Where it all began...

Apparently I make good cookies. Not just good cookies but awesome cookies. Not my words, the words of my family and friends. Don't get me wrong, I can follow a recipe. But I'm not really sure what makes them so delectible. I almost feel as though I am cheating my family, mostly my husband, out of the tastefulness of life when I make cookies from premade dough or pour them out of a box. They even have their own name: Shari Cookies. These "Shari Cookies" have become the only request of my family as Christmas presents and are a requirement at family parties. It all started Christmas 2005 when I tried to get a cookie exchange going. I made hundreds of cookies in my college apartment all by hand (I didn't yet have a mixer), in an oven that barely fit one pan. My roommate awoke to masses of baked goods covering each and every surface of our living space, save her bedroom and our tiny bathroom. I boxed them all up, well most of them, wrapped them in holiday flare, and placed them under the trees of my unsuspecting family members. With visions of sugar plums fleeing their dreams, they awoke to the sugar spender that has now become the traditional holiday staple. My goal is to get some practice this year. Not that I'm rusty. I absolutely adore baking. However, it seems as though I always go into the holiday cold, without the proper shoes, stretch and warmup. Not this year. This year I plan to outdo all the rest, which will be hard to do, for sure. And so, "The Cookie Project" was born. Each week I plan to make one type of cookie. It must be from scratch and have all the love and tenderness of warm homemade cookies and the subsidial milk, sans the slobber of my husband's spit on the spoon. So, one homemade cookie a week. This can't be good for our waistlines, but he's not complaining...

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Week Nine: Nutella Pocket Cookies

Nutella Pocket Cookies
Yields 4 Dozen Cookies
Courtesy of La Fuji Mama

Ingredients:
1 cup butter, softened
1 pkg 8oz cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups Nutella (probably more)

In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter, cream cheese, and sugar until smooth, light, and fluffy.  Add the vanilla extract and ground cinnamon and mix until well combined.  Gradually add the flour to the creamed mixture and mix well.  Divide the dough into four portions; cover and refrigerate until the dough is firm and easy to handle.
Preheat the oven to 350.  Remove one portion of dough from the refrigerator.  On a floured surface, roll out one portion of dough until it is about 1/4 inch thick.  Using a circle cookie cutter (or biscuit cutter) that is approximately 3 inches in diameter, cut circles out of the dough and place them on an ungreased cookie sheet.  Place approximately 1 1/2 teaspoons of Nutella on each circle, slightly off-center, then fold each circle in half so that the edges meet and lightly press the edges to seal.  Repeat this process for each portion of dough.
Bake the cookies for 12 minutes or until the edges are lightly browned.  Leave the cookies on the cookie sheet for 2 – 3 minutes before removing them to wire racks to cool.


My new-found love for Nutella led me to the recipe for these cookies. These cookies were a wonderful disaster. The directions listed above are straight from the website. Maybe they will work for you. However, for me, I wanted to rip my hair out. First, I did not have enough sugar and along with no sugar, no desire to go to the store to buy more. The only other sugar I could find was rimming sugar for margaritas that was colored pink and blue. Hence, the green color of the cookies. My sister-in-law swears the greenness makes them even more yummy. Then, after letting them set in the refrigerator, I took them out and tried rolling them out so I could cut them. They stuck like crazy to my rolling pin no matter how much flour I used. I ended up scraping pieces of the dough off the ball and rolling it in my palms and squashing it between them. I then placed the squished circles on the baking sheet and put the dab of Nutella on one side of the dough. When I rolled the Nutella-free half over, I pinched the edges together. They tasted amazing, but they were a lot of frustrating work. Totally worth it. The cinnamon adds the best sultry flavor with the hazelnut and chocolate inside the pocket.
Another great Nutella recipe can be found here:http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/nutella-lava-brownies. They are super easy to make and so gooey straight out of the oven. Again, I ended up using more Nutella than the recipe called for because it is sooooo yummy!!!

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