Live, Love, & Eat in Sayulita: Nutella Stuffed Cookies

Cookies, cookies, cookies! Have you ever met anyone who doesn’t love cookies? Honestly, I have not. I recently came upon a recipe for some really yummy ones; Nutella stuffed cookies. These would be so great to serve on your Sayulita patio with a glass of really cold milk. I don’t know why cookies and milk go so well together, but they really do! Or serve with a pitcher of delicious iced tea from Sana Spices Oksana sells at our Friday Mercado del Pueblo during high season. Take them to a potluck or just enjoy yourself as a special treat! You need to try these and very soon!

INGREDIENTS:

• 2&1/4 cups flour - I only use organic flour, and you can find it in Mega’s specialty section in Bucerias, a short drive from Sayulita.
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1&1/2 sticks or 3/4 cup unsalted butter
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract -  Mexico is known for it’s excellent vanilla. You can always find it at Alas Blancas.
• 3/4 cup chilled chocolate hazelnut spread, such as Nutella. If you can’t find it in our tiendas see below for a homemade recipe*

DIRECTIONS:

1. Whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda in a large bowl.
2. Beat together the brown sugar and butter in another large bowl with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes.
3. Add the eggs 1 at time, beating after each addition.
4. Beat in the vanilla.
5. Reduce the speed to low, add the flour mixture, and beat until just incorporated.
6. Divide the dough into 18 equal mounds, each about 2 tablespoons, and flatten slightly with wet hands.
7. Put 1-2 teaspoons of the chilled chocolate-hazelnut spread in the center of each piece of dough, then press and pinch the cookie dough around the spread to form round and sealed balls. Or make a thumbprint in the mound & fill thumbprint with your Nutella. I like to do some of each.
8. Chill in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. 
9. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.
10. Line your baking sheets with parchment paper.
11. Put 8 chilled dough balls onto each prepared baking sheet, spacing them about 1&1/2 inches apart.
12. Bake until the cookies are golden around the edges, about 15- 20 minutes.

Be careful to not overbake because you want your cookies to have a nice soft, almost runny Nutella in the center.

Let the cookies cool for a few minutes on the baking sheets, then transfer to a rack or plate and serve warm if you'd like.

When the baking sheet has cooled completely, bake the remaining dough balls.

Store the cookies in a tightly sealed container at room temperature or freeze. There in lies my problem. Warmed in the microwave from frozen and they are just as if you had taken them fresh out of the oven. Oh so delicious!

*HOMEMADE HAZELNUT CHOCOLATE SPREAD:

• 2 cups raw hazelnuts
• 6 tablespoons baking soda
• 1 cup icing sugar
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 tablespoons hazelnut oil - you can use coconut oil as a substitute. Alas Blancas in Sayulita has a good brand.
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/8 teaspoon salt

METHOD:

1. Toast hazelnuts in a 350 degrees oven until very fragrant & skins are splitting
2.  Put toasted nuts in a clean kitchen towel and twist towel so that hazelnuts are in the center. It now looks like a “cloth bag.” Rub outside of bag veryvigorously with your fingers moving hazelnuts around often. Open and you will find that most of the skins will have rubbed off . Remove the skinned nuts and repeat the rubbing process until all of your nuts are skinned.
3. Roast nuts in oven at 375 degrees untill golden and fragrant. Approximately 10-15 minutes. Be very careful to not burn them at all. Burnt hazelnuts will have a bitter taste.
4. In a food processor, process toasted nuts for about 5 minutes until a smooth paste has formed.
5. Add sugar, cocoa, coconut oil, vanilla, and salt and process about 2 minutes until mixture begins to loosen a bit and becomes glossy.
6. Makes approximately 1&1/2 cups.
7. Store in glass jar in your refrigerator.

I'm not certain what my next column will be, but I know that it will be a good one. So, stay tuned!