Nutella Cream Pies

Nutella Cream Pies
by Darla
[pic]I’m baa-aaaack.
I know, finally, right?
Sorry, I was MIA, friends, but seriously, I thought I was dying of the zombie plague or something.

I did have a mysterious scratch on my pinky for several days.
At first, I thought it was the infection point.

Turns out it was just a scratch and nothing more, though.

When I didn’t fade away and reanimate as oneof the brain-starved walking dead, I figured I was just regular sick.

And clearly melodramatic.

I was really down for the count, though.

It probably wouldn’t have lasted so long if I hadn’t kept deciding I was all well again, and trying to function like a real human, only to become sweaty, dizzy, and nauseous again for the rest of the day.

I’m still only functioning at about 75% reallife human, though, so I’m taking it easy for a little while longer.

The sick is about 90% gone, thank the Lords of Kobol (who can guess my new obsession???), but it spawned these demon back spasms from the depths of hell, and fighting those is really what has me moving like I’m part sloth.

Anyway, I’m all “whine, whine, whine,” when I’m sure what you really want to know about is thosemouthwatering little beauties up there, huh?

I had a couple more New Year’s Eve treats to share with you all last week, but I just couldn’t get motivated enough to finish writing the posts. Sorry.

So I’m saving them for another appropriate occasion…or next New Year’s Eve…whichever comes first.

Instead, I got my butt in gear and made something new for you.

Since I’m still not top notch, Iwanted to make something quick and easy, but something that is still a special treat.

I had a craving for Nutella one day, and decided to bake it into some kind of cookie. I’ve never baked with Nutella before, and I wasn’t 100% sure what I wanted to make until I thought of my oatmeal cream pie post.
Then I couldn’t stop thinking about a Nutella fluff filling.

And that (laziness combined withsickness rolled into a craving for Nutella and marshmallow fluff in the same treat), folks, is how one of the best cookies evah came into being.
**Vegan/dairy free substitutions included. Nutella is not vegan, but there are some linked alternatives.**
[pic]The cookie portion of these little devils is made up of just a few simple ingredients: all-purpose flour, Nutella (duh), sugar, brown sugar,unsalted butter, an egg, vanilla extract, baking soda, and salt.
I based the recipe on m peanut butter cookie recipe, and it tasted great the first time around, but the cookies came out super crunchy.

I realized that adding Nutella in place of the peanut butter also meant adding more sugar, so I cut the sugars in half and tried again. This time the cookies came out perfect. They’re crisp andsweet on the edges, and soft and fudgy in the centers. Plus, cutting the sugar made the chocolate and hazelnut flavors of the Nutella stand out more.

[pic]For baking the cookies, I stuck with what worked for my peanut butter cookies. I rolled tablespoonfuls of cookie dough into balls…
[pic]…then pressed them down with a fork.
[pic]In the end, you won’t be able to see the lattice design onthese, but it helps to press these down before baking them, and this is a fast, easy way to do that.
If you have little hands that want to help, then rolling and pressing the cookies is perfect for them. As is the next step.

[pic]I wanted a little sugar on top of these, again like PB cookies, but I wanted it to be a little more impressive. I have Sugar in the Raw on hand to use in my tea, so Igrabbed a few packets.
If you don’t have Sugar in the Raw, demerara sugar works beautifully, too. Or you can, of course, use regular granulated sugar.

[pic]Grab your little assistant, and have them dip or sprinkle each of the cookies so that they are coated with sugar on top.
[pic]Like so.
Then just bake the cookies for about 10 minutes, and let them cool while you make some really incredible...