This year I got a few recipes from a random book “Christmas with Southern Living 1998”, which my mom found on my grandmother’s bookcase. One recipe was for a twist on the standard chocolate chip. I didn’t add the walnuts, as I don’t like the texture of nuts in baked goods.

CHEWY CHOCOLATE-CINNAMON COOKIES

1 cup butter, softened
½ cup sugar
½ cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 (3.9 oz) package chocolate instant pudding mix
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 (11.5 oz) package semisweet chocolate chunks/mega morsels
1 (2.5 oz) package walnut pieces (toasted and chopped, 2/3 cup) – OPTIONAL

Beat butter at medium speed of an electric mixer until creamy; gradually add sugars and pudding mix, beating well. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well.
Combine flour, soda and cinnamon; gradually add to butter mixture, beating until blended (do not overbeat). Stir in chocolate morsels and walnuts.
Drop dough by tablespoons onto lightly greased cookie sheets. Bake at 350 for 9 minutes. Cool on cookie sheets 1 minute. Remove cookies to wire racks; cool completely. Yields 5 dozen.

The ginger spice cookies were NOT from scratch. I don’t usually bake anything from a mix, but these looked really good, and the ingredients were all natural.