Cray-cray for Nutella: #63 and #64

So, this is more or less a blog I've been "guilt-stricken" into writing, if that makes any sense. My diet hasn't been good, at all. Thankfully, my gym habits have been keeping off the weight (I LOVE FREE WEIGHTS!). I just haven't felt compelled to do anything... pretty much everything in my responsibility has fallen to the wayside, whether it be blogging, correcting papers, or genuinely wanting to be at school. But due to the fact that I realized the end of my one year challenge is drawing upon us (Spring already??), the necessity of this post really kind of smacked me upside the head.

Much like life itself is doing these days. Sigh.

ANYWAYS, long story short, last week I needed to bake. NEEDED TO. And I knew I NEEDED to bake with Nutella. I had found a great Nutella cookie recipe that I hadn't used yet, and I was just chomping at the bit to try it, especially considering the people I was baking for had no known peanut allergies (sorry little A, Auntie Kristen will make it up to you!). Now, the trouble began when I went to the store to pick up the necessary ingredients. Albertson's evidently was having a sale on Nutella, which should be a total *WOOT! SCORE ONE FOR KRISTEN!* kind of moment, but what it really meant was the store was out of the typical sized Nutella jars. What I had to purchase instead? I'd like to introduce you to...

*La avellana grande!*


... which evidently translates to THE BIG HAZELNUT in English, via Google Translator

Actually, this picture DOESN'T do the jar justice. This baby was big. Upon seeing the aforementioned jar, my mother pointed at it and yelled "YOU GET THAT THING AWAY FROM  ME!" because she understands the power of Nutella spread and the damages it can cause to an Ideal Protein Diet. 

Anyways, long story short, I had enough Nutella to feed a small army, so I decided to do what any other normal human being would do with it- bake not ONE, but TWO treats. And here they be:

#63: Peanut Butter and Nutella Swirl Cookies (as found on http://delightfulbitefuls.blogspot.com)

Ingredients: 

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup smooth peanut butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
Approx. 1/4 cup Nutella

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350° F.

2. Combine butter, peanut butter, sugars, egg, and vanilla. Mix until well blended.

3. Add flour, baking soda and salt. Drizzle Nutella on top of the dough then swirl it through the dough with a butter knife. 

4. Chill dough 15 minutes in the refrigerator. Roll into balls by hand. Place on parchment lined cookie sheet. Using a fork, press down the balls to flatten slightly. Bake until edges are very lightly browned (about 7 to 10 minutes). 

That's it! Easy, and actually pretty good. Although to be forewarned, working with the Nutella in this batter was kind of a pain in the rear. It didn't want to blend very well with the peanut butter dough, so I ended up making these nice round balls with smears of Nutella almost hanging off of them. Definitely not a pretty cookie, but delicious all the same.

Now, the next cookies were obviously a result of my panicked, "What am I going to do with all of this Nutella?" state of mind. I found this recipe on Pinterest, and the recipe SOUNDED better than it actually was... I tempted to write the owner of that blog to let them know they should rename these cookies "Cowpie cookies," because that's what they look like. 

#64: Nutella Cookies (AKA: Kristen's Cowpies... as found on http://tastykitchen.com)

Ingredients:

1 cup Nutella

½ cups Sugar

1 cup All-purpose Flour

1 whole Egg

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.

2. Blend all ingredients together well. Form into 1″ balls. 

3. Place on a cookie sheet. Press down firmly with the bottom of a glass. Bake 7-8 minutes or until set. Cool.

Okay, I'm sorry, but my cookies, when smushed onto the cookie sheet using the bottom of the glass, didn't turn out like the perfectly round ones shown on the websites picture. Instead, mine literally looked like smashed cow pies... not exactly appetizing. They also had a really gritty texture, so needless to say, I am Nutella-ed out!

What did I tell you? NOT very pretty.