Nutella S'moreos for #theleftoversclub

The theme for this month's Leftover's Club exchange was nut butters! Originally, I was planning to post a cookie recipe using homemade maple roasted almond butter (sounds yummy doesn't it?), but the recipe didn't quite turn out as I had planned and I discovered that I don't really like almond butter. As hard as I try, my mind can't seem to grasp the fact that it's just not peanut butter. I think the taste of the almonds is too subtle for me and I keep expecting to taste peanuts. I was hoping that roasting the almonds in maple syrup and adding cinnamon to the mixture would help amp up the flavor, but neh...almond butter is just not my thing.

 

So I went with plan B - Nutella! You can't go wrong with Nutella can you? Chocolate + Hazelnuts = Yum. Plus I had a huge jar or it in my pantry...

 

I debated for quite a while about what to make and decided on not one but two recipes! Homemade Nutella Puff Cereal for my exchange partner Michele's adorable son, Nicholas (he has the same name as my son!) and these decadent Nutella S'moreo Cookies for Michele. Michele does such a great job as the leader of The Leftover's Club I thought she deserved something extra special.

 

I have to admit that I was a little disappointed with the outcome of the Nutella Puff Cereal. While the dough is super easy to make, pinching the dough into tiny balls and rolling them was a little time consuming and too repetitive for me. This would be a great task for the kids to help with (hint,hint)! Also, I thought the Nutella flavor didn't really shine through enough. I'm curious to hear if Michele's son, Nicholas, gives them the thumbs up or thumbs down.

Here's the link to the recipe I tried. If you're into making your own homemade cereals (and you have someone to help you roll the tiny balls), I encourage you to give it a try. The recipe makes a small batch, enough for about 2 servings.

Now, onto these decadent Nutella S'moreo Cookies....I mean c'mon, just look at these things.

Who knew making your own homemade oreo cookies was so easy? And they totally taste like Oreos only better. Just think, you can fill them with whatever filling you want! Since the theme was nut butters, I made a creamy Nutella filling, topped it with some marshmallow fluff and graham cracker crumbs. Oh mama!

I really hope they are delivered to Michele intact and that she enjoys them! Thanks Michele for all you do for The Leftovers Club!

If you are interested in swapping yummy treats each month with fellow food bloggers, sign up over at Michele's blog, Alwayz Bakin!

Homemade S'moreos with Nutella Cream Filling & Marshmallow Fluff
Adapted from Crazy for Crust
Makes approx. 12 sandwich cookies

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup dark cocoa powder (unsweetened)
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 stick unsalted butter, room temp
2/3 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg, room temp
1 tsp vanilla extract

Filling Ingredients:
1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temp
1/2 cup Nutella
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
1 jar Marshmallow Fluff
1/3 cup graham cracker crumbs

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350f and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper

In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or using your electric hand mixer), cream the butter and both sugars for approx. 1 minutes scraping down the sides with a rubber spatula as needed.

Add the egg and vanilla extract and mix until combined. Slowly add the dry ingredients just until combined.

Scoop 1 1/2 tablespoon size balls onto the prepared baking sheets and bake at 350f for approx. 10 minutes or until the cookies are set and no longer look shiny. Remove from oven and allow to cool on the baking sheets. Remove to a wire cooling rack.

Make the filling

Place the butter, nutella and salt in the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or use your electric hand mixer) and cream together until smooth. Add the powdered sugar and mix until combined. Add the heavy whipping cream and whip and med-high speed until creamy (approx. 1 minute). Place the filling in a piping bag (decorating tip optional).

Assemble the cookies

Once the cookies have cooled, take half of the cookies and place them upside down. Pipe the nutella filling around the edges of the cookies. Dollop some marshmallow fluff on top then sprinkle with some of the graham cracker crumbs. Place the remaining cookies on top of each of the filled cookies creating cookie sandwiches.

These cookies are best eaten the day they are assembled. You can bake the cookies a day ahead.

