Nutella Kiss Cookies

The other day I was talking to my sister about the cookie baking status here (feel like I haven’t done enough yet, despite the boxes and boxes of cookies stacked in the dining room), and I asked her if there was anything in particular, cookie-wise, that she would like. 

Yes, when time permits, I do requests.

And she said she’d like those peanut butter cookies with the Hershey kiss stuck in the middle.

You know, these:

So I made a batch.

And while I was making them, I thought “Hmmm…what if I used Nutella instead of peanut butter?”

And to that I replied “I think that would be a fun and tasty experiment!”

So last night, while dinner bubbled away in the oven, I put together a cookie dough loosely based on the peanut butter cookie dough.

I covered the bowl of dough with plastic wrap and stuck it in the fridge overnight. 

This morning, after Bill had left for work, I turned the oven on and started rolling little balls of this FABULOUS smelling dough.

I used a plain old teaspoon to scoop out bits of dough, and the balls were maybe an inch in diameter at most. 

I rolled each ball of dough in some granulated sugar and placed them in neat and orderly rows on parchment lined cookie sheets.

I baked them for ten minutes, and while they were in there I unwrapped a bunch of Hershey’s Kisses.  For these, I used the dark chocolate kind.  (I used the traditional, original milk chocolate kisses for the peanut butter cookies, but I thought dark would go better with the Nutella.)

After ten minutes, I pulled the pans out and stuck a kiss in the center of each cookie, then I popped them back in the oven for 2-3 minutes. 

Now, I need to play around with this recipe a bit, because though the cookies look nicely puffed in the image below, as they cooled, they deflated. 

Taste-wise, I think they’re fine, but I’d like them to be a bit more cakey.  I’ll let you know how that goes, once I have the time to experiment.

These cookies are VERY best shortly after they’ve come out of the oven.  The kiss is still soft and melty at that point – chocolate heaven.  My son nearly fainted from joy when he tried one of these this morning.  (After he’d eaten a healthy breakfast, of course.)  Julia and the stairs to the basement wore most of the chocolate from her cookie, but she’s not as big a chocolate fan as Alex is anyway, so no loss to her.  And hey, I’ve got nothing better to do all day than clean chocolate stains on carpeting and clothing.

Now, I ran out of the dark chocolate kisses (no, I wasn’t eating them!) so I used 4 of the milk chocolate kind for the remaining cookies.  I’ve sampled both (in the interest of science or something) and I think my instincts were right – these cookies require the dark chocolate kisses.  But you can decide that for yourself, of course.

Here’s my recipe:

Nutella Kiss Cookies

(makes about 55 cookies)

Ingredients:

1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature

3/4 cup Nutella

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

2 tablespoons milk

1 teaspoon vanilla (I’m thinking a little Frangelico would be a nice flavoring, too.  We didn’t have any, though, so I couldn’t try it out.) (Yet.)

1 3/4 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

granulated sugar

Hershey’s Special Dark Kisses, unwrapped

How To:

1.  Line 3 sheet pans with parchment paper. 

2.  Whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt.  Set aside.

3.  Cream together the butter and Nutella until smooth.

4.  Blend in the egg, milk and vanilla until smooth.

5.  Stir in the flour mixture until combined.

6.  Refrigerate an hour or so, or overnight to firm up the dough.

7.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  If you plan to bake one cookie sheet at a time, center a rack in the middle of the oven.

8.  Using a regular teaspoon, scoop up some dough and roll it between your hands to form a ball.  Roll the ball in sugar and place on your parchment lined cookie sheet.  Repeat, spacing the balls about 2” apart, until the cookie sheet is filled.

9.  Bake about 10 minutes.

10.  Remove the pan from the oven and quickly place a Hershey kiss in the center of each cookie.  Place the pan back in the oven and bake another 2-3 minutes.

11.  Allow the cookies to cool on the pan. 

12.  These are EXTREMELY yummy after they’ve cooled for about ten minutes.  The Kiss will be nice and melty, and the cookie will be a little crunchy from the sugar coating and a little chewy. 

Enjoy!

Comments

[Domestic Diva]

Those look great but do you absolutely leave them in the fridge overnight?what about 5 hrs?

[Jayne]

No! You dont have to leave them overnight. I did because I wasnt going to have time to bake them last night, but in the actual recipe portion of the post I just wrote to refrigerate an hour or so, or overnight. Its up to you. Five hours would also work. :)

[Lindsay]

These just went on my Christmas Cookie Bake Day List!!!

[yummychunklet]

My newfound love of Nutella means I'll definitely be making these!

[Tonya Hutchins]

That you Jayne for this recipe - I just love ANYTHING that has to do with Nutella. I eat it straight out of the jar. I also put a dab of PB on a cracker and top it with a dab of Nutella - ok not a dab more like a blob LOL

[Annette]

Hmm- Love Nutella, love peanut Butter. But Hershey's? There's no way that my german and swiss-chocolate spoiled tongue will accept it. Been there, tried that and ended up giving the kisses away to the kids I was looking after back then. They were happy. :-)

The cookies look really pretty though with the kiss in the middle. It's too bad that there's no similar shaped chocolate brand around here.