Food for Fathers: Chubby Hubby Cookies, from The Newfangled Housewife

Hello Standpipe & Sprinkles! My name is Emily and I blog over at The Newfangled Housewife. And, in case you didn't know, I'm Katie's little sister. I was so excited when she asked me to do a post for Food for Fathers. I thought this cookie recipe was PERFECT to reveal on here. After all, they are called "Chubby Hubby Cookies"! The inspiration for these cookies? If you're a Ben & Jerry's fan I hope I don't have to explain myself. Chubby Hubby is probably the best ice cream there is. It also happens to be mine and Katie's favorite. These cookies, if I may say so, definitely do the ice cream justice. And they happen to be my hubby's new favorite! 

Ingredients: 

- 1/2 C butter (softened) 

- 1/2 C brown sugar (light, unpacked) 

- 1/2 C sugar 

- 2 eggs 

- 2 tsp vanilla extract 

- 1 package of instant vanilla pudding (see picture below) 

- 1 1/4 C all purpose flour (I used unbleached) 

- 1 tsp baking soda 

- 1/2 tsp salt 

- 2 tbsp milk *optional* 

- 1/2 C semi sweet chocolate chips 

- 1/2 C peanut butter chips 

- Chocolate Covered Pretzels 

Directions: 

- Preheat your oven to 350 and prepare a cookie sheet however you please (cooking spray or parchment paper work best). 

- Using an upright or handheld mixer, blend your butter and sugars. Next add your eggs, vanilla, and pudding mix.

- In portions, add your dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, salt). *Note: If you pre-mix your dry ingredients they will be more evenly distributed through the mix, but I tend to be lazy and always skip this step!* 

- If your mix is really clumping to your mixer, add 1 to 2 tablespoons of milk. 

- Mix in your chocolate and peanut butter chips. 

- Using a cookie scooper (or spoon if you don't have one), scoop up about 1 tablespoon of dough. Push a chocolate covered pretzel into it, and then cover with more dough. Check out the pictures!

You don't have to do it this way. You can just use your fingers, but I promise you that gets VERY messy. Another way to do it is to put the dough on the cookie sheet and just push the pretzel into the top, but that also defeats the purpose of the pretzel being a surprise in the middle! 

- Place cookies on your prepared sheet and bake for 9 to 12 minutes.

Guess what? The pretzels stay fresh and crisp and don't get soggy! The dough also works well without the pretzels in the middle. I made a batch this way for my toddler's playdate, since I wasn't sure the young ones could handle the crunchy middle.

For more recipes, check out my In The Kitchen section on my blog or follow my Pinterest account! Thanks for having me, big sis!