Nutella Chocolate Chip Cookies

If it has nutella in it, I want it. These cookies are no exception. They're dangerously addictive. Make them, have one (okay maybe 2 or 3), give them away. Otherwise they'll be calling your name from the kitchen! I took these to a tailgate this weekend and they disappeared rather quickly.

These cookies are pretty much perfection. They are similar in consistency to a good peanut butter cookie: mostly chewy, but slightly crumbly as well. The original recipe calls for chopped hazelnuts, but I'm a bit of a cookie purist so I omitted the nuts and added in some extra chocolate chips. If you like nuts in your cookie, then add 1/2 cup of chopped hazelnuts. The original recipe also calls for 2 tbsp of cocoa powder, but I only used one because I wanted it to be slightly chocolaty, not overly chocolaty so the nutella wouldn't be overpowered. (If you click on the link where I got the recipe from you can see the difference in color between mine and hers. Hers are a lot darker and richer looking). Overall, these cookies were perfect and I wouldn't change a thing!

Recipe: Adapted from Alpineberry
Yeild: About 24 - 30 cookies
Ingredients:

• 1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp of salt
• 7 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temp.
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup light brown sugar
• 2/3 cup Nutella (chocolate hazelnut spread)
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup mini chocolate chips (it's just what I had in my pantry. feel free to just add more of the regular chocolate chips instead)
  

Directions

1. Mix together flour, cocoa, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside dry ingredients.
2. Cream together butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in Nutella and vanilla extract. Mix in egg.
3. Add flour mixture and mix until just incorporated. Add chocolate chips.
4. Chill for 1 hour. (This step can be skipped if you want, but I always chill my cookie dough because I think it makes a huge difference).
   
5. Drop tablespoons of dough 2 inches apart onto parchment lined baking sheets. Bake at 350 for about 11 minutes until the edges look set. Cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes then carefully remove to cooling racks.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes

This is one of those posts, where I don't even want to write anything. I feel like I should just be able to post the title and the pictures and that should have you bolting into the kitchen to make these. That's what happened to me anyway when I saw these on Annies Eats.

These are more than just cupcakes. When all the elements of the cupcake are combined and you take that first bite, it's magical. These are eye rollingly good. And you know what? I don't even like cookie dough that much! I'm not one of those people who eats it out of the bowl with a spoon as I'm baking off cookies. I prefer the finished product. But the cookie dough flavor in these is just perfect!

They definitely take a lot of time. I suggest making the filling and mini cookies (if you're using them) the day before, and making the cupcakes and frosting the next day. The cookie dough that you use for the filling is eggless, so it's completely safe to eat. And be warned, when you taste it alone, it's just okay, but when you taste it inside the cupcake it's perfect! Enjoy!

Recipe from: Annies Eats
Yield:24 cupcakes

Ingredients:
For the cupcakes:
3 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
1½ cups light brown sugar, packed
4 large eggs
2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. salt
1 cup milk
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup chocolate chips (semisweet or bittersweet)

For the filling:
4 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
6 tbsp. light brown sugar, packed
1 cup plus 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
7 oz. sweetened condensed milk
½ tsp. vanilla extract
¼ cup mini semisweet chocolate chips

For the frosting:
3 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
¾ cup light brown sugar, packed
3½ cups confectioners’ sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
¾ tsp. salt
3 tbsp. milk
2½ tsp. vanilla extract

For decoration:
Tiny chocolate chip cookies
Mini chocolate chips

Directions:
To make the cupcakes, preheat the oven to 350° F. Line two cupcake pans with paper liners (24 total). In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter and brown sugar. Beat together on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Mix in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.

Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Stir together to blend. Add the dry ingredients to the mixer bowl on low speed, alternating with the milk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients, mixing each addition just until incorporated. Blend in the vanilla. Fold in the chocolate chips with a spatula.

Divide the batter evenly between the prepared cupcake liners. Bake for 18-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the cookie dough filling, combine the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl and cream on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the flour, sweetened condensed milk and vanilla until incorporated and smooth. Stir in the chocolate chips. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until the mixture has firmed up a bit, about an hour.

To fill the cupcakes, cut a cone-shaped portion out of the center of each cupcake. Fill each hole with a chunk of the chilled cookie dough mixture.

To make the frosting, beat together the butter and brown sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until creamy. Mix in the confectioners’ sugar until smooth. Beat in the flour and salt. Mix in the milk and vanilla extract until smooth and well blended.

Frost the filled cupcakes as desired, sprinkling with mini chocolate chips and topping with mini chocolate chip cookies for decoration.

Crab Cakes (Baked) with 2 Dipping Sauces

This weekend we hosted a "Goodbye Winter" BBQ and I served these mini crab cakes as an appetizer. They were a perfect Spring appetizer. They were surprisingly light and the hint of lemon inside really made them shine.

I didn't feel like frying 30 crab cakes (Actually I never feel like frying anything, I hate it. It makes your house smell like oil and I always manage to get burned by the splats of hot oil). So anyway, I decided to bake these instead. I coated the outside with panko and then put them in the oven for about 15 - 20 minutes. Then at the end I broiled each side just for about a minute to make sure they got nice and brown.

(Before they went into the oven).

I served these with 2 dipping sauces: a spicy avocado dipping sauce and a spicy mayo. The spicy avocado was the clear favorite.

Crab Cakes: Recipe adapted from a bunch of places like here and here.
Ingredients:

• 1/4 c. mayo
• 1 tbls chopped chives
  
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg yolk
• Juice and zest of 1 lemon
• 1 tsp dried taragon
• 1/4 tsp Old Bay
• 1/4 tsp Dried thyme
• 1 tbls dijon mustard
• Salt and Black Pepper to taste
• 1 pound jumbo lump crab meat
• 2 cups panko breadcrumbs, divided

Directions:

1. Whisk together the first 10 ingredients.
2. Add in the crab meat, breaking up slightly.
3. Add in 1 cup of panko breadcrumbs.
4. Form into patties of desired size. At this stage, I actually spread the crab meat mixture out onto a sheet pan (about 1/2 inch thick) and used a small round cookie cutter to get the shape I wanted.
   
5. Using the remaining 1 cup of breadcrumbs, coat each crab cake with panko. Chill for at least 1 hour.
6. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 - 20 minutes turning once halfway, on a parchment lined baking sheet. When they are almost done set the broiler on high to brown. I did this for about 1 minute on the first side, then flipped and broiled for another 30 seconds on the second side. Watch them carefully at this point because they brown quickly!
7. Serve with extra lemon wedges or dipping sauces (recipes below).

Spicy Avocado Dipping Sauce: Recipe Adapted from here.
Ingredients:

• 1 avocado, pitted and peeled
• 1 tbls mayo
• Juice of 1 lime
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. sugar
• Half of a jalepeno (if you don't want it too spicy, remove the seeds and stems)
• 1/3 cup of milk

Directions:

1. Add the first 6 ingredients in the food processor and pulse a few times. Slowly add in the milk and puree until it is smooth and has reached the consistency that you want.

Spicy Mayo
Ingredients:

• Mayo
• Siracha Hot Sauce

Directions:

1. Mix together. I used a 3:1 ratio of mayo to hot sauce, but just start from there adjust to taste.