This cookie is a latenight snack delight

Secret ingredient ‘puts it over the top.’

The holidays are soon upon us, and because there’s always room for a dazzling dessert or late-night snack, many of us will be looking for new cookie recipes that will wow guests with the perfect mix of crunch, chew and irresistible flavor.

This recipe from Milk Bar founder Christina Tosi’s latest cookbook, “All About Cookies: A Milk Bar Baking Book,” hits all the right notes. That’s because the sweet and buttery flavor of butterscotch, Tosi writes, not only evokes warm memories of Grandma’s house, but also brings “infinite calm, cozy vibes.”

Like all winning cookie recipes, this one includes a secret ingredient from the baking aisle that puts it over the top: a box of butterscotch pudding mix. Along with adding luscious notes of brown sugar and butter, the mix — made largely of cornstarch — helps create a thicker cookie, because it prevents the batter from spreading. It also makes for a very soft and tender layer to the center of every cookie that just pairs so well with the slightly crunchy edges.

The original recipe calls for 1 cup of butterscotch chips, but I took Tosi’s advice from the book’s forward to “mix it up” and added chocolate chips to the batter. (No risk, no reward!) I also used a 1.5-ounce cookie scoop for portioning instead of the suggested 2¾-ounce scoop, which resulted in smaller — but more — cookies.

I think they’re best warm right out of the oven with a glass of milk for dunking, but the cookies will keep fresh on the counter for at least three days at room temperature. If you’re baking ahead of the holidays, you also can store them in the freezer for up to one month.

CHOCOLATE BUTTERSCOTCH PECAN PUDDING COOKIES

1 cup pecans, roughly chopped 10 tablespoons unsalted

Cookie

ISABEL POULIN/DREAMSTIME/TNS Instead of dairy, try almond, cashew or macadamia nut “milks,” which have more unsaturated fats. Other choices are soy, hemp and flax “milks.”

GRETCHEN MCKAY/ PITTSBURGH POSTGAZETTE Butterscotch pudding mix is the secret weapon in these ooeygooey cookies studded with chocolate chips and toasted pecans.