Nutella Peanut Butter Cups

I am an Army brat, and spent many of my early years in Germany. Nutella was something I grew up eating... and I loved it. Nutella is a little difficult to describe. It's a hazelnut-infused creamy chocolate that is used as a bread spread (but let me tell you it's darn tasty just on a spoon by itself). It's rich, but not sugar sweet tasting, and creamy, and chocolaty, and just good. I haven't eaten it much in the years since I came back state-side in 1987, but I never forgot it... sniff, sniff. Oh, sorry, I got distracted reminiscing. Back to the topic. So when I saw the picture associated with this pin, Nutella Cups, on Pinterest, my mouth started watering. With her recipe, she uses more of a sugar cookie, whereas I made them more like a reversed Reese's Peanut Butter Cup. I think mine turned out pretty dang good, and if my co-workers responses are an indication, I think they agreed with my assessment of yumminess.

You can use my recipe for Peanut Butter Cookies - I doubled it for this Nutella Peanut Butter Cups recipe. The only other thing you will need is a jar of Nutella.

Mix up the cookie recipe, either mine or your own favorite, according to directions. Grease mini muffin pan, and preheat oven to 350 degrees. Roll cookie dough into approximately 1-inch balls, and place one in each muffin cup.

Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until a light golden brown. I actually got two full trays of these out of the double batch of my Peanut Butter Cookies recipe. It was the Nutella I ran short on. If I had added just a little less Nutella on the earlier cups, I might have had enough. In the blog link, she suggests using a shot glass to make the cups, but that didn't work for me. I ended up using a melon scoop because it had more of bowl shape than a regular spoon. Let the cookies cool only a couple of minutes and then start making the bowls.

Next, fill each cup with Nutella. Let sit for 15-20 minutes for the cookies to set. You won't be able to stack these because the Nutella will stick to the cup above. And you will want to try one as soon as possible. These little delights just melt in your mouth!