Nutella Cookies

Here is the recipe for some pretty amazing cookies!  Turns out, Nutella is only on the top of these extraordinary cookies (I thought they were inside).  But they are soooo good!  Sorry about the bold parenthesis parts, but I wanted to show you how good they still were after not having everything perfect.

Ingredients

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (Mine was sweetened)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt (I used regular)
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into 1/2-inch pieces (I used salted cuz that's all I had)
• 3/4 cup creamy peanut butter, at room temperature (Mine was refrigerated)
• 3/4 cup sugar, plus 1/4 cup
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 egg, room temperature, beaten (Mine was refrigerated)
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (I used imitation cuz that's all I had)
• 1/4 cup Nutella (Or MUCH more :o)

Directions

Put an oven rack in the center of the oven. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper (I didn't used parchment). Set aside.
In a medium bowl, sieve together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt (I just mixed these). Set aside.
In a stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, peanut butter, 3/4 cup of sugar, and light brown sugar together, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed, until smooth, about 30 seconds. Add the egg and vanilla extract and mix until blended. With the machine running on low speed, gradually add the flour mixture until incorporated. (I just used a hand mixer)
Put the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar in a small bowl. Form the dough into 1/4 cup-size balls and roll in the sugar (I did some small ones and they turned out great too). Arrange 5 balls of dough, evenly apart, on each baking sheet. Using a round 1/4 teaspoon measure, or the thin end of a wooden spoon, make a hole in the center of each ball of dough, about 1/2 to 3/4-inch deep. Spoon 1 teaspoon (don't be shy, use more then this!) of Nutella into each hole. Bake for 11 to 14 minutes until the dough has spread and the surface of the cookies are crackled (My cookies didn't spread out). Cool for 5 minutes and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely, about 20 minutes. Arrange the cookies on a serving dish and serve.

So I can't imagine how these would taste if I actually followed the directions to a T.  But they were fabulous how I made them, in a hurry and all!  I didn't try this, but next time I think I will wait and put the Nutella on top of the cookies after they come out of the oven.  After the Nutella was in the oven, it was no longer soft, just a bit firm, but still delicious.

Enjoy!  Let me know if anyone has any other Nutella recipes I could try!