An InLinkz Link-up

Chocolate Nutella Macarons

Our good friend, Teresa, recently joined me for a baking date. We had a single goal in mind, tackling the dreaded Macaron, that little french confection that strikes fear in the hearts of even the most experienced bakers. Like good students, we both did our homework; searching the internet for tips, watching Macaron making videos, memorizing pictures of properly whipped egg whites, studying the critical "Macronage" process, deciding how long to age the egg whites, contemplating whether or not to let the Macarons rest before baking and what baking temperature to follow...all of the issues that perplex anyone who sets out to bake Macarons.

So with happy hearts, joyful anticipation and high expectations, we started our day.

                                                   Diligently weighing our ingredients

                                       Whipping our egg whites to stiff-peaked perfection

Folding and piping and hoping and dreaming of tiny little feet, not the kind that go pitter-patter but the kind that brings smiles to the faces of all Macaron bakers, the sure sign of success.

The end result? Well, while we did have some missteps, we were successful in baking up these little beauties....feet that would make a Mama proud!

Teresa and I have vowed to continue to perfect our Macaron baking skills until we can effortlessly whip out batches of these coveted cookies. While our quest continues, we did come up with a few tips of our own that we hope you will find helpful should you decide to embark on your own quest for Macaron perfection.

Macaron Tips:
1. Do yourself a favor, use a Silpat mat! I know a lot of recipes recommend parchment paper but we had trouble removing ours from the parchment.
2. Weigh your ingredients using a digital scale.
2. Don't underwhip your egg whites. They definitely need to be stiff but don't over whip either. I know, it's tricky!
3. Make sure your dry ingredients are well processed with no lumps before folding them into the egg whites.
4. Don't overfold. I've read that you shouldn't need more than 50 strokes for this process.
5. Don't follow a recipe that gives you a weight range. Weights should be exact!
6. I used a double layer baking sheet (one baking sheet on top of the other) to bake my Macarons. I read that it helps develop the "feet".
7. If you have trouble determining if your Macarons are done, I've read it's better err on the side of overbaking rather than underbaking them. If you allow the Macarons to "age" after filling them (ie eat them the next day), the filling will actually permeate and soften the cookie giving it better flavor and texture.
8. Don't expect perfection the first (or second) time! : )
9. Keep practicing and experimenting to find out what methods work best for you.
10. Do have a friend that you can laugh at your mistakes with and who uses her photography skills to make you look good : ) Thanks Teresa!

Here's the recipe for the batch of Macarons that were successful

Chocolate Nutella Macarons
1 c (100g) powdered sugar
1/2 c (50g) almond flour
3 T (25g) unsweetened dutch-process cocoa powder (I used natural)
2 large egg whites at room temp  (aged for 24 hours)
5 T (65 g) granulated sugar
Nutella for filling

Preheat oven to 300

Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or Silpat mat (I recommend silpat).

Have a pasty bag with a plain 1/2" tip ready for piping.

Grind together the powdered sugar, almond flour and cocoa powder in a food processor until there are no lumps.

In a bowl with an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the egg whites until they are foamy, begin to rise and hold their shape. While whipping, gradually beat in the granulated sugar until very stiff and firm, approx 2 minutes.

Using a rubber spatula, carefully fold the dry ingredients into the egg whites in two batches. When the mixture is just smooth and there are no streaks of egg white, stop folding and scrape the batter into the prepared pastry bag.

Pipe the batter onto the parchment or silpat mat in 1" or 1.5" circles making sure they are evenly spaced about 1" apart to account for any spreading.

Rap the baking sheet firmly on the counter a few times. This will help flatten the batter so there are no peaks.

Rest for 30 minutes. Then bake for approx 10-15 minutes.

Let cool completely, then remove from the baking sheets.

Pair up the Macarons according to size. Pipe some nutella on the flat side of one of the Macarons and top with the other Macaron to make a "sandwich".

Some recipes recommend waiting until the next day to eat your Macaron so the flavors have developed. We ate ours after a few hours and they were delicious.

Enjoy!

Note: If you don't want to use plain Nutella filling, make a chocolate ganache filling instead or a Nutella buttercream filling. There are so many different types of filling that will pair well with this basic chocolate Macaron.