3 Easy Cookies Made with Pantry Ingredients

Are you hungry for homemade cookies but don't want to run to the store? You probably have the ingredients on hand to make these 3 easy cookies with pantry ingredients.

Double Chocolate Pudding Cookies, Sugardoodles sugar cookies, and Coffee and Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies are all cookies with pantry ingredients in them.

These are my three go-to easy cookie recipes I make over and over for teacher gifts,  welcome-to-the-neighborhood gifts, Christmas gifts, college care packages, and whenever I'm in the mood for homemade cookies.

I keep the ingredients for these cookies in my pantry and butter in the fridge (and freezer). I don't know about you, but I have a stash in one of my cabinets of all kinds of chips: mini, chunks, dark chocolate, milk chocolate, white chocolate, peanut butter, butterscotch, mega size chips.

If I run out of chocolate chips, I'll just chop up a baking bar and stir that in.

I'll also tell you which ingredients you can just leave out if you don't have it on hand.

Basic ingredients for cookies

• Butter. I don't recommend substituting margarine for real butter. Margarine is basically whipped oil with water added and is a recipe for soggy, flavorless cookies....but in a pinch, you can substitute stick margarine, not tub margarine. Butter can be frozen and thawed in the fridge so you can always be ready to make yummy cookies. Shortening can be used but you won't get the flavor butter gives. I use salted butter. It will be fine with unsalted butter.
• Granulated sugar and brown sugar. I like the combination of the two sugars because the brown sugar (granulated sugar with molasses added) adds a bit of flavor and helps make cookies soft and chewy.
• Large eggs. If you don't have 2 large eggs follow this guide from Better Homes and Gardens for size and number substitutions.
• Vanilla extract. If you don't have vanilla extract it is ok to leave it out because the pudding mix will have plenty of flavor.
• All-purpose flour. Cake flour, bread flour and whole wheat flour can be substituted if absolutely necessary. Cake (soft wheat) flour has less protein and bread (hard wheat) flour, therefore, cookies made with cake flour may be a little more delicate and crumbly than all-purpose flour. You can add an extra tablespoon flour per cup. Cookies made with bread flour might be a little more firm or dense. You can remove one tablespoon flour per cup. Whole wheat flour is more dense and has a slightly stronger flavor than all-purpose flour and cannot be substituted cup for cup. It is possible to use half whole wheat flour and half all-purpose flour. Self-rising flour is not a good substitute in this recipe because it has baking powder in it.
• Baking soda. Baking powder is not an equal substitute for baking soda.
• Salt. If you are using salted butter, you will be fine, otherwise, table salt indicated.

Click on the images or titles below to go straight to the recipe blog posts.

Double Chocolate Pudding Cookies

Chocolate Pudding Cookies pantry ingredients:

These are ingredients specific to this recipe not listed above.

• Instant chocolate pudding mix. I love the Hershey brand because it uses cocoa processed with alkali. This means your cookies will be a darker, richer color. I also love that I can buy this brand at the Dollar Tree! I also use the Jello-O brand and Aldi brand. The oz package may vary slightly, but no worries. They all work. If you don't have chocolate instant pudding mix, use vanilla-flavored instant pudding and make traditional chocolate chip cookies-they will be perfectly soft and chewy!
• 12-oz package semi-sweet chocolate chips. If you are stretching your dollar, half the package is ample to still make yummy cookies. This is where you can get creative and use whatever chips you have in your stash.

Sugardoodles

These soft and chewy cookies are a cross between a Snickerdoodle and a sugar cookie. No rolling, cutting or icing needed!

Sugardoodles pantry ingredients:

These are ingredients specific to this recipe not listed above.

• Shortening. Shortening is 100% fat-no water. This helps cookies be softer. Shortening doesn't melt as fast as butter so this helps Sugardoodles be light and fluffy. If you don't have shortening or would rather not use it, butter can be substituted. Shortening also helps give these cookies their almost pure white color.
• Powdered sugar. Believe it or not, there is a tiny bit of cornstarch in powdered sugar to keep it from clumping. That bit of cornstarch helps keep these cookies soft on the inside.

Coffee and Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies

Coffee and Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies pantry ingredients:

These are ingredients specific to this recipe not listed above.

• Instant espresso powder. Don't have this on hand? No worries! Instant coffee granules dissolved in the water will work fine. Do NOT use regular coffee grounds. If you don't have any instant espresso powder or coffee granules, you can use 2 teaspoons of double-strength brewed coffee. Not a drop of coffee in the house? Stir in a teaspoon of vanilla extract.
• 10-oz package dark chocolate chip cookies. Large chips, mini chips, chunks or chopped pieces from a chocolate bar will work! No dark chocolate? Any chocolate chips will do. Most semi-sweet packages are 12-oz....toss in the whole package!

Let me know in the comments below which cookie you decide to make. I'd love to hear your personal substitutions if you made any.

Want more recipes using pantry ingredients?

Churros with Vanilla Icing for Dipping

Homemade Copycat Krispy Kreme Doughnuts

Shortcut Apple Cider Cookies

White Texas Sheet Cake (with cake mix)

Or just enter an ingredient in the SEARCH bar and see if I have a recipe to match your needs!