It’s December 1st, and I’m cranky today. I knew I was cranky from the moment my husband said, “Good morning! Did you make coffee yet?” My response was a well-formed stink eye. I’m a morning-person too. I love getting up really early. Like, 4:30 A.M. early. I am usually very pleasant and productive in the early hours, so what is my problem today? Anyway, after I apologized to Aron for being a good old-fashioned, early morning jerk (I wasn’t very nice the whole time he was getting ready for work), I made some Nutella sandwich cookies in the hopes of becoming a better, nicer to be around, able to roll with the punches, cute, adorable, and very charming kind of gal. The results are in: the cookies are delicious, and I’m still a cranky, almost 40-year old (but not 40 yet!) woman. What are you gonna do?
You cannot go wrong with Nutella spread between two vanilla bean butter cookies. I used the same cookie recipe I used for the Melted Snowman Cookies. It is a simple creaming-method cookie with 3 parts flour, 2 parts butter, 1 part sugar, an egg, an egg yolk, vanilla bean paste, and salt. If you’re so inclined, add a teaspoon of whiskey for an extra kick. After I made the dough, I wrapped it in plastic wrap and refrigerated it for 30 minutes.
This cookie is delicious, but not the easiest to roll out (a bit crumbly). I found it helpful to roll out portions of the dough between to pieces of plastic wrap or plastic wrap and parchment paper.
I cut out rounds using a 2-inch round, fluted cutter.
Half of the rounds were cut a second time using a 1-inch round, fluted cutter.
Bake in a 350 degree F. oven for about 8 minutes, or until golden brown around the sides. Cool on a wire rack. When ready, spread about 1 teaspoon and half of Nutella on the bottom cookies (the whole rounds), and then place the top cookie (the cyclopes ones) on top. Sprinkle each cookie sandwich with coarse sea salt, and dig in!
