Nutella Crinkle Cookies

My husband's boss in town for a couple of days.   He had to fly 1/2 way across the country to get here, and after his meeting here; he's going to a couple more places to visit.  I'm a big believer in hospitality and making being away from home a little less stressful, so I decided to make some cookies for hubby to take to the office with him.

I LOVE chocolate crinkle cookies.  Lately with the cost of nuts being through the roof, I've had to be creative in including the nutty taste in my cookies!  Enter Nutella...ok honestly it didn't start out as a food enhancer.  My 5 year old has sensory issues and will eat only certain foods...peanut butter is one of them. We were hoping to slowly switch out the peanut butter with Nutella...but he would have nothing to do with it..so being the mother of invention at our home...I started baking with it.

Nutella Crinkle Cookies Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

4-6 oz of Nutella spread

1/2 cup granulated white sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Topping:

1 cup confectioners sugar, sifted

Directions:

Beat the eggs and sugar until thick, pale, and fluffy (about 3 to 5 minutes). 

Then beat in the vanilla extract. Add the Nutella and beat until incorporated.

In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder. Add dry ingredients to the chocolate mixture, stirring just until incorporated. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm enough to shape into balls (several hours or even overnight).

After chilling dough....preheat oven to 325 degrees F and place rack in center of oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Place the sifted confectioners sugar in a shallow bowl. First, form the chilled dough into 1 inch balls, and then roll each ball in the confectioners sugar. Make sure each ball is completely coated, with no chocolate showing through. Place the sugar-covered balls on the prepared baking sheet, spacing about 2 inches apart.

Bake cookies for about 8 to 10 minutes or just until the edges are slightly firm but the centers are still soft. (For moist chewy cookies do not over bake. Over baking these cookies will cause them to be dry.) Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool. These cookies are best eaten the day they are baked.