Friday Fun

Hey guys, life has gotten pretty hectic for me, and not in a good or fun way. Times like this I always get the desire to create something, anything.

Sure, writing is creating, but I'm talking about artisan crafts or cooking. I want to make something visual or tangible to get that instant gratification. I dabble in so many different mediums, I've lost count.

It's the first day of Spring, so I should do something in honor of that. Instead, I'll share with you my cheating and lazy person's guide to Nutella Stuffed Cookies.

They are delicious and terrible for you, which is probably why they're so good. You can search the internet and there are thousands of recipes for Nutella Stuffed Cookies, but they all mention making the dough from scratch.

I have two problems with that, 1) it's time consuming and I have a ton of other things I want to do and 2) I'm not a big baker/cooker. It's a rare urge I get - mainly because I loathe to do the dishes - so when I bake things, I like to find a simple way to do it.

I should note, I loved baking with my roommates. It was fun, we'd try new recipes, and we'd split the dish washing. Not to mention I wasn't alone in eating the creations. We'd make a Friday or Saturday night out of it, marathoning Criminal Minds or some other TV shows, and we'd make food. But I don't like baking or cooking for myself. I'm just that lazy sometimes.

So without further ado, the quick and easy Nutella Stuffed Cookies with estimations from someone who doesn't bake often:

Ingredients and necessities:

Nutella (or peanut butter or chocolate spread that Reese's or other companies have come out with)
Cookie Dough Roll (it can be sugar, chocolate chip, what have you). I used Pillsbury Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough.
Flour
Spoon (one you normally eat off of)
Wax Paper
Cookie Tray/Pan
Freezer
Oven

1)The first step is to put wax paper on a tray or plate. It will be the place you put the Nutella/Peanut Butter.

2) Spoon out your spread into dollops/mounds, I'd say about tablespoon sized. Keep them spaced apart. You may have to use your finger or another spoon to get the Nutella onto the tray.

3) Once you have the desired amount, put it in the freezer. This was always a hard part in my apartment as we had a tiny freezer for five people.

4) Wait about a half-hour to forty-five minutes for your Nutella mounds to harden. It may take more or less time depending on how cold your freezer is and the circulation in there (things get frosty if you cram a ton of food in your freezer).

5) Prepare a cookie tray and open your cookie dough.

6) Put some flour on a working space or on a plate for your hands.

7) Once you're sure the Nutella mounds are hard enough to work with, remove them from the freezer.

8) Put flour on your hands.

9)Rip off (or cut) a piece of the cookie dough roll and make it semi-flat in your hand. It doesn't have to be perfect. If you're a Nutella lover, it will be perfect already.

10) Put a mound of Nutella in the center of the flattened cookie dough and roll the sides up around the cookie.

11) Roll the cookie dough/Nutella formation into a sphere. Remember this from grade school?

12) Repeat steps 8-11 as many times as necessary until you have a tray full of cookie balls. You may need to stick the Nutella mounds back into the freezer if they start to thaw. The flour helps the cookie dough from sticking to you, but not the Nutella.

13)  Turn your oven to the temperature dictated on the cookie dough wrapper. I don't know what cookie dough your using, so cooking times may be different.

14) Once up to temperature, put the cookies in for the time designated on the cookie dough wrapper.

15) Wait and drool over the smell coming from your oven.

16) Remove the cookies when the time is up (with an oven mitt, cause the tray will be hot).

17) Let the cookies cool off enough so you can enjoy them without burning yourself, and enjoy. You earned it.

And that my friends is the lazy person's recipe for Nutella Stuffed Cookies. (I should write a cookbook, right? The Lazy Person's Guide to Decent Food.)