La cucina di Nicola: Chocolate chip - Nutella cookies

Welcome back to "La Cucina di Nicola," we have a delicious recipe for you. As it happens World Nutella Day is almost here (February 5.) Its creators Sara from Ms. Adventures in Italy and Michelle from Bleeding Espresso (and Shelley from At Home in Rome, in spirit) have challenged every Nutella lover out there to join in the celebration. You can read more about it here. Personally I would like to invite my friend Paola to participate, as I am sure she will come up with something absolutely glorious for all to try. If you have never visited her blog before, you are up for a treat.
Of course we had to participate as we are HUGE Nutella fans (I don't mean it literally, but if we keep celebrating I could just as well mean it!) We invited Nicolas' good friend Gabriel to join us this time. The two of them were very excited by the possibilities of adding Nutella to a basic chocolate chip cookie recipe. It took some brainstorming to figure out how we were going to include the creamy hazelnut spread, at the end we chose two different options. On the first one we made a thumbprint in the center of each cookie, and then we dropped a dollop of Nutella in there, stirring a little for cohesion purposes. On the second one we decided to add the Nutella to the dough leaving streaks of chocolate color in it. We all liked the second option the best!

CHOCOLATE CHIP-NUTELLA COOKIES


3/4 Cup granulated sugar
3/4 Cup packed brown sugar
1 Cup of margarine and/or butter, melted
1 egg
2.1/4 Cups of flour, sifted
1 Teaspoon baking soda
1/2 Teaspoon salt
1 Teaspoon vanilla extract
1.1/2 Cups chocolate chips
Nutella, as needed

First, heat the oven to 375.

In a bowl add both sugars and the melted margarine/butter, mix at low speed for about three minutes until creamy. Add egg and vanilla and mix again.

On another bowl mix flour, baking soda, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ones and stir with a wooden spoon. Dough will be stiff (Nicolas needed some help with the stirring.) Stir in the chocolate chips. (At this point you can also add some Nutella to the dough, just don't mix it all the way, you want a "marble" effect.)

Drop rounded tablespoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet, about 3 inches apart. Use the palm of your hand to flatten them some.

Bake until light brown, 8 to 10 minutes. Let them cool slightly and remove to a cookie rack.

I would like to thank Maña for sending us a fabulous care package that included chocolate chips and vanilla extract, and my friend Debbie for providing the brown sugar and a simple recipe to start from. Thanks!