Nutella Sugar Cookies & Coupons--A Moral Story

I will start off this story by stating that I conduct nearly all of my grocery shopping (and shopping in general really) at Costco and Target. Why Costco? I live practically on top of one Costco and drive by another almost every day. If you've got freezer room to spare and if you're like me and like to have things conveniently on hand, Costco is hard to beat. Why Target? For those smaller, incidental grocery items, Target usually has a good price, better than most grocery stores, and I happen to live across the street from one. What shall we conclude from this? Cheap and convenient is a major driving in the med student's life.

Those of you who shop at Costco are aware, I am sure, every once in awhile Costco assembles a group of coupons that are actually worthwhile! Conveniently the day after receiving such a collection of coupons in the mail, I had to go to Costco to pick up bagels en masse for a group event. For convenience, again my favorite motivating force, I decided to do some personal shopping while I was there because why waste a Costco trip, right? Right? Wrong! As I gleefully filled my cart with our necessities that were on sale (ok and some not so necessary items too), I had no idea what tragedy was lying in wait for me. One of these coupons was for something like $2 off Nutella. When I opened the coupons and flipped through them, this particular one was what I was looking forward to most. I had been eying the already fabulously priced Nutella at Costco for a month or two and this coupon finally gave me the impetus needed! I'll cut to the chase, I was about to pay for my items when I remembered to hand the coupons to the cashier who told me that the coupons weren't good until the next day. A reasonable person might have just not completed the purchase, but I'm a med student and time doesn't grow on trees, people! The cashier helpfully suggested that I could return everything tomorrow and repurchase it and the guy in line behind me lended some sympathy by relating a similar experience the previous month. I could have saved $11! Moral of the story? The first date on a coupon is just as important as the expiration date.

I have managed to live through my tragic coupon experience, but just barely. I was in need of some cookie therapy the other night. The husband unit recently gave me some cute fall-themed cookie cutters, which I was dying to use.  After my coupon ordeal, I have also been eager to whip out some Nutella. How could I combine the two? Of course! Nutella Sugar Cookies!



















First assemble your cast of characters.

First off, cream together the butter, sugar and Nutella. I think I have mentioned this before, but I love this part of recipes. Fluffy butter and sugar, what could be better?

Add in the egg and beat until blended. Add the dry ingredients in 2-3 steps and add a little milke as needed. Stir in the vanilla. Mix until the dough is just soft enough to handle.

Roll the dough out onto a clean, floured surface. Form it into a disc, wrap in plastic wrap and stick it in the fridge for around 2 hours. The cooling eases the rolling out and cookie cutting process. The dough can be refrigerated for up to 2 days.

When you're ready for some cookie cutting fun, pull the dough out of the fridge. On a clean floured surface, roll out until the dough is around 1/8 inch thick with a floured rolling pin (unless you have a fancy non-stick one, then forget the extra flour-ing). Then get to work cutting out those cookies!

Transfer the cookies to a baking sheet and decorate with sugar, sprinkles, etc. My Halloween-appropriate sprinkles are regrettably nonexistent, so I decorated with some fall-appropriate red sprinkles (no, not Christmas! What am I, Corporate America?).

Bake in a 400 F oven for 6-8 minutes depending on desired level of chewyness.

Enjoy!

And now I shall return to my regularly scheduled studying

p.s. I promise the cookies are not in fact purple-ish in person. It was a bit of a cloudy, blue-tinged day out, hence the purple-tinged cookies.

Nutella Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 to 3/4 cup Nutella
• 1 egg
• 3 cups flour + more for the work surface & rolling pin
• Pinch salt (omit if you used salted butter)
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tbsp milk, or as needed
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:
1. Cream together the butter, sugar & Nutella. Add the egg and beat until well blended.
2. Combine the dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Add to the dough in 2-3 additions with milk as necessary. The dough should be just soft enough to handle. Stir in the vanilla.
3.  Shape the dough into a flycing saucer shape (for rolled cookies) or a log (for sliced cookies), wrap in plastic, and refrigerate for 2 hours - 2 days.
4. Heat the oven to 400 F. Break the dough saucer in half and  roll until around 1/8 in. thick, add flour as needed to prevent sticking. Cut with any cookie cutter. Decorate as desired.
5. Bake on a baking sheet for 6-10 min. Cool for 2-5 min on the baking sheet then remove to a wire rack or wax papered-counter.

This recipe is adapted from the Refrigerator (Rolled) Cookie Recipe in Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything (p. 895).