nutella cookies with sea salt

Hello, May! I thought I'd start off this month with an extremely easy, chocolate cookie with a salty surprise. This recipe by Ambitious Kitchen came to me via Pinterest. Only 1 bowl and 5 ingredients-- all I happened to have in my kitchen. Really, can't get much easier than that. As you bite into the chewy (and slightly crisp exterior), you literally want to close your eyes and savor the fudgy center. That is exactly what I did.

Nutella Cookies with Sea Salt
Recipe by Ambitious Kitchen
12-14 cookies


INGREDIENTS
1 cup Nutella
2 Tbsp packed light brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup + 1 Tbsp all-purpose flour
coarse sea salt for sprinkling


DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. With a electric hand mixer or stand mixer with paddle attachment, mix together all ingredients except for sea salt.
3. Portion dough into about 1-inch balls onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Freeze for 10 minutes.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 8-10 minutes. Look for the edges crisping up. I ended up baking for a total of 14 minutes, because it had a very round center still after 10. This could have been because a) I froze the dough a bit longer and/or b) my oven lies to me and usually needs extra time to warm up to the set temperature. My advice is to start with 8-10 and add extra minutes if necessary.
5. Remove cookies from the oven, and generously sprinkle with sea salt. Allow to cool directly on the baking sheet for a few minutes. Then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling. Cookies will seems very soft, but that's why they are so fudgy once they cool completely!