Chocolate Chip Nutella Cookies

I spent the weekend in the woods.

Rather than spending opening weekend of deer season at home as a "hunting widow," I chose to tag along. Even though we came home empty handed, we had a great time. Every now and then it's nice to get away from the city lights and enjoy nature. I like to think it keeps me sane. There's just something about sleeping in a tent under 4 blankets on an air mattress that's 75% deflated by the morning, waking up to the sound of thunder and raindrops dripping off of the leaves, cooking dinner over an open flame, listening to the footsteps of armadillos and squirrels as they scurry through the woods, and spending quality time with family without the interruption of television, laptops, or iPads. Of course, that's not to say that I wasn't happy to come home to my comfy bed and a warm shower... because I most certainly was.

Last night I was feeling the need to get in the kitchen and whip something up. As I searched through the pantry, I came across a jar of Nutella. I'm sure I'm not alone when I say that I have quite a love for this jar of pure awesomeness. It is delicious. I once heard someone give the advice to another person that since they hadn't tried it yet, they shouldn't ever because they would be hooked. I think they were right. After you've tried it, I'm not sure how you couldn't like it. Or love it. Next to the Nutella laid a bag of chocolate chips. So I had no choice but to make cookies out of them.

Chocolate Chip Nutella Cookies

Ingredients

1/2 cup Nutella

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/4 cup flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions

In the bowl of a stand mixer, mix together Nutella, butter, sugar, egg, and vanilla. 

In another bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

Add the dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix until well combined. Fold in chocolate chips. 

Refrigerate cookie dough for about 1 hour.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees. 

Roll dough into tablespoon-size balls and place on a cookie sheet. Bake for 9-11 minutes. Remove from cookie sheet and allow cookies to cool on a cooling rack.

P.S.

I'm about 5 days late, but I figured I would really like to join in on the 30 Days of Thanks fun. So here are my first 5 days:

• Day 1: I am thankful for the love and blessings of Jesus. 
• Day 2: I am thankful for amazing husband. He is the best man, friend, and husband that I could have ever asked for. I am so blessed to have him in my life.
• Day 3: I am thankful for my family. They are always there to support me and I love them so very much.
• Day 4: I am thankful for our sweet dog, Minnie. She just joined our family a month ago, after we inherited her from Jody's grandparents. I'm so happy she is with us. 
• Day 5: I am thankful to have a job working with a group of very wonderful people.