Peanut Butter & Nutella Cookies

I have a slight obsession with peanut butter. Growing up, my pap always made me these sandwiches that I still love today. Ready for this? We called it the "bread, butter, peanut butter, cheese whiz and sugar" sandwich. Because that's exactly what we had on a slice of bread, in that order, and it's served (haha) open-faced. Muy delicioso. If you've never had this sandwich, (and let's be honest here, pretty much no has has because my pap was the greatest and he created it and just shared it with my sister and me) then you have noooo idea what you're missing. I made Ryan taste it and he almost threw up so maybe it's an acquired taste for sophisticated taste buds. :o)

My grandma also bought Nutella for us when we were little. So when the big Nutella craze came around about a year ago and people completely lost their minds over how damn good it is, I sat back and was like, How has no one ever ate this before? It's like crack on a spoon. In Germany they make a nougat cream that is so much better than Nutella even. It's creamier and chocolatier and I'll stop right now because I am desperately craving some. 

I've recently been eating peanut butter and Nutella on whole wheat toast. Definitely try this. Peanut butter on whole wheat and a glass a milk is my go to breakfast (at like 11AM, who are these people who can eat at 5:30 in the morning?!) and I started adding Nutella to it. The Nutella adds some calories but it's also really good so I think the good outweighs the bad here. I've even had Nutella and peanut butter on pancakes. Can't go wrong with that, either.

I came across a recipe for...wait for it...Peanut Butter and Nutella Cookies. Shut the front door! Why did I never think of this?? I am kicking myself for depriving myself of this chewy goodness for so long. But now that I know how to make these and have made some improvements, I'm ready to share the recipe with everyone. Ryan said they were just okay and then he had eight of them so I'm not so sure he's a good guinea pig. Try them out and let me know what you think!

Peanut Butter and Nutella Cookies (adapted from une Gamine dans la Cuisine)

makes approximately 45 (it probably makes 60...I ate 3 cups of batter)

1 cup butter (2 sticks) room temperature

1 cup peanut butter (creamy or crunchy – I used creamy)

1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

2 2/3 cup flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt

heaping 2/3 cup Nutella

Cream butter, peanut butter, sugar, brown sugar, eggs and vanilla together until smooth. 

Combine flour, baking soda and salt and add to butter mixture. 

Add Nutella in dollops over the top of the dough.  Use a butter knife to swirl the Nutella through the dough.  Do not over mix. 

Chill the dough in fridge for 15 minutes before spooning onto cookie sheet to firm the Nutella. Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes.  Bake until slightly brown at edges. 

Let cool a few minutes on cookie sheet before transferring.

 

Some helpful hints...the original recipe calls for 1/3 cup Nutella...add more. You don't get enough Nutella flavor in 1/3 cup. Just eyeball it. And bake for 10 minutes. I think next time I'll sprinkle some sugar on top as they come out or maybe even mix up some Butterfingers into the batter.