It took me a while to figure out that my favorite cookie is anything in bar form. I’ve always loved soft, straight-from-the-oven concoctions and have often felt a little disappointed when a cookie cooled off on the rack and developed that slightly crispy ring around the edges. Forget crunch, gimme more of that melt!
The beauty of baking a cookie bar instead of individual rounds is that you get a ton of squares right out of the middle with no edges, no crisp — just that soft-cookie yum.
Mastering that soft consistency isn’t easy, but leave it to an old pro like Betty Crocker to tell us all how to nail it. And the best part? This is so easy that anyone can do it. Seriously. You don’t even need a mixer.
The recipe for these chocolate chip-caramel-pudding cookie bars calls for a box of Betty’s chocolate chip cookie mix, butter, egg, a box of instant pudding mix and a bag of Rolo caramel candies. That’s it. I think we can all see this is going somewhere gooey and low-maintenance and amazing.
You do have to chop the Rolos, but that’s the only extra step. Just mix it all together, spread it into your pan and bake.
If you’re fresh out of boxed cookie mix but happen to have a box of yellow cake mix on hand, you’re in luck.
A contributor to Genius Kitchen shared this recipe for chocolate chip pan cookies that once again calls for pudding mix but uses cake mix to create a quick and soft pan cookie. Once again, the ingredients and mental fortitude required are minimal, and the deliciousness is maximal.
Regardless of which recipe you choose, you’ll probably want to top these pan cookies with ice cream. I’m just saying this so you don’t forget that there’s nothing wrong with adding to the decadence here.
Though personally, I’d probably go for an espresso with this for my afternoon snack. And I would never stop you from putting those three things together to turn this whole situation into a homemade affogato soft-cookie experience.
Cut a square out of the middle and save it for me, please!
This story originally appeared on Simplemost. Checkout Simplemost for other great tips and ideas to make the most out of life.
