Nutella-Peanut Butter Pillows (revisited)

Since this is peanut butter lover's month, I wanted to take things full circle by returning to an old favourite. When I first started blogging, well over a year ago, this was one of my first recipes. It was also a crash course lesson in the complex world of food photography. I thought that it would only be appropriate to use this as a way to break in my pseudo-new camera. Even though it's another point and shoot, it has a lot more gizmo's than the Canon A430 had. As someone who normally detests reading instructions manuals, unless I wanted to go through 500 batteries, I had no choice but to do a lot of reading about this camera. Many thanks to Marisa, of The Creative Pot, for sending me the downloadable directions.

Just as the title indicates, these are peanut butter cookies stuffed with a mixture of Nutella and yes, even more peanut butter. The dynamic duo is then rolled through a sweet and salty bath of ground peanuts, cinnamon, and sugar. It's difficult to explain how delicious the results are. But if you love peanut butter, Nutella or, like 98% of the population, both, I can't think of a better way to combine the 2 evils. They're soft-centered, crisp-edged, salty sweet, cookie-shaped happy pills. You get to play with cookie dough and roll it around, twice per cookie. Throw away the stress balls and whip up a batch of these instead.

Please click here (at your own risk), if you would like to see the original post and it's frightening photography. Not that I've reached David Lebovitz status, or even come close, but it's always amazing to see how far things have come. I have wanted to redo this recipe for so long, simply because those first photos don't serve any justice to the cookies. And I would hate for anyone to miss out on something so scrumptious just because the photos look like they were taken by my cat (had he thrown back a few whiskey shots).

Nutella Peanut Butter Pillows

Cookie Ingredients
1 cup of all-purpose flour
1/3 cup of cake flour (or use 1/3 cup of cocoa powder for an extra chocolate kick...thanks to one of my fabulous readers for noticing the tell-tale cookie colour)
1/2 tsp. of baking Soda
1 tsp. of sea salt (I like mine salty, you may reduce this to 1/2 teaspoon.)
1/2 cup ( 1 stick ) butter. At room temp.
1/2 cup of granulated sugar
1/2 cup of packed light brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. almond extract
1/2 cup of smooth peanut butter

Nutella Filling Ingredients
1/4 cup of smooth peanut butter
1/4 cup of Nutella
1/4 tsp. of sea salt
1 Tbsp. of cocoa powder
3 Tbsp. of granulated sugar
3 Tbsp. of confectioners sugar

Topping/Rolling Ingredients
1/4 cup of finely ground, roasted peanuts ( run through the food processor )
1/4 cup of granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. of ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. of sea salt

Method
In a small bowl, Sift the flours and baking soda together. Whisk in the sea salt and set aside.

In a large bowl, Cream the butter. Add the sugars and beat at medium speed for about 2-3 minutes. Add the egg and beat until well combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat in the almond extract and *peanut butter.* Add the flour mixture a little bit at a time. Be careful not to over mix. Stop beating when all the flour streaks are gone. Cover and refrigerate for an hour while you make the filling and topping.
* If you lightly grease and flour the measuring cup it will be much easier to remove the peanut butter. *

To make the Nutella filling, Combine all the ingredients and mix well. You should be able to easily roll the filling into ball forms. If it is too sticky add more confectioners sugar. Set aside until ready to use.

To make the topping, Simply mix all the ingredients into a shallow bowl and set aside.

Preheat the oven to 375F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
Measure out about 2 level tablespoons of the chilled cookie dough. Roll into a ball and flatten out onto the parchment paper. Roll some of the Nutella dough into a smaller ball and place on top of the cookie dough, Press in slightly. Gently fold the cookie dough over the Nutella so it is completely covered. Carefully roll into a ball and roll the ball into the topping so it has a nice coating. Place ball back onto the parchment paper and lightly press down with the bottom of a glass.

Place cookies about 2 inches apart. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until the edges are a light gold.

Makes about 20-28 cookies. *You can adjust the size of your cookies and use as little or as much filling as you want. Just be sure to adjust the baking time accordingly.*