Nutella-Stuffed Peanut Butter Cookies

While driving home from work this evening, I literally had the best idea of my life:

Nutella. Stuffed. Peanut Butter. Cookies.

That's right. You read that correctly! Can you honestly think of a better flavor combination? My sister so wisely declared, "That sentence kept getting better and better!" Nutella and peanut butter were a match made in Heaven. Clearly, I had to do something about this. As I didn't have enormous amount of time for an elaborate baking project, I opted to take a short cut. On my way home from work, I dropped by the grocery store and picked up several packages of Pillsbury peanut butter cookie dough. Now ordinarily I would make my cookie dough from scratch. However, after a long Wednesday, store bought certainly suffices. In fact, I find after doctoring up the dough a bit and adding my own special touches, the cookies turn out just as delicious! 

I rolled the dough out onto a floured surface and cut out rounds using a biscuit cutter. I piped nutella onto half of the cookie circles and topped each with another cookie top. Then I decided to sprinkle each cookie with a bit of cinnamon sugar. As a rustic checker pattern usually tops a traditional peanut butter cookie, I thought I'd follow suit with these. I threw the pan in the oven and waited for angels to sing.

My family of five has managed to demolish the entirety of the batch in the time it's taken me to write this post. I'm going to go out on a limb and say my co-workers will enjoy these treats tomorrow as well!

Nutella-Stuffed Peanut Butter Cookies

Ingredients:

• 2lbs Pillsbury peanut butter cookie dough
• 1 cup Nutella
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tbsp cinnamon
• flour for dusting

Preheat oven to 350°F. Roll cookie dough out 1/8'' thick on a floured surface. Using a round biscuit cutter, cut out cookies. Pipe a small amount of nutella (about the size of a nickel) onto one half of the cookie rounds. Top each cookie with a plain dough circle. Place cookies on greased pan about an inch apart. Mix together cinnamon and sugar. Sprinkle mixture over each cookie. Using a fork, press a checkerboard pattern onto the top of each cookie. Bake for 9 minutes. Allow cookies to cool on pan for 10 minutes. 

Makes 40 cookies.