Nutella Chocolate Chip Cookies

Originally from: http://www.averiecooks.com/2014/05/soft-and-chewy-nutella-white-chocolate-chip-cookies.html

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened (1 stick)
heaping 1/3 cup Nutella (stir well before adding)
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon baking soda
pinch salt, optional and to taste
1 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips 

DIRECTIONS:

1. To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or large mixing bowl and electric mixer) combine the butter, Nutella, sugars, egg, vanilla, and beat on medium-high speed until creamed and well combined, about 4 minutes.
2. Stop, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, optional salt, and beat on low speed until just combined, about 1 minute.
3. Stop, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add the white and chocolate chips, and beat on low speed until just combined, about 30 seconds.
4. Using a large cookie scoop, 1/4-cup measure, or your hands, form approximately 11 equal-sized mounds of dough, roll into balls, and flatten slightly. Tip - Strategically place a few chocolate chips right on top of each mound of dough by taking chips from the underside and adding them on top.
5. Place mounds on a large plate or tray, cover with plasticwrap, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, up to 5 days. Do not bake with unchilled dough because cookies will bake thinner, flatter, and be more prone to spreading.
6. Preheat oven to 350F, line a baking sheet with a Silpat or spray with cooking spray. Place dough mounds on baking sheet, spaced at least 2 inches apart (I bake 8 cookies per sheet) and bake for about 9 minutes, or until edges have set and tops are just set, even if slightly undercooked and glossy in the center; don't overbake. Cookies firm up as they cool. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for about 10 minutes before serving. I let them cool on the baking sheet and don't use a rack.
7. Cookies will keep airtight at room temperature for up to 1 week or in the freezer for up to 6 months. Alternatively, unbaked cookie dough can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, or in the freezer for up to 4 months, so consider baking only as many cookies as desired and save the remaining dough to be baked in the future when desired.

Hot Mama Notes: Instead of 1c white chocolate chips and 1c semisweet chocolate chips, I split the 2c of chocolate chips roughly equally between milk chocolate chips, semisweet chocolate chips, and peanut butter chocolate  chips.  These cookies are VERY rich.  Good, but rich.  I am a dessert monster, and I found that one cookie (or even half a cookie!) was enough.  Which is good, I guess, since out of this batch, I made about 1.5 dozen cookies.  The cookies are very soft, too, which I liked.  However, next time, I think I would use only 1c total of chocolate chips instead of 2c total.  I didn't have white chocolate chips on hand (since I don't much care for them), and that is why I substituted in the peanut butter chips.  I am sure it is a different taste and experience from using white chocolate, but the cookies did turn out good.  I am glad I followed the directions for refrigerating the dough.  I did the minimum time of 2 hours.  I also made sure to let the cookies sit on the cookie sheet for a few minutes before removing them.  Otherwise, the cookies tend to fall apart when you move them.

Hot Mama Grade: A-