How have I not posted a recipe containing Nutella yet?  I mean, it’s only one of the best indulgences out there.  Which is why I try not to buy it too often-because it can quickly be a downward spiral that inevitably ends with me having sticky hands and a Nutella mustache.  You see, I can get a little out of control.

I have to thank my new nursing friends for reintroducing me to my long-lost love.  One day, there suddenly appeared  a jar of Nutella in the work room…and a box of graham crackers.  And that was the end of me.  I had to contain myself in an effort not to become a complete Nutella hog, but my resolution was made.  During the next trip to the store, I would purchase my own jar of Nutella.  And so I did.  That night, I laid in bed, watching girly TV, with apple slices and Nutella (and sticky hands and a Nutella mustache).

These cookies are great.  They are tiny and cute as a button with a big dollop of Nutella in the middle.  I loved the sugar cookie base, and the toasted hazelnuts actually brought a little savoriness to the cookies.  And, the Nutella just made it even better.

Hazelnut Nutella Thumbprints

Servings:  approximately 18-20 cookies

Ingredients

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/2 cup plus two tablespoons sugar

1 large egg, separated***Throw the whites in the fridge-you won’t use them for a while.

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 and 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup skinned hazelnuts, toasted and chopped finely **  To toast them, place them on a baking sheet at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes. I used my food processor to quickly pulse the hazelnuts a few times.

1/2 cup Nutella

Instructions

1. In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter and 1/2 cup of the sugar and cream on medium speed for about 2-3 minutes.

2. With the mixer still running, add the egg yolk and the vanilla.

3. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the flour and salt, scraping down the sides of the mixing bowl as necessary.

4. Gently form the dough into a ball and wrap tightly in plastic wrap.  Refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

5. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

6.  In a small bowl, combine the finely chopped hazelnuts and the remaining two tablespoons of sugar.

7.  Using your hands, roll the dough into 18 or so round 1-inch balls.

8. Dip the balls in the egg whites, using a fork to cover the balls completely.

9. Dip each ball into the chopped hazelnuts, coating completely.

10. Place the dough balls on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet.

11. Using your thumb, or the end of a wooden spoon, gently press the center of each cookie in to form a central well.

12. Bake the cookies for 10 minutes.

13. Remove the cookies from the oven and gently press down the centers of the cookies again (I also re-shaped them slightly if they cracked at all).

14.  Return the cookies to the oven and continue to bake for another 8 to 10 minutes, or until golden brown.

15. Remove the cookies from the oven and let cool slightly on a wire rack.

16. Using a piping bag or a small melon baller, scoop Nutella into the centers of each cookie.  **You may not use all of the Nutella.  So enjoy the leftovers.  :)

Source: Adapted from Martha Stewart’s Cookies.

Today is my nephew Elliott’s 4th birthday.  Today this post is to him.

Dear Elliott:

I love you so much.  You are growing into a little boy right before my eyes.  I remember the day your Mommy told me that you were growing in her belly.  I couldn’t believe how much love I felt for you at that moment, especially because I didn’t even know you yet!

You are getting into the phase of liking to tease and trick people, which is very funny to the rest of us.  The whole time you were in your mommy’s belly, we thought you were a little girl..so we called you Caroline the whole time and even bought you lots of pretty girl clothes.  I was there the minute you were born; I was holding your mommy’s hand and your daddy was holding her other hand.  When you came out and the doctor said you were a boy, we all just looked at one another.  Your daddy was so excited to show you cars and trucks and all sorts of things.  We went out into the waiting room to tell GiGi and Papa and the rest of the family that you were here and you were a BOY…and everybody was laughing.  You tricked us then!  :)

Since the day you were born, every day I love you even more and more.  You never cease to amaze me and to teach me how wonderful being alive can be.  You are incredibly observant and smart, and I am so proud of you.  I love that you can tell me every make and model of the cars/trucks/construction equipment on the road.  I love that you know what all the dinosaurs are called.  And I also love that you teach me Spanish words.  Aunt Sammy and I laugh when you tell us to slow down when we drive or that we are silly girls.  I love taking you to the movies and eating popcorn together.  I also love that some of the books and movies I loved as a child are now your favorites, too.   I love how you are a wonderful big brother to Oliver and you are teaching him how to do things now.  You are a fantastic big brother! I love it when you make your silly faces to me, and shhhh, (don’t tell anyone), but I also secretly love it when I say “I love you” to you and you sometimes say back “I DON’T love you.”  But I know you do because sometimes you will come up to me and whisper in my ear that you really do love me…and no one knows that.

