Oreo White Chocolate Pudding Cookies

Allow me to tell you a story about white chocolate...

When I was little, I attended some sort of wedding reception or shower or something of the like where favors are given. The favors were little bags of white candies. I tried the candy and loved it, only to never ever have them again. As an adult, I occasionally thought about that candy and what it could possibly be. What was that wondrous and mysterious candy of magical goodness?!

It had been too long now to ask my mom what they were, especially since I can't even remember what event it happened at. It was so unlike anything I had ever had throughout my life! Then one day last year, I came across chocolate shamrock lollipops that had been for St. Patrick's Day. Some of them were white. I decided to try it and lo and behold, I had finally found out what the mystery candy was after all these years: white chocolate! I don't know why I never made the connection. White chocolate just so rarely came into my life and I never really thought about it. But I'm going to make sure that changes now! I want to make all kinds of white chocolate things! By the way...those Lindt white chocolate truffles? Well...let's just not even get into that.

These are the cookies I decided to make Chris for Valentine's Day. He loves Oreo treats! I made cookies and cream cookies before, but I feel that these cookies pack more of a punch. They have chunks of Oreo in them, as well as the white chocolate chips. The recipe called for white chocolate pudding mix, but my local grocery store didn't have any, so I used Jello's Oreo Cookies 'n Creme pudding mix instead. All turned out well. The recipe also didn't call for M&Ms. I just added those in to make some of the cookies look a little more festive for Valentine's Day. Lucky for me there was a bag of M&Ms with a different color blend than the original, and red and pink were both included.






Oreo White Chocolate Pudding Cookies
Source: Twos Peas and Their Pod

Ingredients:

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 (3.4 oz) package white chocolate instant pudding mix (Note: I used cookies 'n creme pudding mix)
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose Gold Medal flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups chopped Oreos
1 1/2 cups white chocolate chips
1 package M&Ms (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

2. Using a mixer, beat together butter and sugars until creamy. Add in pudding mix, eggs, and vanilla extract. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined. Stir in the Oreos and white chocolate chips.

3. Drop cookie dough by rounded tablespoons onto prepared baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes, or until slightly golden around the edges and set. Remove cookies from oven and let cool on baking sheet for two minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack and cool completely.