Nutella Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies {with Browned Butter, Vanilla Beans & Sea Salt}

Looking for an exciting and indulgent upgrade on the plain old chocolate chip cookie? Well here you have it! I saw these over at Ambitious Kitchen, a blog I love as well as it's name, and I couldn't wait long to make them. So, I made them the next morning =). I'm telling you, they are one of the best cookies you'll ever eat! I'm unequivocally in love with these purely divine cookies. Have you ever seen a cookie loaded with so much goodness? Browned butter, two kinds of chocolate chips, Nutella, vanilla beans and sea salt! You could even add in some finely chopped, toasted hazelnuts for one more upgrade and an added crunch. 
This cookie = love. You don't know food love until you've tried it =). I want to hoard them all away for myself. I know the prep work is a bit more work and definitely a longer wait than your average chocolate chip cookie but it is so worth it. 
Warning! Don't eat the cookie dough...but it is the BEST cookie dough in the world. Between the browned butter and use of only brown sugar it has such a caramel-like flavor to it. With that said I'll explain how to make it safely edible. Simply omit and replace the eggs with 3 Tbsp cream or half and half, and if you want some Nutella in there simply swirl in a few tbsp and finish it with coarse sea salt (obviously you wont be able to make cookies out of it this way though, but you'll have a giant bowl of cookie dough to enjoy). This recipe reminds me of this print I want to buy, it says "Keep Calm and Eat Cookies." Definitely a great life moto =). Enjoy!

 {Then wrap and bake}

Nutella Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies {with Browned Butter, Vanilla Beans & Sea Salt}
Yields about 2 - 2 1/2 dozen

Ingredients:
1 cup salted butter, diced into 1-inch pieces
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups packed light-brown sugar
2 large eggs
seeds of 2 vanilla beans (or increase vanilla to 2 tsp)*
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup milk chocolate chips
about 2/3 cup Nutella, chilled
coarse sea salt 

Directions:
Brown butter in a medium saucepan (for a step by step guide of browning butter, see the directions of this recipe here). Pour browned butter, using a rubber spatula to scrape out any excess, into the bowl of an electric stand mixer and allow to cool until lukewarm, about 20 - 30 minutes. 
In a mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and 1/4 tsp kosher salt, set aside. Add light-brown sugar to cooled butter in stand mixer fit with paddle attachment. With mixer set on medium-low speed, blend mixture together until well combine, about 1 minute. Add in vanilla bean seeds, and vanilla then add in eggs one at a time and mix until well combine after each addition. Set mixer on low speed and slowly add in dry ingredients and mix just until combine. Mix in chocolate chips (if you want some chocolate chips showing through as those pictured, I like to set some of the chocolate chips aside then I gently press about 5 of them into the top of each cookie dough ball after shaping). Transfer dough to an airtight container and chill in refrigerator about 1 1/2 hours. 
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Remove dough from refrigerator and scoop dough out about 2 1/2 Tbsp at a time and shape into balls, then align them on a large sheet of parchment or wax paper. Evenly flatten dough balls until you have about a 3 1/4-inch circle, then place 1 tsp chilled Nutella in the center on top of each. Carefully fold dough up and around Nutella, covering it entirely (if you find it beginning to seep through in some areas, I just added a chocolate chip to that spot to act as a plug). Transfer to a Silpat lined cookie sheet (you can fit 8 cookies per sheet) and bake in preheated oven 10 - 12 minutes until golden brown. Remove from oven and immediately sprinkle cookies with coarse sea salt (you can also sprinkle them with sea salt before baking as the salt sticks better that way, I actually did a tiny before and after). Allow to cool several minutes on cookie sheet before transferring to a wire rack to cool. Store in an airtight container.

*For cheap vanilla beans, this is where I purchase mine for .50 cents a piece. Best deal I've found yet.

Recipe Source: adapted slightly from Ambitious Kitchen

Whipped Specialty Butters

What is one out of the ordinary thing you should add as a new highlight to the Thanksgiving feast this year? Something that probably wouldn't have come to mind, whipped specialty butters to go along with those fresh out of the oven, homemade rolls. These butters are amazing! I was at my mother-in-laws a few days ago and she had fresh bread and some whipped cinnamon honey butter she'd bought at the store. I knew it would be a breeze to recreate after reading the ingredients list on the packaging label, so I came home and made it. In my opinion the homemade version may just be a bit better because it's freshly made, but other than that they taste exactly the same. 

I also decided to create a few other versions as well because why stop at just one flavor? There are many more I wanted to make but didn't have the time. Here's a few I had in mind: orange honey butter with orange extract and fresh orange zest, salted caramel butter with caramel sauce (rather than honey) and coarse sea salt, and lavender honey butter with dried lavender, because honey and lavender just go together. Really there are so many different flavors you could make, but if there's one you must try this Fall it's the Cinnamon Honey Butter. It makes an ordinary roll taste similar to a cinnamon roll.

Note that pictured is only 1/4 of each recipe just because I didn't want to use 3 cups of butter at once, there's no way my family of 4 could eat that much unless were were to serve it scooped over the top of ice cream cones. If it weren't so fattening I probably would like that =). 

