Nutella Chocolate Chip Cookies

I hope everyone is doing well. I cannot believe Christmas is next week! I’m super excited for Christmas this year because its the first year that Kaylin “gets” the whole Santa thing (well, sort of).  Speaking of Kaylin, she had a few fun park play dates this week. The first was with her friend Lila (Happy Birthday Lila!!!):

 

They’re totally bffs.

The second was with her friends Ryan and Liam. It is over 70 degrees in Charleston today. The perfect day for a park date (notice the photo bomber in the background):

  

 

Although this week has been filled with fun play dates, great runs & classes at the gym….something sort of scary happened last night. On the way to the food store, my car got rear ended. The driver of the other car was playing with his phone. Just a reminder to all of us to PUT the phones away when you drive. I’m guilty of looking down at my every now and again….but from now on- I plan to put it in the back seat.

 

And now, for a yummy recipe. I recently made the Brown Eyed Baker’s nutella hazelnut cookies. I decided to forgo the extra powdered sugar and nuts and added chocolate chips (I also made a batch with no nuts and just chocolate chips). Here is my slightly modified version.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1¼ cups Nutella
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1-1/3 cups granulated sugar
• 2 eggs, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon instant espresso powder
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1/2 cups hazelnuts, chopped
• Desired quantity chocolate chips or chunks
  

Directions:

Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl; set aside. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat the Nutella, butter, and granulated sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the eggs, vanilla, and espresso powder and mix until incorporated. Reduce the speed to low and alternate additions of flour mixture and milk, starting and ending with the flour, and mixing until just combined after each addition. Fold in the hazelnuts. Refrigerate the dough for at least 1/2 hour.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Use a cookie dough scoop or two spoons to place even balls of dough onto the prepared baking sheets. Use a fork to lightly flatten the dough. Bake for 10-11 minutes until the edges are set and the middle still looks a tad soft. Let cookies cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet and then remove to a cooling rack.

 

YUM!

What are you all doing for Christmas (if you celebrate)? We are having both of our parents and Josh’s sister over. I can’t wait!