I’m missing your pirate birthday party today and I am so sad that I am not there to see you blow out the candles on the treasure chest cake your mommy is making you. I know that you will have so much fun.  I hope you liked these cookies that I made for you (and the rest of your birthday surprises!).  I wanted them to be wacky and silly and just like the zebras we saw at the zoo.

I love you, Elliott.  I miss you very much.  Happy 4th birthday.

Love,

Aunt Shanon

Elliott’s Wacky Spiral Cookies

Servings:  Approximately 24 cookies

Ingredients

2 cups cake flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup powdered sugar

1/4 cup granulated sugar

2 and 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, cut into 1-tablespoon portions

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon almond extract***Or any other flavor

Few drops black food color gel, to your desired tint

2 tablespoons cake flour

Approximately 1 to 1 and 1/2 cups colored sprinkles of your choice

****Note:  Please check out the fantastic tutorial on SprinkleBakes website (see the link below at the end of this post).  Hers are perfect.  Mine, on the other hand, are far from it.  I would not advise making these in an apartment without air conditioning on a 90-degree day like I did (even though I chilled them for super long!).  In the end, I loved the imperfections of the cookies because I really was reminded of the zebras at the zoo, but if you want a perfect roll, crank up your AC and work as quickly as possible to avoid the doughs melting and not holding a solid consistency.

Instructions

1. In the bowl of your food processor, combine the cake flour, baking powder, salt, powdered sugar, and granulated sugar.

2. Pulse the mixture a few times.

3. Add the butter, one piece at a time, to the mixture and pulse after each one (or put them through the feed tube while the motor is running) until the dough looks like wet sand.

4. Add the vanilla and mix to combine.  The dough should form a soft ball at this point.

5. Remove the dough from the processor and divide it into two equal portions.

6. Place one half back into the food processor.

7. Add the almond extract, the black food coloring gel, and the 2 tablespoons of cake flour to the dough in the food processor.  Pulse the mixture until the food coloring is evenly distributed throughout the dough.

8. On a clean surface, place the uncolored dough between two sheets of wax or parchment paper.  Using a rolling pin, roll the dough (between the papers) to an 11 x 8 and 1/2-inch rectangle, about 1/8-inch thick.

9.  Immediately place the dough on a baking sheet and chill in the refrigerator.

10.  Repeat the rolling process with the black dough, and refrigerate both doughs until firm, at least 2 or 3 hours.

11.  Once firm, remove the top piece of parchment paper from the tops of both of the doughs.

12. Using a silicone or pastry brush, lightly brush the top of the uncolored dough with water (so the doughs will stick together!)

13.  Using the parchment paper,  lift the almond dough and flip it, face down, on top of the uncolored, or vanilla, dough.

14. Using your fingertips or lightly with a rolling pin, firmly press the black dough on top of the vanilla dough to seal the edges and remove air bubbles.

15. Remove the top piece of the parchment paper.

16. Using a sharp knife, carefully trim the edges of the doughs so that they are even.

17. At this point, begin to roll the doughs in a rolling fashion, starting at the closest long edge to you, making sure to keep the rolls as tight together as possible.  **I found this part to be incredibly hard because my dough was ripping due to the heat.  Chilling it a little bit longer seemed to help with this.

18. Once you have a complete roll, pour the sprinkles into a shallow, wide pan and roll the cookie dough into the sprinkles, pressing gently to get them to adhere tightly.

19. Wrap the cookie dough tightly with plastic wrap and chill until firm, at least 4 hours.

20.  Once chilled, pre-heat your oven to 325 degrees.

21. Slice the cookie dough log into 1/4-inch thick slices and place the cookies onto a parchment-lined baking sheet.

22.  Bake the cookies until the edges are lightly golden brown, about 16 minutes or so.

Source:  Barely adapted from SprinkleBakes.  Please check out her fantastic tutorial with pictures.

Ready for a monster of a dessert?  All right.  Hold on to your seats…because here it is.

You may have seen these floating around the blogosphere.  I experienced them firsthand when Annie brought in a batch for a birthday at work…and let me just say…I was waiting, (just waiting) for another opportunity to experience these again.  Now, a caveat:  these are not for those of you who have a hard time with sweets.  Because this is an in-your-face over-the-top cupcake.