If you are looking for a delicious dinner rolls recipe, I'd recommend trying this one. Enjoy!

Cinnamon Honey Butter

Ingredients:
1 cup salted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup honey
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 1/2 tsp molasses
2 tsp cinnamon

Directions:
In a mixing bowl, using an electric hand mixer on medium speed, whip together all ingredients until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.

Raspberry Butter

Ingredients:
1 cup salted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup raspberry jam, seedless if preferred
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp raspberry extract (add 1/2 tsp more for stronger raspberry flavor)

Direction:
In a mixing bowl, using an electric hand mixer on medium speed, whip butter until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add in remaining ingredients and mix until well blended. 
Note: the raspberry is naturally pink no food coloring is needed.

Vanilla Bean Honey Butter

Ingredients:
1 cup salted butter, at room temperature
seeds of 1 vanilla bean
2/3 cup honey
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:
In a mixing bowl, using an electric hand mixer on medium speed, whip together all ingredients until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.


Recipe Source: Cooking Classy

Banana Bread Whoopie Pies with Fluffy Vanilla Bean Frosting

Have you ever tried banana bread in cookie form with a thick fluffy layer of frosting sandwiched between two of them? With these cookies now is your chance. They taste just like banana bread with an added bonus, a luscious layer of vanilla bean frosting. Lightly said, these cookies are amazing! I saw the Banana Whoopie Pies over at Martha Stewart and new I just had to try them. Lucky for me I keep a stock of overripe bananas in the freezer for emergencies such as this, where I need an overripe banana in it's prime but don't want to wait 7 more days for it to hit its peak ripeness. I used to question whether or not freezing bananas was a good idea until I tried if for myself a few months ago. It actually works great. You simply just leave them unpeeled and pop them into the freezer when they are nice and spotty. Then when you are ready to use them, thaw the frozen banana out (to room temperature, sometimes I cheat and even thaw them in the microwave) then peel and prepare them  as directed in your recipes. Their texture is different from that of an overripe banana that has not been frozen (I'm thinking of the word juicy, so be sure to add all those juices when prepping). They won't hold their shape well, but they are perfect for recipes that call for mashed bananas. Their color may not be the most pleasant, as the peel will blacken a bit when frozen, but this doesn't affect their flesh or taste so don't worry. 

I also wanted to mention to you that I finally found cheap vanilla beans! Where you are asking? My friend introduced me to this awesome website (indrivanilla.com) that sells them for 50 cents a piece! I seriously couldn't believe it! And they are pristine vanilla beans if you ask me. I was so excited when I got mine because they weren't completely dried, shriveled and lifeless. They just seemed so much fresher and even plumper than what I've gotten from the store (just FYI this isn't a sponsored statement of me trying to sell something for someone, I'm just so excited that I wanted so share the info about such a fabulous deal :). 

I made a few changes to the original cookie recipe. I didn't think 1/2 cup banana would give the cookies near enough banana flavor so I doubled it, then reduce the sour cream by half. I also decided to leave the vanilla out of the cookie portion because I wanted it all to come from the frosting so I could have an equal balance of banana and vanilla flavor. It is an entirely different frosting than what they had listed, but I think a cream cheese version would be delicious as well (although I'd use a lot more powdered sugar than they did, less cream cheese and add some butter of course =). Enjoy!

Banana Bread Whoopie Pies
Yields about 2 dozen 

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup mashed overripe bananas (about 2 large)
1/4 cup sour cream
1/2 cup butter, softened 
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 large egg
1 recipe Fluffy Vanilla Bean Frosting

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt, set aside. In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together mashed banana and sour cream, set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, using an electric hand mixer on medium-high speed, whip together butter, granulated sugar and light-brown sugar until pale and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes. Blend in egg. Add banana mixture and mix until combine. Slowly add dry ingredients and mix just until combine. Scoop dough by rounded tablespoon fulls (about 1 1/2 Tbsp) and drop onto Silpat or parchment lined baking sheets placing them about 1 1/2 inches apart, then smooth edges and flatten cookie as needed (diameter of cookie should be about 1 1/2 - 2 inches. Alternately you can fill a pastry bag fitted with a 1/4 inch plain tip with batter, then pipe dough into 1 1/2 inch rounds onto baking sheet - if you do this method you may get more than 2 dozen pies). Bake in preheated oven for 12 - 13 minutes until edges are golden. Allow to cool 2 minutes on baking sheet then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Spread and sandwich a layer of frosting between two cookies. Store in an airtight container (in refrigerator if not serving within a few hours) .

Fluffy Vanilla Bean Frosting

Ingredients:
1 cup salted butter, at room temperature
seeds from two small vanilla beans 
4 cups powdered sugar
2 1/2 Tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:
In a large mixing bowl, using an electric hand mixer on medium high speed, whip butter and vanilla bean seeds until pale and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Add powdered sugar, milk and vanilla extract and blend 2 minutes until light and fluffy.

Recipe Source: cookie portion adapted slightly from Martha Stewart, frosting - Cooking Classy