Eureka & Peanut Butter-Nutella Cookie Sandwiches

Ever since I was a little girl, I've had an aversion to peanut butter. Really. While other kids had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches packed away for lunch, nestled under my kool-aid filled thermos in my Get-Along Gang lunch box was a soggy tuna fish sandwich. I would have sooner eaten spinach than P, B & J, but that wouldn't have been hard to do, I loved spinach!
Peanut butter-- I'm still not all that jazzed over the stuff. So then, you may be wondering why I think the marriage of peanut butter, and my newfound discovery of Nutella®, make for the dreamiest cookie I've ever eaten. Ever, in life, EVER! That's an easy answer: Peanut butter cookies are a totally different animal than peanut butter in a jar. Well, different-in-that, while the former and latter are of the same species, they're a totally different animal. Sort of like how Lions and Kittens are both cats, but you wouldn't want to dangle a ball of yarn in front of a lion and call 'Here Kitty, Kitty.' Unless, of course, you were fulfilling #99 on your bucket list and #100 was to die doing something really stupid.

P.S. Don't do that!

P.P.S. Did you know the Nutella, the chocolate-hazelnut spread, is put out by Ferrero? Of the Ferrero Rocher family. Yes! I just found out myself. Those delicious chocolates I've enjoyed for years, even before they were popular in America and you could only get them in specialty stores: One-in-the-same.
If you're familiar with the chocolates and have never tried Nutella, the creamy chocolate filling that envelopes the hazelnut IS Nutella.

Edification, it's a glorious thing! And so are these cookies.


Peanut Butter Cookies
Recipe courtesy and Adapted from SimplyRecipes.com

Ingredients:

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/2 cup peanut butter (I used extra crunchy)
1 egg
1 1/4 cup flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:

In medium bowl, mix butter until smooth and creamy, 2 minutes. To the butter, add both the white and brown sugar, mix for another 2 minutes. Mix in the peanut butter and egg until incorporated.
In separate small bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Use a fork to combine. Add combined dry ingredients to creamed butter-sugar mixture and, with hand mixture on low speed or a fork, mix until just completely incorporated.

Form dough into mound or log shape and place in plastic wrap. Cover completely and refrigerate for no less than 3 hours.

Once your dough has firmed and you're ready to make cookies...

Set your oven to 375°F and allow to Preheat. Cut enough dough to form into 1& 1/4 inch-sized balls (for each cookie). Using an ungreased cookie sheet, place each piece of formed dough about 3 inches apart. Use a fork to flatten cookie and create crisscross pattern. Pressing fork down once lengthwise and once crosswise.
Bake until lightly browned, between 9 and 10 minutes. Allow to sit on cookie sheet for 1 minute before transferring and allowing to cool completely on cooling rack.

Bake at 300°F for 15 minutes, if you like chewier cookies.

To Make Sandwiches: Wait until the cookies have cooled completely. Spread the bottom side of one cookie with a thin layer of Nutella and top with the bottom half of another cookie. You want the tops of the cookies visible.

Makes about 24 cookies. This dough freezes very well.