Good eats: Nutella almond cookies

After my post about the Kitchen Aid mixer, I got a lot of requests to share my Nutella almond cookies recipe. So here it is, by popular demand. Don't say I never did anything for you.

I must first give credit where credit is due. This is a tweaked version of a Giada De Laurentiis recipe.

Cast of characters (a.k.a. ingredients):

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup Nutella

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 egg

3/4 cup slivered almonds

3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

(Chef's note: You don't need every shape and size Lock-n-Lock to make these cookies. We just happen to be avid collectors.)

Once you've set all your ingredients out and photographed them like so (or not; it's up to you), put your flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium sized bowl and mix it around a bit. This is what those in the biz call your "dry ingredients." Also preheat your oven to 375. 

In another bowl (the bowl to your mixer or another larger bowl if you're using a hand mixer), plop the butter, sugar, brown sugar and Nutella. Nothing makes me feel more pro than when I remember to set out the butter beforehand so it gets all warm and soft. Go, me! 

Cream those ingredients together with your mixer for about 4 minutes. It's going to smell really good. Lick the spoon you dug the Nutella out with while it mixes. This is a very important step.

Once they're creamed together, add the egg and vanilla and mix for another 2 minutes. (Ina — you know, Ina, the Barefoot Contessa — would fall to the floor of her pretty little house in the Hamptons if she knew I cracked the egg directly to the the batter and not into a separate bowl to make sure the egg was good. But what Ina doesn't know won't hurt her. I'm sure Jeffery would catch her before she hit the ground anyway.)

Now mixing with a spoon or rubber spatula, mix in the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients in thirds until well incorporated. Add the chocolate chips and almonds and mix them in until combined. Side note on the almonds: I used to use sliced almonds until one day the store was out and all I could get were slivered. I actually prefer the slivered now because they don't get as overly crisp as the sliced ones do. I've also been tempted by chopped walnuts or pecans a time or two and thought they would add something special to these cookies. If you go that route, let me know how it turns out.

Using a tablespoon, scoop the dough into balls and place them on a cookie sheet thusly: 

The original recipe recommends baking them for 10-12 minutes, but I've found 8 to be the magic number. They get crisp on the bottom while remaining gooey in the middle. Once they've baked, let cool on a wire rack. You'll get about 30 cookies out of this recipe.

Eat one straight off the sheet. You'll thank me.

Now, go forth and bake. Have a happy weekend!