Nutella Almond cookies- Thin and Chewy

Don't be shocked to find yet another Nutella inspired recipe. I'm always on the search of that perfect cookie recipe that has the right amount of chew and ever so light crunch around the edge. Know what I mean? I think this may be THE ONE.  It originated from the oatmeal cookie recipe from Love Veggies and Yoga. I made 2 batches of these cookies for 2 different groups of people in one week and it was a huge hit both times!

Since that was such a big hit, I wanted to use the same genetics for a nutella cookie. I mean why not?  Try it. You won't be sorry.

In fact, I will be shocked if you eat just one cookie.

Ingredients:

-  1 stick (1/2 cup) butter- 70% browned butter, 30% regular melted

-  1/2 c brown sugar

-  1/4 c white sugar

-  1 c sifted all purpose flour

-  1/4c slivered toasted almonds (toast in oven or on a skillet)

-  1 egg

-  1.5 tsp vanilla extract

- 1/4 c nutella

-  1/2 tsp baking soda

-  pinch of salt

Directions:

1. Make  browned butter form 3/4 of the stick of butter. If you want to skip a step, just melt the butter. But making the browned butter is totally worth it, if you ask me.

2.  To the browned butter, add the remaining 1/4 stick. Let it cool to somewhat room temperature.

3.  In a mixing bowl, beat egg, sugar, butter mixture until it's light yellow and fluffy.

4.  Add vanilla and nutella and mix.

5.  In another mixing bowl,  combine baking soda, flour and a pinch of salt.

6.  Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in thirds mixing with a wooden spoon until just combined.

7.  Add the toasted almonds to the cookie dough and combine well with the spoon.

8.   Spoon out 8 cookie dough balls per sheet and flatten slightly with your hand.

9.   Bake at 350F for 8-9 minutes.

10.  Allow to cool  (this is the hardest part, trust me).

Date with the Cookie Dough Scoop

I got a cookie dough scoop last week  as a present. It was one of those things I had always put off buying, you know because I thought "I could get by without it" or "it took too much room in my limited spaced kitchen drawer"  or "do I reeeeeealllly need another gadget?". Needless to say I ended up with cookies of various sizes and dimensions, not to mention messy hands.

Obviously I had to give it a test run, so I made Nutella Walnut cookies earlier today.

Update: I have modified the original recipe (from the link above) several times and finally got the right combination of ingredients.

Nutella Walnut Cookies

Ingredients:
(Makes about 20 cookies)

• 1c All Purpose flour
• 1 stick butter (1/2 cup)- 70% browned, 30% regular
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/3 c white sugar (1/2 if you want sweet cookies)
• 1/4 c brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 4 Tbsp Nutella
• 1/4 c unsweetened cocoa
• 1/2 c chopped toasted walnuts

Directions:

< Preheat oven to 375F >

1.  Sift all the dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl (flour, baking soda, salt, cocoa

2.  Melt 3/4 of the stick of butter until you get browned butter. This is a good tutorial on how to make browned butter.

3.  Add the remaining 1/4 of the stick to the browned butter. Let cool for 10 minutes.

4.  In another mixing bowl, mix brown sugar, white sugar, butter and egg until it's light yellow. Then add vanilla and nutella and mix for a few more seconds.

5.  Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in thirds mixing with a wooden spoon until just combined.

6.  Add walnuts.

7.  Using a cookie dough scoop or icecream scoop, place the dough balls  on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Press down to create a flat thin disc. The cookies will spread a little bit.

8. Bake for 8-9 minutes in 375F oven. Place on a cooling rack.

So the bottom line really is if you like pretty, uniform cookies- GET THE SCOOP!! The bonus is you will have clean hands too.

Nutella Walnut Cookies- variation

I wanted to bake these to take to give to family in India. After all, who's really going to complain if something involves chocolate, nutella, butter and nuts? I threw in the nuts at the last moment, quite literally, because initially I had planned on oatmeal/raisin/walnut and then my sister kindly informed me that she really just wants nutella cookies. Okay! So I just combined the two.

This time I followed a different recipe and I think I like this better. What's different?

1) Higher white sugar to brown sugar ratio

2) Room temperature dough (not chilled) which enables the cookie to spread easier resulting in a chewier and less cakier cookie.

3)  I used part browned butter and part regular softened room temperature butter. This really really enhances the flavour.

I also got some of these tips from an Alton Brown cookie episode I had watched just the previous day in which he talks about the basic differences in the three types of cookies- Thin, Puffy and Chewy. Very, very helpful, IMHO.

The rest of the recipe is very similar to this one from ivoryhut except I added little more than 1/2 cup white sugar and 1/4 cup brown sugar. I also threw in semi sweet chocolate chips for good measure.

Nutella makes everything better

I'm actually a bit surprised that I have not blogged yet about Nutella. In case you have not heard, it's the next best thing since the invention of the wheel.

The variety in applications is mind numbing. It makes anything  taste that much better. It's a chocolate hazelnut spread with skim milk powder. I take comfort in the fact that it's got skim milk and the hazelnuts are good for you. Right? Right. Now, you no longer need to buy the brand name- I recently discovered the generic store brand is just as good. It's great to slather on bread, dip with fruit or ...erm...broccoli. I actually have vivid memories of eating raw radishes dipped in this stuff while growing up.  Anyway you get the idea. 

It's also a really great baking ingredient. A few tablespoons of this along with cocoa powder in cookies or cupcakes is da bomb. 

So for Halloween while staying at a cousin's here, I made these Nutella cookies and as some of you have asked for the recipe, here it is-  (no pictures, sorry).

Edit Nov 15 - I made another batch last evening, and I remembered to click!

Nutella cookies  (adapted from smittenkitchen.com)

(makes 30 cookies)

1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon  (I skipped this)
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt  (I use about 1/2 tsp )
7 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temp. (I used one full stick which is 8 Tbsp)
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup light brown sugar  (I skipped this)
2/3 cup Nutella (chocolate hazelnut spread)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips  (I skipped this)
1/2 cup toasted & skinned hazelnuts, coarsely chopped  (I skipped this)

Preheat oven to 350F.

Sift together flour, cocoa, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside dry ingredients.

Cream together butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in Nutella and vanilla extract. Mix in egg.

Add flour mixture and mix until just incorporated. Add chocolate chips and hazelnuts.

Drop tablespoons of dough 2 inches apart onto parchment lined baking sheets. Bake for about 11 minutes until the edges look set. Cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes then carefully remove to cooling racks.