Week 20: Nell's Nutella Cookies

Credit goes to Ai-vy.

The Recipe
1.25 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt (more if you use unsalted butter)
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
113g softened butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar (farin)
2 tsp vanilla extract/vanilla essence
1/2 cup Nutella, room temperature
1/3 cup milk
Extra Nutella for topping

Make the batter 1-3 days before you want the cookies.

In a freezer bag, combine flour, baking powder, salt, and cocoa powder. Toss in bag to mix well. Set aside.

In a large bowl, mix together butter, sugar, and brown sugar until smooth. Add vanilla extract and beat for another 30 seconds. Add in Nutella and beat until smooth and well incorporated.

Add half of the flour mixture and mix until well combined. Add in the milk, mixing until well incorporated. Add in the rest of the flour mixture and mix completely.

Cover and refrigerate the dough overnight (or as long as 2-3 days).

When ready to bake cookies, line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Roll tablespoon sized amounts of dough into balls and place them on a lined cookie sheet, allowing about 2 inches between the dough balls.

Lightly press the dough balls with the flat of your palm. Make an indention with your thumb in the middle of the dough balls. Add a scant amount (around or less than 1/8 teaspoon) of Nutella to the dip of the dough balls.

Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the cookies are crackly on top and soft, but starting to set. Remove from the oven and allow them to stand for about 5 minutes, then transfer the cookies to a cooling rack and allow them to cool completely.

The Verdict
They were every bit as yummy as they looked and smelled while baking :) If anything, they may be a tiny bit too rich, so I'm thinking about adding some nuts next time... either by adding chopped nuts to the batter, or by putting nuts on top instead of the extra Nutella. I tried to add peanut butter to some which also turned out really well and was what gave me the idea.

Do NOT skip the step on refrigerating the batter! It makes it so much easier to work with. In fact, if I ever make a double portion of these, I think I'll only take half of the batter out of the fridge at a time, as it became increasingly more messy as time went on. For the same reason I'm glad I put all the cookies on baking sheets at the same time, instead of using my usual method and only preparing one sheet at a time.

But absolutely without a doubt worth a repeat :)