Do you love Nutella? Do you love dessert? Do you like cookies? If you've answered yes to all these questions, you are going to LOVE Nutella Sandwich Cookies from Mike Isabella's new cookbook, Mike Isabella's Crazy Good Italian. I received a preview copy of the book and this is the first recipe I made from it.
The book covers everything from a basic tomato sauce recipe to recipes with octopus, oysters, and lamb. It is suitable for anyone from a beginner to an advanced cook. The directions are pretty clear and most of the photography is gorgeous...I say most because I'm not sure how you can make sea urchin look good ;)
The book includes some of the recipes from Mike's Graffiato restaurant {which I have reviewed}, as well as his updated version of the pepperoni sauce {which I've photographed for WA Post}
But let's get back to the Nutella Sandwich Cookies!
From the book Mike Isabella’s Crazy Good Italian by Mike Isabella. Excerpted by arrangement with Da Capo Lifelong, a member of the Perseus Books Group. Copyright © 2012.
Makes 45 to 50 cookie sandwiches
Ingredients
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup Nutella, plus more for filling
2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 cup raw sugar
{optional: I used black Hawaiian salt from Marx Foods to sprinkle the cookies.}
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Have two nonstick baking sheets ready or line baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the brown sugar, sugar and Nutella on the second-lowest speed for 1 minute or until the ingredients are fully incorporated. Add the butter and mix on the third-lowest speed for 2 minutes, or until whipped and light in color.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, salt and baking soda. Slowly add the flour mixture to the mixer on the lowest speed setting. Mix all ingredients for 2 minutes, stopping halfway through to scrape down the inside of the mixing bowl to incorporate all the ingredients. The dough will come together and pull away from the sides of the mixing bowl. It will look a little crumbly — that's okay.
4. Dust a work surface and rolling pin with flour to prevent sticking. With your hands, scoop out one-third of the dough and mold it into a small brick on your work surface. Rolling from the center out (north, south, east and west), gently roll the dough into a 1/16-inch thick sheet. Dust the surface of the dough with a little flour before rolling. If the dough starts to tear or stick to the rolling pin, dust with a little more flour.
5. Using a 2-inch ring mold or 2-inch circular cookie cutter, punch out cookies and place them on nonstick or parchment-lined baking sheets.
6. Add some dough from the mixing bowl to what's left over on your work surface and pull it together and roll like you did in Step 4. Punch out more cookies and repeat until all the dough has been used.
7. Placing the cookie sheets on the middle and lower oven racks, bake the cookies for 5 minutes, remove them from the oven, and sprinkle evenly with raw sugar. Put the cookies back in the oven, then rotate the baking sheets 180 degrees and switch the upper and lower cookie sheet positions so they bake evenly for 5 more minutes.
8. Remove the cookies from the oven, let rest on the baking sheet for 1 minute, and use a clean offset spatula to transfer them to a cooling rack.
9. When cooled, fill a piping bag (or Ziploc bag with the corner snipped off) with Nutella. Pipe 1½ teaspoons on the flat surface of half the cookies, and top with the remaining cookies. Refrigerate in a sealed container for 1 hour before serving.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the brown sugar, sugar and Nutella on the second-lowest speed for 1 minute or until the ingredients are fully incorporated. Add the butter and mix on the third-lowest speed for 2 minutes, or until whipped and light in color.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, salt and baking soda. Slowly add the flour mixture to the mixer on the lowest speed setting. Mix all ingredients for 2 minutes, stopping halfway through to scrape down the inside of the mixing bowl to incorporate all the ingredients. The dough will come together and pull away from the sides of the mixing bowl. It will look a little crumbly — that's okay.
4. Dust a work surface and rolling pin with flour to prevent sticking. With your hands, scoop out one-third of the dough and mold it into a small brick on your work surface. Rolling from the center out (north, south, east and west), gently roll the dough into a 1/16-inch thick sheet. Dust the surface of the dough with a little flour before rolling. If the dough starts to tear or stick to the rolling pin, dust with a little more flour.
5. Using a 2-inch ring mold or 2-inch circular cookie cutter, punch out cookies and place them on nonstick or parchment-lined baking sheets.
6. Add some dough from the mixing bowl to what's left over on your work surface and pull it together and roll like you did in Step 4. Punch out more cookies and repeat until all the dough has been used.
7. Placing the cookie sheets on the middle and lower oven racks, bake the cookies for 5 minutes, remove them from the oven, and sprinkle evenly with raw sugar. Put the cookies back in the oven, then rotate the baking sheets 180 degrees and switch the upper and lower cookie sheet positions so they bake evenly for 5 more minutes.
8. Remove the cookies from the oven, let rest on the baking sheet for 1 minute, and use a clean offset spatula to transfer them to a cooling rack.
9. When cooled, fill a piping bag (or Ziploc bag with the corner snipped off) with Nutella. Pipe 1½ teaspoons on the flat surface of half the cookies, and top with the remaining cookies. Refrigerate in a sealed container for 1 hour before serving.
My comments: don't worry if your dough is soft. It will still work, or you can put it in the fridge for a while. Also, I used an offset spatula to spread Nutella instead of piping it.
I only made 1/3rd of the cookies and froze the rest of the dough. Those who received these cookies (me included) really liked them!
4 comments:
Sounds like a great cookbook!!! Love the cookie too..anything with Nutella!!!
Looks good! I may actually have to buy this book now.
I want some to take on the plane with me today! They look great! I think I'm going to need this cookbook.
These look great! The salt looks like sprinkles~
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