Cookies

I’m a big, BIG fan of cookies. All the buttery, sugary deliciousness is just too good to resist! And these little morsels are extra irresistible.

We’ve all had peanut butter kisses (aka Peanut Butter Blossoms), and this recipe is basically the same thing, with a little twist – Nutella instead of Hershey’s Kisses!

What I love most about these is that all of the ingredients, except perhaps the Nutella, are things you probably already have sitting around! Plus, they are easy and quick to make. Here’s how. (Side note: One of these days I will learn to take helpful pictures, instead of what I think might look cool…sorry about that!)

Ingredients
- Jar of Nutella (I end up using about half of a normal sized jar)
- 1/2 cup shortening
- 3/4 creamy peanut butter
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1-1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- Extra granulated sugar

Steps
- Heat oven to 375°F
- Beat shortening and peanut butter in large bowl until well blended. Add 1/3 cup granulated sugar and brown sugar; beat until fluffy.
- Add egg, milk and vanilla; beat well. Stir together flour, baking soda and salt; gradually beat into peanut butter mixture.

- Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Roll in granulated sugar.

- Here’s a close-up shot…just because I like to see how close I can get my camera.

- Take a super big, ungreased cookie sheet and place your dough balls an inch and a half or two inches a part.

- Make a little indentation on the top of each dough ball. This’ll make it easier to drop the Nutella bits on top of the cookies once they have been baked.

- Here’s an attempt to be artsy…. Once you have all the balls you can fit onto a cookie sheet on the cookie sheet, pop it in the oven for 8-10 minutes (with my oven, they are done in exactly 8 minutes). When you take them out, they should have small cracks all over them.

- You can wait for them to cool, or you can drop the Nutella onto the cookies right away. I take two spoons, scoop up about dime sized dollop onto one spoon, then plop it onto the cookie by pushing it off with the other spoon.

- Be warned, the Nutella won’t harden like chocolate kisses, so these are more difficult to store. But, we think they are way more delicious, and they are eaten so quickly, much storage isn’t needed.

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