Chocolate Chip and Nutella Cookie Bars

Operation power belly continues onward, as I decided I needed more sugary treats in my life.  I found this recipe for cookie bars, and made the drastic innovation of swapping out peanut butter for Nutella. I know, I know, I’m like the Ferran Adria of baking. Seriously though, simple is usually the way to go wwith baking, even though I’m always tempted to go over the top and do stuff like 5 layer smores bars, or cheesecake topped brownies.

Ingredients:

½ cup unsalted butter (1 stick)

1/3 cup Nutella

1 large egg

1 cup brown sugar, packed

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

¼ teaspoon salt

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (ghiradelli 60% cacao was used here) + extra on top

Preheat your oven to 350°F, and line an 8”x8” baking pan with parchment paper. Give it a spritz of cooking spray as well.

Place the butter in a bowl, and put that bowl on top of a small pot of simmering water, whisk as the butter melts. Remove from the heat, and allow to cool for a few minutes so it doesn’t cook your egg.

Add the cooled butter, egg, nutella, brown sugar, vanilla and salt to a bowl. Whisk until smooth.

Add in the flour, and fold until just combined – don’t mix more than you have to.

Fold in the 1 cup of chocolate chips. Transfer the batter into the baking pan, using a spatula to smooth out the top. Sprinkle some more chocolate chips on top.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the bars comes out clean (or mostly clean). Allow bars to cool for 30 minutes before serving.