Ingredients:
1/2 cup old fashioned rolled oats
1 1/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
1 egg, at room temperature
1/3 cup Nutella
1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla paste
1/2 cup 63% dark chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper or silpats. In a medium sized bowl combine flour, oats and baking powder. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg, Nutella and vanilla paste. Combine thoroughly. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the sweetened butter and mix until a very thick dough forms. Fold in the chocolate chips. Take care that they are distributed evenly. Form cookies by dropping a heaping 1 tablespoon of dough on the sheet 2 -2 1/2 inches apart. Flatten slightly. Bake 12 minutes. The centers still may look slightly shiny. Carefully remove to a wire rack to cool completely before serving.

Yield: about 1 1/2 dozen cookies

My thoughts:

I was going to make marshmallow cookies but then realized I was out of mini marshmallows. I had jumbo and regular but no minis! I’m falling down on the job. I was looking for something else to add in and came across a jar of Nutella with exactly 1/3 cup left in it. Perfect! I can make yummy cookies and help clean out my overstuffed cabinet at one time. Don’t mention the fact I opened up a jumbo box of oatmeal and only used 1/2 cup out of it.

Luckily these cookies are super delicious! The dark chocolate chips add perfect bursts of chocolate-y goodness and the oatmeal added a bit of heartiness and chew to the cookie. The Nutella insured that the chocolate flavor was throughout the cookie and added a creamy note I really enjoyed.

One more thing: I normally buy imported Italian Nutella but recently I picked up a jar of regular American Nutella and it seemed thinner than it used to be. More like the consistency of peanut butter than Nutella. Anyone else notice this? I swear the American stuff used to be thicker and more Italian-like in texture. At any rate, it was still perfectly tasty and worked wonderfully in this recipe.