OMG Nutella!

Posted: February 11, 2010 | Author: Bakezilla | Filed under: Bakezilla | 1 Comment »

One day recently, I went into a local bakery/coffee shop to buy a latte. And on the counter, I saw something that nearly made me squeal: Nutella cookies. Why had I never thought of that? Nutella… the European chocolate-hazelnut spread that everyone loves and basically symbolizes decadence… delightfully held in a shortbread-sugar cookie shell. I resisted buying it that day, but vowed to make my own version… soon.

So I did. These are so easy to make, yet so delicious. First, make a simple no-chill sugar cookie dough:

Preheat oven to 350.

You will need 3 cups flour, 1 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp cream of tartar, 1/4 tsp salt (I prefer sea salt), 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar (I prefer cane sugar that’s minimally processed), 2 sticks of chilled unsalted butter, cut into slices, 2 eggs and 1 tsp vanilla.

Sift together the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt in a bowl.

Put the sugar and butter in another bowl and cut with a pastry cutter until it looks like a coarse meal. Beat in the eggs and vanilla with a spoon. Add in the dry ingredients and blend with a spoon, and then get in there with your hands are knead it.

Wash your gooey, sugar cookie battered hands (I wouldn’t judge you if you licked your fingers first), and flour a surface and a rolling pin. Roll out the dough and cut equal amounts of a shape, one with a hole in the middle so it’s just an outline. I used snowflakes because my mom gave me these awesome snowflake cookie-cutters for Christmas, but you can use whatever you want (I suggest hearts for Valentine’s Day…). If you want to make your own shapes, draw it on card-stock, cut it out, and then place it on the dough and trace it with a knife.

Place the shapes onto parchment lined cookie sheets and bake for 12 to 15 minutes, until they just start to brown at the edges.

Allow them to cool, at least so you can handle them without burning yourself. Spread a layer of nutella onto the shape without the hole in the middle. Then sandwich the shape with the cut-out middle on top. If you have it in the house (for some reason I don’t) sift a little confectioner’s sugar on top.

Full disclosure, I bought fake Nutella, it was fair-trade chocolate-hazelnut spread. It tastes exactly the same, and the farmers who grew the cocoa and nuts were treated with some human dignity. I know it’s expensive, but I think it’s important to buy fair trade when it’s available. To learn more, go to http://www.fairtradefederation.org.

Anyway, the cookies were awesome! Totally delicious. Thanks, local bakery, for coming up with such a brilliant idea for me to steal!