Recipe: Nutella and Salted Caramel Stuffed Cookies

When you've been with someone for nearly 3 years, it isn't often that you get any more 'firsts'. However on Saturday afternoon, Matt and I made cookies together for the first time. It was really fun to share something I love doing with him and I thought cookies would be an easy thing to start off with. These are packed with two of our favourite things: Nutella (yum) and salted caramel (double yum). 

We used this recipe that I've had pinned for ages - the only thing we changed was omitting the chocolate chips, purely because we didn't have any in the house and didn't fancy popping to the shops. The recipe gives you a lovely squidgy cookie with a melt in the middle surprise center and the sprinkle of salt on top brings everything together. The recipe is Nordic so the measurements are in cups rather than grams.

Ingredients

* 1/2 cup of butter

*1 1/2 cup of light brown sugar

* 1/2 cup of cocoa powder

* 2 eggs

* 1/4 tsp salt

* 3/4 tsp baking powder

* 2 cups of plain flower

* sea salt for sprinkling

* Nutella

* Salted Caramel (we used a ready made pot but you can make your own)

Method

001. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius (fan) and line two baking trays with baking parchment.

002. Melt the butter in a sauce pan. Take it off the heat as soon as it is melted so it doesn't brown or burn. In a separate bowl mix together the eggs and sugar. Mix in the melted butter until well combined.

003. Add the cocoa, salt and baking powder and stir until well combined.

004. Sift in the flour and mix well.
005. Take a tablespoon size amount of mixture and drop onto your tray. Make an indent in the middle large enough to fit a teaspoon of Nutella and a teaspoon of the salted caramel in.
006. Layer the Nutella and salted caramel on top of each other in the indent. Cover the filling with more cookie dough, making sure to seal all the edges.
007. Sprinkle the top of each cookie with a little salt.
008. Bake for 10-12 minutes.
009. Leave to cool on the trays for a few minutes then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling off.
010. Dust with icing sugar (optional!)

Let me know if you try this recipe by tweeting me! xxx

All Used Up #9

Hey guys, here is my very late follow up post which accompanies the video for my empties. I've managed to use up a variety of products this time around so you can either hear or read all about them in this post :)

1. Lush 'Snow Fairy' Shower Gel: An iridescent pink shower gel that features a bubble gum and pear drop scent, this product foams up nicely and leaves your bathroom smelling gorgeous for ages afterwards. One of my favourites from Lush but only available in their Christmas collection so you will have to wait until the end of this year to get your hands on it again, sorry!

2. Vichy Normaderm Micellar Water: full review here. One of the better micellar waters I've tried, it doesn't leave any horrible residue, is paraben free and suitable for oily skin, but it is rubbish at cleaning away stubborn eye make up and didn't blow me away. I wouldn't repurchase.

3. Yankee Candle 'Salted Caramel' Candle: I don't know how Yankee do it but they seem to encapsulate scents so well. This scent is very heavy but so delicious - think warm comforting caramel with a very sweet twist. It won't be everyone's cup of tea but I've loved using this throughout the winter months and would definitely repurchase.

4. Batiste Dry Shampoo: A regular feature in these posts, my trusty dry shampoo of choice. An absolute life saver it refreshes hair and provides volume. A regular repurchase.

5. Paul Mitchell Forever Blonde Shampoo* & Conditioner*: Full review here. The shampoo is more than just a bog standard product, it provides moisture and refreshes your colour without making it greasy. The conditioner is the perfect follow up, a half way house between a conditioner and a hair mask it provides a hit of moisture that won't weigh down your hair. A definite repurchase!

6. Dove 'Original' Antiperspirant: not much to say on this one, I do like Dove deodorants but I normally get whatever is on offer!

7. Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer:  A blogger favourite, I love the coverage and the long lasting formula but I find the shade range really lets this product down and it tends to go quite ashy on me. I've repurchased this a lot before but I think I was trying to make myself like it more than I did.

8. Rimmel Wake Me Up Concealer:  I originally wanted a lighter shade for under my eyes but instead I used this on my face and it was a good consistency but was quite lightweight so you have to build up the coverage gradually. It also isn't as long wearing as I would like. I wouldn't repurchase unless I could get a lighter colour for under my eyes.

9. Soap & Glory Supercat Eyeliner: My first foray into pen style liquid eyeliners, I loved the concept but the actual product fell short. It is quite grey and watery so needs to be built up into an opqaue line, which is a shame because at the time I bought it there was lots of hype around it. I'm trying out one by Bourjois at the moment and much prefer that.

Have you tried any of these products? xxx