Nutella Cookies with Candy Cane Kisses

Friday once again, and I am back with an experimental recipe that was, admittedly, a little bit of a fail on my part. I meant for these to turn out more like thumbprint cookies, but I lacked margarine or shortening (and my first attempt didn't have enough flour). As a result, my cookies spread a little too much and so my pictures are not that great. The cookies do taste delicious, however, so I had to share anyway. I'm not above admitting my shortcomings. The recipe is, of course, updated, to give you a better shot at more eye pleasing cookies.


To make these tasty morsels you will need:

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup margarine, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
1 cup Nutella (chocolate Hazlenut spread)
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 Tablespoons cocoa powder
3 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
Candy Cane Hershey's Kisses (If you don't want to mess with the thumbprint cookie idea, these can certainly be chopped into smaller pieces and mixed right in with the dough!)

In a large mixing bowl, use an electric mixer to cream the butter and margarine (I typically use both butter and margarine because I have found that butter gives a better taste, but margarine typically allows your cookies to become fluffier and not fall flat, alas I was out of margarine). Add the brown sugar and sugar and cream together. Beat in the Nutella, then add the eggs one at a time, mixing until combined. Mix in the vanilla extract.

In a small mixing bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt. Add dry ingredients to the creamed mixture and mix well. Refrigerate dough for at least 30 minutes before scooping cookies.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Remove cookie dough from the refrigerator and scoop out tablespoon sized balls of dough. Roll gently in your (clean) hands to make a ball and place onto a parchment lined cookie sheet. Once all of your dough balls are on the cookie sheet, place one Candy Cane Kiss in the center of each one and press down gently. You want the kiss to stick into the cookie without smashing it flat. You will have a tray that looks something like this:

Bake your cookies at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Cool on cookie tray for 5 minutes, then transfer to cooling rack to cool completely. Store in an air tight container.