No matter how accomplished I become as a baker, despite my victories with from-scratch versions of biscuits, pretzel rolls, pie, and cake, Mike will always be most impressed with my homemade cookies. Specifically my mom's chocolate chip cookies, a recipe I mastered back in middle school and, delicious as they may be, are basically the back-of-the-bag Nestle Toll House recipe. But to Mike, they're a constant source of culinary amazement, to the point where I once caught him sitting on the floor in front of the oven, watching the cookies bake.
Flattering as all of Mike's cookie love is, it's also a bit mystifying. Mike doesn't seem to be enamored with cookies in general--when we go out, he gravitates toward malts or tart fruit desserts like lemon bars. For awhile, I thought there must have been a dearth of homemade cookies in his childhood, but although his mom was far more health-focused than mine, she did occasionally bake cookies--he has fond memories of sugar cookie cut-outs every Christmas. Finally, I just asked him--what was with the obsession? He looked at me for a moment, and then, in his it-should-have-been-obvious tone, said, "The margarine."
It's true. I know that I'm supposed to be using nothing but butter in my baking, preferably butter sourced from a local organic dairy farm with happy cows traipsing through green pastures. And I do use butter in two of my favorite recipes: pumpkin oatmeal cookies and soft sugar cookies. But when it comes to chocolate chip cookies, I love the softness of the stick margarine and shortening in my mom's recipe. Cookies made with margarine are on the list of food I love in spite of myself, along with Peeps and Marshmallow Mateys, on the grounds that I shouldn't take my foodie credibility too seriously.
Accordingly, my major adaptation to this Nutella cookie recipe from The Kitchn is using margarine in lieu of butter. The resulting cookies have an irresistibly soft, almost fluffy texture, and a chocolate flavor that though rich thankfully falls short of over-the-top decadence. These are cookies to pack in your lunch or to bring to a barbeque, cookies to eat one after the other with a tall glass of cold milk. They're cookies that are comfortable with what they are--margarine, processed hazelnut spread, and all.
Adapted from The Kitchn
Yield: about 3 1/2 dozen 2-inch cookies
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup Nutella
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) margarine, softened (be sure to use stick margarine, not spread)
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons water
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 egg
Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, combine flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt and mix until well-combined.
In a large bowl, mix the Nutella and margarine until well-combined. Add the granulated and brown sugar and mix until fluffy. Add the water, vanilla, and egg and mix until well-combined. Add the flour mixture and mix until completely incorporated.
Using two spoons, drop tablespoon-sized balls of dough onto prepared baking sheets.
Bake for 8 minutes, or until edges of cookies are set. Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheets for a few minutes, and then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Store in an airtight container at room temperature.
