Nutella Chocolate Chip Cookies

It’s been just over a year since I started writing a column for Yummy magazine and I must say I have been having a ball.  This blog has always been one of my favorite hobbies, and remains to be, but writing for a magazine is something altogether different.  It’s another medium for me to reach out to fellow food lovers, as well as, hopefully, a few tentative souls who need a little encouragement to get into the kitchen and experience the total joy and liberation of creating one’s own nourishment.  It’s also something physically tangible that I can show off to my mum ;)  (Yes, I think I’ll always be that little girl happy to take her stars home to mama)

The Yummy team, those I have met thus far, are all darlings and I so enjoy working with them.  And for someone who has to rely on the same four plates and three placemats, having someone come over lugging a little shopping cart full of dishes and an oversized canvas bag (monogrammed to boot!) stuffed with fabrics and backgrounds, is quite the thrill really.  I think my food loves it just as much as I do!

If you haven’t picked the magazine up yet I encourage you to give these guys a go.  Simple recipes that don’t scrimp on flavor, interesting and relevant features, and a nice clean look.  Oh yes, and there is my wee column, “Family Kitchen”, where I share recipes from my own family table.

Here’s a recipe that came out in my column last March.  Just in case you didn't catch it then :)

Nutella Chocolate Chip Cookies

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter 
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 cup Nutella
• 1 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• A pinch of salt
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup walnuts, chopped

- Cream the butter and both sugars together until light and creamy.  Add the egg and vanilla and beat until smooth.  Add the Nutella and beat until combined.

- Add the flour, baking powder, and salt and stir until just combined.  Do not over stir.

- Fold in chips and the nuts gently just until well distributed.

- Drop the dough by rounded spoonfuls on a parchment lined baking sheet about 1.5-2 inches apart.

- Bake in a 375F pre-heated oven for 10-12 minutes.  Remove from the oven and let the cookies rest for a couple of minutes on the baking pan before placing on a wire rack to cool completely.

These cookies spread a lot during baking.  You can chill them to minimize the spread but I prefer not to – leaving their edges almost crispy and their thin middles butterscotchy in their chewiness.  Although the actual Nutella flavor is faint, I like the cookie so much that I keep making it the same way.  My original recipe for Yummy has no nuts and was meant to be frozen in a log (to be sliced up and baked later) – which of course you can opt to do here as well.

I am happy to be a part of the Yummy roster once again this year.  I have a lot planned for my little column so I hope you take a peek one of these days.  I am also thrilled that they have given me a lovely new 2-page layout!  I couldn’t stop smiling the day I saw it :)

Now I’m off to pack for another weekend beach trip!  So I’ll leave you with these cookies…and a weekend full of hours in which to bake them :)  Wish me good weather!