Mini Nutella Cups

From: Daisy Chubb

Ingredients:

1 cup butter (softened)

1 cup white sugar

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

Nutella

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease your mini muffin tin). Cream butter and both sugar in bowl until light, smooth and fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla until fully incorporated. Gradually add dry ingredients (flour, salt, baking soda) until all the flour is mixed in.  Roll dough into balls 1.5 inches thick. Pop them in the mini muffin tin and bake for 10-12 minutes, until golden brown but not too dark around the edges.

When done, remove from oven and let sit for about 2 minutes. Then make wells for the nutella with a shot glass, a similar object or a spoon. Add 1 tbsp Nutella to each cup – it will start to melt quickly so you can swirl it around and make it nice and smooth.

Let cool 15-20 minutes in tin. Remove from tin and place in your mouth. Repeat. Nutella will solidify in about an hour.

Verdict:
I don't have a mini muffin tin, so I made mine in a regular muffin tin. I'm not ashamed to admit I basically ate the middle out of these cookies. With a regular muffin tin, there was just more cookie than Nutella, and the Nutella is soooo good... we just can't have that! I would love to make these with a mini muffin tin. I would definitely recommend this recipe if you have a mini tin!

Nutella Swirl Brownies

From: Mixed together a recipe from here and here

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 square unsweetened chocolate
1 square semi-sweet chocolate
3/4 cup flour
1/2 cup Nutella

Beat butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until soft and creamy; gradually add sugar, beating well. Add eggs and chocolate, mixing well. Add flour to butter mixture, mixing well. Spoon batter into an 8-inch square pan. Heat the Nutella for about 20 seconds in a small bowl in the microwave, just enough to soften it enough to swirl over the batter. Drop by the spoonful over the batter, swirling it a bit with the spoon or the tip of a knife. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until just set and the edges are starting to pull away from the sides of the pan.

Verdict:
Thumbs up! Oh, delicious! I wanted to make Nutella swirl brownies but I didn't have the amount of baking chocolate called for in this recipe. So I looked through my old brownies recipes and found this one. It only called for 2 oz of baking chocolate so I used my only ounce of unsweetened and one ounce of semisweet. These brownies are so yummy! The Nutella doesn't stand out a ton but it does add a nice texture and flavor to the brownies. These brownies are so yummy too, very chewy and delicious! I definitely recommend this recipe, or the original Nutella-swirl recipe even though I haven't tested that one yet. I'll test it in the future, I assure you. :)

Nutella Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies

From: Here

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup butter
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup Nutella

 Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a stand or electric mixer, beat the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla, continue to beat until well combined. Place flour and baking soda into a bowl; mix to combine then add slowly to wet ingredients along with the chocolate chips. Scoop a large spoonful of dough and flatten it into the palm of your hand. Add in some nutella into the middle, about 1-2 tsp. Then fold cookie dough back up so that it seals and covers the nutella entirely. Bake for about 10-14 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Remove and let cool for a few minutes before serving.

Looking like regular ol' cookies:

*Droooool*

 "Nom, nom, nom!"

What I did differently from this recipe:
Well, at first I halved the recipe because usually cookie recipes make so many. Unfortunately, though, I was supposed to be making these as a dessert for my parents after lunch tomorrow... by bedtime there were only two cookies left! Oops. So I made some more, and this time I did NOT cut the recipe in half. I believe the halved recipe made 10-12, but it would definitely depend on how large you make your cookies. The original author of this recipe stated that the original recipe made a dozen cookies for her.

Verdict:
A resounding thumbs up! I had heard of Nutella before, mainly because my college roomie was obsessed with it but I never actually tried it until last week at my parent's house. Mom and I had both gotten a very good price on Nutella and she told me I just had to try it. After one spoonful - I knew these cookies were our destiny for this week's lunch! Go make them. Now.