February | 2014 | Steal The Baking

I got this idea for making peanut butter cookies the other day, but not just any old peanut butter cookies I had to put a little sumtin’ sumtin’ in them, so I decided to go with a little hazelnut spread (aka Nutella or in my case the new Jif hazelnut spread) then I had to decide how to make them and I came across two recipes that I based my variation on:

http://pickfreshfoods.com/2013/08/17/peanut-butter-nutella-cookies/

http://www.thesisterscafe.com/2012/07/peanut-butter-nutella-cookies

I give credit where credit is due, I liked the idea of both of these recipes, but I call this Steal the Baking for a reason. In any case, I made these cookies, they were amazeballs. I think you’ll love them if you give them a try. Here’s the recipe:

Peanut Butter and Nutella Cookies

1/2 cup butter room temperature (1 stick)
2/3 cup peanut butter (chunky or creamy, your choice, I always vote chunky because of texture)
1 egg
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract (optional)
1/3 cup of Nutella or similar chocolate hazelnut spread
1/4 cup plain yogurt (Greek or whatever flavor you want, I went honey)
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups all purpose flour

Makes about two dozen medium sized cookies.

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Cream butter and sugars.

3. Add yogurt, peanut butter, egg, vanilla extract, almond extract (optional, maybe this makes too many different nut flavors, I don’t know, do whatever floats your boat) and mix well.

4. In separate bowl mix dry ingredients. In two parts combine with mixture from step 3 above.

5. Spoon dough onto cookie sheet and flatten. Take teaspoon or so of hazelnut spread and drop on top of cookies. Take small amount of cookie dough and cover up the hazelnut spread, completely or not, make these cookies your own. I did not cover completely as you can see in the photos.

6. Bake at for 8-10 minutes or so depending on your taste. Remember it’s always best to undercook them because the residual heat will keep them cooking for a little bit after they’ve been taken out of the oven. I gave my cookies no more than 9 minutes and out they came.

7. Enjoy with your beverage of choice.