Food Friday

So you all know that I love to cook and bake and wash dishes (well, maybe you didn't know the last one but surprisingly it's usually true...quirky, I tell ya!) and I particularly like to do these things for other people because it's just not as much fun to do it for yourself. So it's kinda been a bummer to live alone for a substantial part of the last 6 years but it makes it that much more fun when I have roommates (currently named Bobby and Elizabeth).

My mother happens to be a superstar when it comes to the kitchen. She knows absolutely everything. And everything my sisters and I do correctly, she taught us. Everything else we throw in, we just came up with on our own due to sheer laziness or stubbornness (although I still contend that many of our ways work very efficiently). My mother also happens to have teeth almost as sweet as mine and we share a particular weakness for the divinity that is called chocolate. Which would explain why I've been making the following recipe on a regular basis for the past 2 months. Don't worry, we counter this with regular trips to the gym because I'm not gonna lie, this is NOT on the diet (but why eat dessert if it's going to taste like vegetables???). So I'll just end this rambling introduction and give you the good stuff.

Chocolate Toffee Cookies (with my modifications in italics)
*I have no idea who the credit should go to but I have a feeling it probably came out of Southern Living or another equally southern print.

2 1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup butter (using margarine tastes just as good and cuts the calories and cholesterol)
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 pkg. vanilla instant pudding (sugar-free pudding works just as well and cuts calories)
2 eggs (egg substitute works great and cuts cholesterol)
12 oz. chocolate chips (just depends on how many you want in there)
1/2 bag toffee bits (I never use this much, I think that would be overwhelming)

Sift flour and baking soda. In separate bowl, mix butter,both sugars, vanilla, and vanilla pudding. (I mix the butter stuff first then gradually add in the flour and soda later in the same bowl. Why use 2 when you can use 1?) Mix until smooth. Beat in eggs. Slowly add flour mixture. Stir in chocolate chips and toffee bits. Bake at 375 for 8-10 minutes. (Or just eat the dough like we do.)