This is a chocolate chip cupcake….with a surprise cookie dough center..topped with a brown sugary buttercream…and then (to make it completely offensive) a mini chocolate chip cookie is what tops the whole thing off.  But, before you make these, there are a few things you should know.  This isn’t a dessert you should attempt the night before.  These cupcakes are a little bit of a time investment (but totally worth it, in my humble opinion), so stagger out your baking process.  Make your mini chocolate chip cookies one or two days in advance.  The filling can also be made in advance and refrigerated.  And, while we’re talking about the filling, one of the reasons why I like this recipe in particular is the fact that the filling is egg-free…meaning if you are a bit skittish about eating raw eggs in cookie dough, you are in the clear with these cupcakes.  The brown sugar buttercream frosting?  It’s made with a lot of brown sugar, so it retains a bit of that grainy brown sugary texture, so if you want a super creamy and smooth frosting, you could substitute in a simple vanilla buttercream.  Because there is a lot of butter in this recipe, the cupcake liners may bleed through a little (hence the extra liner), so if you have cheap liners you want to get rid of…use those and then use your pretty liners for the outer layer.  Either way, if you are looking for a piece of pure cupcake extravagance, I would advise making these as soon as possible.

But make sure you have a glass of milk nearby.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes

Servings: 24 cupcakes

Ingredients

For the cupcakes:

24 tablespoons (3 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 and 1/2 cups light brown sugar

4 large eggs, at room temperature

2 and 2/3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup milk**I used skim because that’s what I had on hand.

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips**regular or mini size

For the cookie dough filling:

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature

6 tablespoons light brown sugar

1 cup plus an additional 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

7 ounces sweetened condensed milk**I could only find a 14-ounce can at the store.  I just eyeballed it and used about half.

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup semisweet (or bittersweet) chocolate chips**You can use either mini or chopped chocolate pieces. I ran out of mini chocolate chips, so I just chopped up some bittersweet chocolate.

For the brown sugar frosting:

24 tablespoons (3 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

3/4 cup light brown sugar

3 and 1/2 cups confectioners’ (powdered) sugar

1 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons milk

2 and 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

For garnish:

Mini chocolate chip cookies***I baked mine for about 12 minutes total, but I checked them frequently to ensure that I didn’t overbake them.

Additional mini chocolate chips

Instructions

1. For the cupcakes:  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. Line your cupcake pans with the liners of your choice.

3. In the bowl of your standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and brown sugar at medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.

4. Reduce the speed to low and add the eggs, one at a time, and mixing well after each addition.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl as necessary.

5. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

6. With the mixer still on low speed, add the flour mixture to the butter/brown sugar, alternating with the milk in thirds…beginning with and ending with the flour mixture.

7. Add the vanilla to the cupcake batter and mix until combined.

8. Add the chocolate chips to the mixture and gently stir them in with a spatula.

9. Divide the batter evenly among your cupcake pans and bake until a tester inserted into the centers comes out clean, about 18-20 minutes total, rotating and switching the pans halfway during the baking time.

10. Remove the cupcakes from the oven and let cool completely.

11. For the cookie dough filling: In the bowl of your standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.

12. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the flour, sweetened condensed milk, and vanilla, mixing thoroughly.

13. Gently stir in the chocolate chips until completely mixed.  Cover the filling with plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm. **If you make this ahead of time, be sure to pull the filling out of the fridge about an hour before using so it can be easily scooped into the cupcakes.

14. For the brown sugar frosting:  In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.

15. Reduce the mixer speed to low, and slowly add the confectioners’ sugar until completely combined.

16. Add the flour and salt.

17.  Add the milk and vanilla extract, mixing until well combined and smooth.

18.  For the assembly (my favorite part!):  Using a sharp paring knife, very carefully cut a cone-shaped portion out of the top of each cupcake.  ***You can discard these or snack on them relentlessly like I did.

19. Using a melon baller or your hands, gently scoop or roll about a tablespoon of the cookie dough filling (just eyeball it) and place it in the coned out portion of the cupcake.

20. Pipe the frosting over the top of each cupcake, using your desired pastry tip (I used my personal favorite, my Wilton 1M).

21.  Top each cupcake with a cookie and some chocolate chips!

Source:  Recipe directly from Annie’s Eats.  Original recipe inspired by Hello, Baker!.  Original cake recipe adapted from Cupcake Bakeshop, frosting from The Cupcake Review and How to Eat a Cupcake.