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Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Chocolate Nutella Sandwich Cookies with Sea Salt & Cacao Nibs



So - I made a batch of cookies last Thursday night. It was my first time baking cookies in a good while. Greg and I had plans to meet our friends for pizza up at my parents' house last Friday night. Our friends said they would bring a salad, so I decided I'd make a dessert.

A few weeks ago my coworkers and I planned and participated in a dessert day. One of my friends brought in Nutella sea salt cookies, and they were pretty amazing. She told me the original recipe called for making them sandwich cookies stuffed with Nutella, but she had ran out of time when she made them the night before. I asked her where she got the recipe from because I knew I wanted to make them. I also knew I wanted to put them over the top by stuffing 'em!

I made the Nutella cookies last Thursday night. It was my first time making a sandwich cookie, and it was kind of exciting. I called my friends to confirm plans, and sadly, their son came down with the stomach bug that day, so they had to cancel on us. What was I going to do with all the cookies? Greg said "the cookies are okay." I think he was mad at me for making them or something, because I thought they were better than okay. I brought some to work yesterday to confirm. One of my coworkers said to me "Okay, first of all, your husband is INSANE. Second of all, these are one of the most amazing things I have ever tasted." She then went on to tell me she does not even like Nutella very much, but she loved the cookies. Others who tried them also thought they were pretty incredible. I know I ate a lot of them myself yesterday, but hopefully not too many,  since the container was empty by the end of the day.

They are pretty amazing. You'll love them if you love Nutella and you'll love them if you love chocolate. If you don't love one or the other, you are insane just like my husband (JK)! Enjoy.

Recipe for Chocolate Nutella Sandwich Cookies with Sea Salt & Cacao Nibs

INGREDIENTS:
For the cookie
1/2 cup of dutch-processed cocoa powder
1 1/4 cups of all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp. of quick oats, such as Quaker quick oats
Just under 1 tsp. of baking soda
Just over 1/4 tsp. of baking powder
A pinch of coarse sea salt
1 1/2 cups of sugar in the raw (or granulated sugar)
1 1/2 sticks (12 Tbsp.) unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
3 Tbsp. of Nutella or other chocolate hazelnut spread
1 egg
Coarse sea salt, for sprinkling
Flour, for pressing dough
For the filling 
3 Tbsp. unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
1 1/2 cups of Nutella
3 Tbsp. of cacao nibs

DIRECTIONS:
For the cookies
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line 3 baking pans with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Combine the cocoa powder, flour, oats, baking soda, baking powder, and sea salt in a medium bowl. In a large bowl, use an electric hand mixer set on medium-low speed to beat together the sugar, softened butter, and Nutella. Beat until the mixture is smooth and ingredients are well incorporated. Add in the egg, and beat on low until it mixed in. Add half of the dry ingredients into the butter/sugar mixture. Beat on low speed until just incorporated, then add in the rest of the dry ingredients and beat until well incorporated.
Use a cookie dough scoop to scoop up about 1 Tbsp. of the mixture and to shape into a ball. Drop each scoop onto the prepared baking sheets, placing them about 1-inch apart.
Very lightly butter the bottom of a glass that is about 2-inches in diameter. Dust the bottom of the glass with flour. Press the bottom of the glass down onto a mound of dough until it is flattened into a circle. Dust the bottom of the glass in more flour as needed, continuing to use it to flatten all of the mounds of dough. Then sprinkle each with desired amount of coarse sea salt. Put a baking sheet in the oven and cook for 9 minutes. Since they do not require much baking time, I just put one cookie sheet at a time in the oven. Let cookies cool on pan for 2 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
For the filling
Put butter and Nutella into a medium bowl. Beat the softened butter and Nutella together with an electric hand mixer set on medium speed until well blended. Stir in the cacao nibs. Once cookies have cooled completed, stuff them with the Nutella filling. Spread about 1 Tbsp. of the mixture onto one cookie, then put another cookie on top and lightly press down to make a sandwich. Yum - it will be the best sandwich you have ever had!

*Recipe makes 36 non-sandwich cookies & makes 18 sandwich cookies. Cookies can be cut in half* Store cookies in an airtight container - they also stay fresher if stored in the fridge. 

Recipe Adapted from: The Faux Martha

update: I made the cookies again & this time Greg said he thought they were really good...

6 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Thanks, Courtney! They are pretty amazing. I want to have one tonight but I've already eaten way too much today - so cookies for me for breakfast, lunch & dinner tomorrow :0)

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  2. These cookies are making my mouth water.

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  3. Thanks, Lisa! I am loving the sweet potato cupcake recipe on your site - YUM! :0)

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  4. These are like a chocoholic dream! I wish I could have a plate of them for dinner. Is that acceptable? I love anything Nutella. :) And chocolate + sea salt is so wonderful together! Yum.

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    Replies
    1. Eating a plate of cookies for dinner is definitely acceptable!

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