Nutella Cream Sandwich Cookies

I've been wanting to try out a sandwich cookie recipe for awhile now. I just hadn't seen one that really jumped out at me. Until this one. I loved those Little Debbie Fudge Round cookies as a kid and these reminded me of those cookies. And really what could be better than Nutella and a cream filling? The recipe was easy enough that I was able to make them last minute one Friday afternoon to take to our Friday night get together.
I did have a few issues with these cookies that I will correct the next time I make them.
The issues I had were:

1. My dough came out really soft. Too soft to roll into balls. I didn't have the time to mess with it or chill it so I just spooned the dough onto my cookie sheet. This made my cookies a little on the flat side but they still tasted good.

2. I didn't have any unsalted butter on hand so I used regular but forgot to adjust the salt in the recipe, so my cookies were a little on the salty side.

3. The original recipe says that it yields 24 cookies or 12 sandwiches. So, I doubled it thinking that I would need 24 sandwiches for our party. I measured out the spoons by the tablespoon, as per the original recipe, and my cookies ended up HUGE. They were easily the size of a cup saucer. They were way too big for everyone. I'm sure that I could have gotten 24 sandwiches out of the recipe without doubling it.

4. My last issue with the cookies was that after a day, in an airtight container, the cookies became brittle. The cream stayed perfect but the cookies crumbled as soon as you touched them. It made for quite a mess.

Overall, these tasted really good, very reminiscent of the Fudge Round Cookies, and the cream filling was a-w-e-s-o-m-e. It's the perfect cream base to use in cookies, whoopie pies, cupcakes, whatever. I noted the changes that I would make below. I think these will turn out perfectly next time I make them and since they are so quick to whip up, I'm sure I'll be making them again soon.

Nutella Cream Sandwich Cookies

Adapted from Bakingdom

Ingredients
1 1/2 Cups All Purpose Flour
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda
1/2 Cup Unsalted Butter, softened
1/4 Cup Brown Sugar
1/4 Cup Sugar
1 Large Egg
1 teaspoon Vanilla
1 Cup Nutella

Cream Filling:
6 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter, softened
1/2 Cup Powdered Sugar
1 teaspoon Vanilla
3/4 Cup Marshmallow Fluff
1/2 Cup Nutella

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375F.
2. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugars.
4. Beat in the egg until combined.
5. Add the Nutella and vanilla.
6. Mix well.
7. Slowly beat in the dry ingredients until fully incorporated.
8. If the dough is very sticky, add a little more flour.
9. Chill the dough for about 30 minutes.
10. Roll the dough into tablespoon size balls.
11. Place the balls about 2 inches apart on the cookie sheet.
12. Press each dough ball with the tines of fork, making a checkered pattern on the top of the ball.
13. Lightly sprinkle the top of each cookie with sugar.
14. Bake for 10 minutes.
15. Allow the cookies to cool completely before filling.

Make the cream filling:

1. In a medium size bowl, cream the butter and sugar together.
2. Add in the vanilla and salt.
3. Whisk in the Nutella and Marshmallow Fluff until fully incorporated.
4. If the cream is too runny, add in more sugar until a spreadable consistency is reached.

Assemble the sandwiches:

Place 1 to 2 tablespoons of filling on the bottom of a cookie. Then place another cookie, bottom side down, on top of the filling.

Yields: 24 servings