Yesterday I made Nutella cookies and I tried to give them a valentine twist. These cookies are ideal for celebrating World Nutella Day which is on Sunday and my children love celebrating by eating Nutella at every meal on that special day. I tried a recipe the day before to make into a valentine heart shape cookie without a cookie cutter but they didn’t work out as I wanted. That didn’t stop the children from demolishing them. So during the night, whilst looking after my child who had a bad night sleeping, I lay awake and decided to change the dough. I made the cookie dough more like a shortbread but with a difference. I added powdered semolina to my recipe as well as Nutella and removed some of the sugar as I felt it would be too sweet with the Nutella added too. I swirled the Nutella through the mixture just before placing on the tray. I mixed the butter into the sugar, flour and semolina by hand. It was messy but it felt good to get my hands involved in the mix. Still less messy than using an electric whisk but I could have used my standing mixer and cover to save on the mixture flying everywhere as it has in the past when I have used my electric whisk. This is the first time I have added Nutella to this recipe so fingers crossed. Normally I would add sweeties of some description, almonds or dried fruit. The children do love these cookies and they keep very well.
I have tried to make a short video of how to make the heart shape in the cookie but the proof is in the pudding so let us just wait and see if it works. After checking the oven it appeared that the Nutella made the cookie spread more than normal and so the heart shape is now distorted but they did smell good. I have seen these cookies made with peanut butter and they have kept their heart shape so I am going to attempt then again just to prove to myself that they can work. When I get something in my head I do not give up and my poor family are the ones who are made to eat the trials. I don’t think they mind really.
Well the cookies are baked and I have just shared one with my husband. They are crumbly, very crunchy as shortbread should be and melt in the mouth. The Nutella gives just a hint of decadence to this perfect accompaniment to a cup of coffee.
Today for breakfast, I am making Nutella muffins so I know the children will be happy and full . The cheapest Nutella I have found was from Aldi where you can buy a large 630g jar for £3.09. I have not seen it cheaper anywhere else and this is a large jar. I have bought Nutella rather than chocolate spread as I feel you can not beat that Nutella taste and my children love it.
After this weekend the children will be all Nutella’d out. Hahaha I don’t think so as Nutella is a staple of the breakfast table in our house.
The semolina in the recipe can cause allergic reactions but it does give a delicious crunch to these cookies. Please be careful if anyone is allergic to various foodstuffs. Instead of semolina you could enrich the shortbread mix with custard powder. This is a little trick I learned from my mother-in-law. It took me months to get her to divulge this information (think it as a trade secret). I use this recipe when making my husbands favourite Empire Biscuits. I am adding this recipe to my recipe book which will be up for sale soon. Another option would be to omit the semolina and make a standard shortbread dough.
This recipe has no egg in it but it does contain butter and the cookies are not the same if soft spread is used. The sugar used in the recipe is not very high so I think these cookies would be okay for diabetics to eat but perhaps without the Nutella added. Maybe almonds and almond extract could be added or citrus juice. The options are endless and it all depends on your imagination.
The muffins are from my standard muffin recipe but with Nutella swirled through. They are baked and being eaten as I write. They must be alright then as they have passed the taste test. Next time I make these I am going to sprinkle some crumble mix on the top prior to baking to finish them off a little bit better. This muffin recipe does not contain a lot of sugar in it and the sugar could be reduced further as sweet fillings are introduced into the mixture. The recipe does include eggs and milk and these are vital to the muffin recipe. Perfect muffins are produced by not over mixing the ingredients and I often allow my children to mix them as I know they will not over mix. Plenty of lumps will still be seen when they shout out “there it is done”. 🙂
These are just a couple of ideas for using Nutella in baking and the recipes will be available in my recipe book. I’m off now to search for some more ideas, grab a coffee, do some housework and work on the ingredients page of my website. A busy day ahead.
Please comment if you have any questions on Nutella recipes or anything you want to share. Thankyou.