this one, I think the difference is all the layers of flavor, the touches of espresso or coffee, the pudding, the chopped chocolate (GREAT CALL on the high quality truffles!)…it all adds up and you end up with layers and layers of flavor and the dough base itself is nice and soft :)
The absolute best
Glad you think so! :)
So I was a little concerned because my batter looked really thick and slightly dry. After reading about the previous comment about getting it well creamed I realized that was my mistake (cooking with a 5 yr old can do that). These were made at the request of said five year old boy after seeing it on Pinterest. We are waiting for them to cool and I am sure this will be a winning recipe! The raw dough was delicious. I skipped the semi-sweet chocolate chips because they do not exist in my house due to our love of dark chocolate so, mine are only three. Next time I will maybe add peanut butter m&ms.
You could have totally added your dark choc chips! Or M&MS, whatever you like. Glad you and your 5 y.o. were baking cookies together, so sweet!
When refrigerating the dough, do I have to separate the cookies first? Could I refrigerate the dough as a whole then separate it before baking?
Separate into cookies before refrigerating or the dough will turn into a giant rock-hard blob and it’ll be very tricky after it’s cold to separate.
Hello, I found your recipe through pinterest. I tried it today, and omg my house smells like chocolate!!! <3 I used mini m&m, milk chocolate chip, also added chopped cashews (only nuts I had at home =p). I used a mini cookie scoop for portion size, and I ended up with 30 some cookies!!! It's so yummy!! Thank you!! =D
Thanks for finding me on Pinterest today and TODAY making these! Love stories like this! And your mini M&Ms, cashews and mini scoop for mini cookies with the mini M&Ms, you’re making me jealous :) Wish I could try one b/c they sound delish!
Would it be possible to use dutch-processed cocoa powder?
I’ve never tried it in these but I think it would be fine.
If I keep the unbaked dough in the freezer is it also good for 5 days or is it longer?
Up to about 6 months.
I made these and they are one of the best cookie recipes I’ve ever made! And I bake a lot of cookies! Absolutely love that they are so soft and stay soft. I used a Baker’s German chocolate baking bar and chopped that up into chunks. Thank you SO MUCH for sharing your recipe!
Oh I’m so glad you’re happy with them and since you bake a lot of cookies it’s nice that these are shooting to the top of your favorites list!
These are absolutely delicious! I have found a new favorite chocolate cookie. Thanks for sharing the recipe!
Glad you love them and that they’re you’re new favorite!
Ok, I have nothing but high praises for this cookie recipe. Brought them to a family vacation over the weekend, together with your Chocolate Chip and Chunk Cookies, and they were gone almost immediately. The kids (and some adults, too!) were eating them like popcorn! :) I just ran out of choco chunks so I just added more chocolate chips. They still came out perfectly. Thank you!
Thanks for the high praise, Camille, and glad both these and the Choc Chip & Chunk Cookies were hits. Love that the adults were poppin’ them like popcorn :)
Just wanted to inquire about the pudding flavor. Jell-O has Chocolate and Chocolate Fudge flavor. Is it ok to use any one of them?
Yes.
Do you still bake the cookies for 10 min if frozen?
Yes generally, but if they need another 1-2 minutes, then do that. Just keep an eye on them and you’ll know when they’re done.
Best cookie ever!!!!!
Thank you, Lisa! Glad you think they’re the BEST! :)
I am making these cookies for the second time today. After I started making them, I realized I didn’t have any dark chocolate so I had to sacrifice a leftover Easter rabbit. (Poor thing, but I think it died for a good cause!) This time I also added a small amount of espresso powder to the batter.
Thanks for this amazing cookie recipe!
LOL – best use ever of a chocolate bunny :)
And I love adding a pinch of espresso too and most of my choc cookie recipes I do. This one, I do it too; I just didn’t write it b/c I tend to get a zillion questions about will the cookies taste like coffee and what if they can’t find it, can it be left out, etc etc and I just didn’t feel like dealing with it! So glad you love these cookies!
Oh. my. God. I just made these a week ago and it finished within a day, so fudgy and chocolate filled. I didn’t add the dark chocolate, instead I replaced the semisweet chocolate chips with dark and added a bit of Nescafe powder. And, I didn’t refrigerate it, it was easy to handle and didn’t spread out.
Thank you, this is our new favorite cookie, esp for me, since I’m a chocoholic :P I made double the batch today, let’s see how long it lasts :P
Considering your screen name, I don’t doubt you’re a huge choc fan so for you to say you love the recipe & it’s your new fave, that’s awesome! Thanks for the high praise and enjoy your double batch :)