Kim's Nutella Cookies for The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap

Hi folks. This post is dedicated to the lovely ladies who dreamt up "The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap 2011". So this one goes out to Lindsay of Love and Oil Olive and to Julie of The Little Kitchen. To give you the low down on this event here's how it worked. The ladies had food bloggers sign up. Then they assigned each person 3 others to send cookies to. I cannot even begin to fathom the amount of work and organizational skills it must have taken to put this all together. These ladies rock, and they rock hard. So take some time to go check out their blogs and say hello. Tell them to go take naps as they must be way tired after this monumental undertaking. They are already considering doing it all over again next year so make sure you go sign up at "The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap", this will ensure you get on the mailing list for next year. I had trouble with the code for the pic of the swap so will pop it up here later once I get the code figured out and working correctly. You can also visit the swap on facebook by clicking HERE!

I have to admit I got mine sent out a day late. Regulars know I had battled being sick. Well any time you bake for others you want to make sure you are completely well, not just for yourself but to ensure the people you are baking for don't get sick. So I waited an extra day to bake and send to make sure I was fully back in good form. There was no way I was sending off a bundle of cookie germs. That meant being a bit late so hopefully my 3 got them by now. If not I promise they should be there any time. I wish I could have express shipped them but with hubs laid off money is tight so regular mail they went. Crossing fingers my ladies received them and are munching them happily as I type. 

I am waiting on one more batch to arrive. I got two already and let me tell you I was thrilled. Not only did I get some wonderful cookies but I got some sweet personal notes with them. I could not be more thrilled with the ladies who got assigned little old me. K & K Test Kitchen sent me Haystack Cookies. I got a wonderfully sweet note from Kelsey. Let me tell you Kelsey, the guys went nuts for your cookies. Hubs cannot stop eating them. They are so tasty, I just can't get over the flavour on these cookies. I cannot wait to hop over to your blog and get the recipe. The pink paper was so adorable too. I love me some pink. Miss Delish also got assigned moi so Jill sent me the most amazing whoopie pies. The funny thing was I had just said on my blog while doing the SRC assignment that I had wanted to do these cookies but was too sick to tackle something new. I've never made or had a whoopie pie before so Jill you were my first and I will remember you always (devilish grin inserted here), those Red Velvet and Peppermint Whoopie Pies rocked my world. I shall be stopping by for the recipe later today. I think you two ladies are to blame for the 5 pounds I've gained in the last week. I blame you fully. And thank you, if you're gonna gain 5 extra pounds this is the way to do it. I shall pop up pictures after I post the recipe I used so you can see what these woman sent me. Thank you Jill aka Miss Delish, those cookies were incredible. Thank you K & K Test Kitchen and a special thanks to Kelsey for the wonderful note. Once I receive my third package I'll edit that info in here. 

I made some cookies I was not happy with. I did checkerboard cookies and was not happy with how they lined up. I have a bit of ocd so while they are tasty and fine for us, they were not good enough to send to food bloggers. So after spending an entire day on them I decided to make something else to send. I will post those checkerboard cookies soon so you can see them. Then you'll know why I did not want to include them in the swap. So I was now crunched for time and needed something tasty and fast, also something that would ship well as one of mine was in British Columbia. So I went to my go to cookie and tweaked it with a new ingredient. Folks I have discovered Nutella and I LIKE IT! Omg it is so yummy. So I added that to my no bake coconut cookies and voila, magic happened. Moist and yummy nutella and coconut goodness. I was a bit freaked out about sending out a no bake cookie to food bloggers but they were just so good I took my chances. Hopefully my ladies enjoyed them. Here's some pics and the recipe. Hope you love them as much as I did. I must have eaten a gazillion of them. I did the old "oh that one is mis-shaped, oh that one is too small" routine. You know the one, "I can't possibly send them THIS cookie, so I'll just eat it myself". Yah, I am sure that didn't contribute the 5 pound weight gain. Nope, not at all.

Kim's Nutella Cookies:

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups sugar

5 tablespoon cocoa

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup shortening

1/4 cup Nutella 

3 cups vanilla oats

1/4 teaspoon vanilla salt

1 cup coconut

Directions:

In a saucepan combine your sugar, cocoa and milk. Cook over medium-low heat stirring until the sugar dissolves. 

Now bring to a low boil, (you don't want to get it too hot) and add your shortening and Nutella. Mix until it melts.

Add your oats and mix well.

Now remove from heat and add your vanilla salt, coconut extract and your coconut flakes. Stir well.

Now with a spoon or ice cream scoop lay them out on parchment lined cookie sheets. 

Now leave them to set up. I always eat about 5 while they're hot, I'm not gonna lie.

Serve them up with a smile or send them off to people you love.

Note: Had to pop back to edit the Nutella amount. I triple batched my cookies and for some reason did not adjust the Nutella per batch. It has now been adjusted. Thanks to Baker Street for snapping me out of my cookie coma!!!

Yummy right. You know me and my pictures. As I try to improve my photog skills you get bombarded with pictures. I love playing around with them. I have been known to love stacking. The added benefit of stacking is this happens:

No really I am not crazy, this is a good thing. Then you get to say "oh I couldn't possibly send these ones, they are all broken and bruised (giggles) so I'll just have to eat these ones myself". See, I'm an evil cookie genius. Mwuhahhahahaha! 

Okay so I took some pics of the cookies I received and had some fun with those too. Here's a couple shots for you to drool over!

FROM K&K TEST KITCHEN- HAYSTACK COOKIES

FROM MISS DELISH- RED VELVET AND PEPPERMINT WHOOPIE PIES

RED DEER FOODIE- MOLASSES GINGER CRISPS

Since I am in a sharing mood I shall include the picture of the cookie I deemed unworthy of sending to food bloggers. I shall make them again and line everything up correctly. So this is them in all their uneven glory. I'll post the recipe and more pics later. But I gotta scoot to Costco to pick up a present that has to be wrapped and shipped today. Yup, I am a total Martha wannabe but have a habit of doing too much then rushing around late. To know me is to love me. You'll just have to wait to do it as I'll be late for that too.

Yah, tasty but not my usual ocd perfect cookie. So I shall try these ones again. They are a bugger to make. Lots of prep involved. I was so disappointed in the lack of uniform to them. But the taste is bang on. Go figure.

Okay folks I gotta rock n roll if I am going to finish up on time today. I have a wonderful Meatless Monday recipe coming up later. So check back tonight for so yummy goodness. Enjoy your day and remember to eat lots and lots of cookies. Thanks again to Kelsey and Jill. You ladies are amazing. Please take some time today my lovely readers and go say hi to these lovely gals. You can see their recipes by clicking the link under their cookie photos. Happy Holidays!

Toodles and smoochies.xx