When I was little, I used to be allergic to chocolate. Crazy, right? How could anyone be allergic to such a divine substance? Whenever I ate chocolate, I got a nosebleed momentarily after. It was weird because all of my siblings were the same way; chocolate equals nosebleed. Of course, that never stopped us from eating Crunch ice cream bars or nibbling a bit of chocolate every now and then. It just meant that we had to be prepared later on with wads of tissues and a comfortable place to sit down.

I actually got so many nosebleeds in elementary school that I became BFFs with the nurse, Barbara. She was the sweetest little lady and knew me by name. She always knew to grab the ice pack and tons of tissues the moment she saw me walking through the door. Why did this happen? I’ll never know. All I know is that I eventually grew out of it and was able to eat all the chocolate in the world without a worry. Thank goodness!

This recipe is adapted from pixie baker and I’d say it’s a good base for a cookie. I’ve come to the conclusion that baking cookies with bread flour is my favorite way to make cookies. It always results in a firm and chewy cookie. I used 72% dark chocolate, but that may have been a bit much for some people, so feel free to use whatever kind of chocolate you want!

Ingredients

• 1 cup (two sticks) unsalted butter, at room temp.
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 cups Bread flour
• 3/4 teaspoon of salt
• 1 teaspoon baking Soda
• 1 1/3 cups dark or bittersweet chocolate chips (I used Trader Joe’s Pound Plus Dark Chocolate Bar)
• 1 to 1 1/3 cups coarsely chopped almonds

1. In a large bowl, cream butter and both sugars just until they come together. Add the egg and vanilla extract, beat just until incorporated. In a seperate medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour, salt and baking soda. When thoroughly mixed, add to batter and stir just until blended. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts. The dough should be neither sticky nor dry. Cover the bowl and refrigerate the dough for at least two hours.
2. Preheat oven to 350.
3. Form the cookie dough into balls.
4. Place the cookies on an ungreased insulated cookie sheet or an upside down rimmed cookie sheet. Bake for 12-15 minutes. Let cool on cookie sheet for five minutes before removing.

I baked a whole bunch for my boyfriend’s grandma’s 70th birthday. Let me tell you, the Argentinians sure do know how to throw a party AND party. They went all out and hired a company that cooks the meat in your backyard. Literally. They made their own huge fire pit to roast all of the meat on. The caterers cooked from noon til nearly eight o’ clock at night, and they serve it to you fresh off the grill. The first round was chicken and pork ribs, so naturally, I nearly stuffed my face full. Little did I know that that was only the appetizer! There was still two rounds of beef afterward and I couldn’t eat another bite! Such a shame. 🙁

Regardless of how great the food is, I’m the girl that’s always waiting for dessert. No matter how much food I eat, I always have room for dessert. How can you not? The dessert table at the party didn’t disappoint, either. Gabe’s other grandma made home-made tiramisu and dulce de leche. She also made alfajores (which is so time consuming!) to top it all off. I need to have a observing day to sit in the kitchen and watch her make everything so that I can learn all of her secrets. Her flan is to die for!

Out of all the cookies I baked, this one was my favorite. I actually have never tried nutella until I met Gabe. We somehow came onto the topic of nutella on our first date, and he found out that I’ve never tried it. He instantly drove me to his house, opened up the can of nutella in his pantry, and grabbed a spoonful for me to taste. Umm, hello? How have I been missing out on this hazelnut goodness all my life? Ever since then, I could never turn it down. I keep asking my mom to buy the Costco sized nutella jar cause the ones at the grocery store are just so gosh darn expensive and I go through it like I go through flour and sugar.

I first saw this recipe over at Sugar Cooking and decided to use her version instead of the original one that she linked to. The original uses chopped hazelnuts instead of chocolate chips, but I didn’t have any on hand. The result was a very chewy and moist cookie with nutella as the main flavor. I’m really glad the chocolate didn’t overpower the hazelnut taste. I also used the whole stick of butter instead of 7 tbsp (who the heck uses just a tbsp shy of a whole stick of butter?! Not me!).

Ingredients:

• 1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp of salt
• 8 tbsp unsalted butter (1 stick), at room temp.
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup light brown sugar
• 2/3 cup Nutella (chocolate hazelnut spread)
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. Mix together flour, cocoa, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside dry ingredients.
2. Cream together butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in Nutella and vanilla extract. Mix in egg.
3. Add flour mixture and mix until just incorporated. Add chocolate chips.
4. Chill for at least 1 hour.
5. Drop tablespoons of dough 2 inches apart onto parchment lined baking sheets. Bake at 350 for about 11 minutes until the edges look set. Cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes then carefully remove to cooling racks.