If you know me, you know I can’t resist a community cookbook with worn corners and jagged, broken plastic teeth holding the pages together. Bonus points if features “cursive typewriter” font. It was these things that talked my into purchasing the combination “Big Y” local supermarket chain and 4-H club cookbook from 1985 that included this recipe for Butterscotch Chocolate Chip Cookies.
The butterscotch flavor comes from a package of instant pudding, so you can easily make them Pistachio Chocolate Chip Cookies (or anything else) by swapping out the pudding flavor. Sometimes these vintage-convenience-classic recipes are the most fun to make because you can imagine the smiling mid-century housewife throwing them together with frosted pink nails and a frilly hostess apron while she waited for her brood to come home from school.
If you like crispy cookies (like my friend and coworker Brenda), you’ll like these cookies. The texture is almost sandy, and the pudding mix lends just a hint of flavor, so you can trust that the flavor will still be mostly chocolate chip.
Butterscotch Chocolate Chip Cookies
Adapted from The Big ‘Y’ Quality Circle and 4-H Club Cookbook, 1985
Ingredients
2/3 cup unsalted butter
2/3 cup vegetable shortening
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup light brown sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 package instant butterscotch pudding
1 package semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped nuts (optional)
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and line two baking sheets with parchment.
- Cream the butter, shortening, and sugars together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla and continue to beat.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, and pudding mix. Gradually add it to the egg mixture, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as necessary. Fold in the chocolate chips and nuts if using.
- Drop by teaspoonfuls onto the prepared baking sheets and bake for 12 – 15 minutes, or until tops are just beginning to brown.
- Transfer to wire racks to cool.
Yield: 5-6 dozen cookies.
Click to view and print the recipe for Butterscotch Chocolate Chip Cookies
