Today I made my first attempt at baking post foot surgery, and boy am I glad no one was around to witness it! I chose a rather simple recipe, thinking it would be easiest to complete on one foot, but about 10 near wipe outs later I realized no recipe will be easy as long as I’m a one legged pastry chef! Despite my struggles getting around, these nutella filled peanut butter cookies turned out great and I am now comfortably lounging with my foot up and a plate a freshly baked cookies. 
NUTELLA FILLED PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES
- 8 oz Butter (2 sticks)
- 1 cup Sugar
- 1.25 cups Brown Sugar
- 1.25 cups Peanut Butter
- 2 ea Eggs
- 1 tsp Vanilla
- 2.25 cups Flour
- 1 tsp Salt
- 1 tsp Baking Soda
- 0.5 tsp Baking Powder
- 5 cups Oats
- 20 Tbsp Nutella
This recipe makes a great peanut butter cookie, but I decided to take it up a notch by adding the soft nutella center. For this recipe you will need a mixer, cookie sheets with parchment paper, a cookie scoop, and a piping bag. Before we start, you can preheat your oven to 350°F.
- The first step is to prepare the nutella centers for your cookies. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and fill your piping bag with nutella. Pipe the nutella into small rounds, roughly the size of a tablespoon.
You will need 20-22 nutella balls. Once you have piped them all, place the baking sheet in the freezer and allow the nutella to harden.
- While the nutella is hardening in the freezer, we can make the cookie dough.
The first step it to cream the butter and sugar in your mixer using the paddle attachment on low speed. Mix until there
are no butter chunks left in the mixture.
- Once the butter and sugar are well incorporated, add the peanut butter and mix until everything is well combined. After the peanut butter, add the rest of your liquid ingredients: the eggs and vanilla extract. Be sure to scrape the bowl throughout the mixing process.
- Next, add the dry ingredients (flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and oats). Be carefully when turning the mixer on. Mix on the lowest speed until all of the ingredients are thoroughly incorporated.
- Now that your cookie dough is made, prepare your cookie sheets lined with parchment paper and get your cookie scoop ready. Scoop the dough into balls and arrange them on your cookie sheets with room to spread. I used a medium sized cookie scoop and made 22 cookies; this took 3 cookie sheets.
- Make a well in the middle of each scooped cookie with your thumb. Take the nutella out of the freezer and place a frozen nutella ball into the well you’ve created in each cookie.
- Next, push the nutella further into the well in each cookie, and form the dough into a ball around the nutella. Place the filled ball of cookie dough back on the cookie sheet and flatten slightly with your hand.
- Once all of your cookies have been
filled with nutella and arranged back on your cookie sheets, bake them in the oven for 15-18 minutes at 350°F. They will expand a little bit and get a very slight golden brown color on top.
- Allow them to cool slightly and then enjoy! They are best served while still a little bit warm to keep the nutella center gooey and delicious.
