When I originally saw these Chocolate-Hazelnut Smooches aka Witch Hat Cookies on YumSugar I thought they were absolutely adorable. We’ve all made the peanut butter version before and I thought the reinvention of the recipe for Halloween was too cute for words. Unfortunately, while the cookies turned out picture perfect I had numerous problems with the texture. I never know quite what to write when I have a bad recipe experience, but I guess you can’t win them all. So, sorry Giada, but there are a few issues with this one. Read closely my fellow ghouls and ghosties for some ideas you can attempt if you want to use the original recipe with more chewy results.

First of all, chill your dough before you begin working with it, and in between batches if you’re only working with one cookie sheet at a time. Second do not under any circumstances top the cookies with Hershey kisses and put them back into the oven unless you want the chocolate to melt all over the place and make your cookies look ridiculous. Just top them when you pull the tray from the oven. Third, space the cookies far apart. They’ll expand and flatten a lot more than you think. Fourth, do not over cook. In fact, I would under cook them as much as you can. Numerous people have noted in the reviews on the Food Network website that they ended up with pretty orange hockey pucks. My first batch could have broken windows in a matter of minutes. And finally, freezing your kisses will make them less likely to melt into puddles of goo when you do actually top these little problem children with their jaunty black hats.

Of course Chris came home from work and promptly devoured a few and declared them delicious. The issue may simply be that I really like chewy cookies and these are crispy. So it could just be a matter of personal taste. Although, I think next time I’d skip this recipe all together and simply make a good peanut butter cookie, roll it in orange sugar, and get the same effect with less troubleshooting. And if all else fails, which it probably will, toss a slice of bread into the container you’re storing the cookies in and let it sit overnight. That should suitably soften them. Or for a quick fix, 15 seconds in the microwave will also do the trick.  Unless of course you’re really into crispy crunchy cookies, then disregard everything I’ve just said.

Make a Million Tiny Balls	Roll in Neon Sugar
Be Careful Not to Over Cook	Pretty But Deadly

I’m addicted to my rss feeds on google reader. I always read the food blogs folder first (even before my “celebrity gossip” selections — sorry Perez Hilton, food always trumps pictures of bald Britney and her adventures in rehab). One of my favorite cooking blogs is Slashfood. I’m pretty sure I audibly squealed when I saw a link for Nutella cupcakes aka Self-Frosting Cupcakes. I’d just picked up a jar of Nutella at the grocery store and realized that I found it pretty disgusting spread on bread, but I was certain it would be an amazing ingredient in a recipe. I’m always looking for any excuse to use my pretty in pink KitchenAid mixer so I promptly whipped up a batch. While my cupcakes aren’t as aesthetically beautiful as the images at the Baking Sheet blog, they smelled heavenly in the oven and tasted amazing. But really how can you go wrong with sugar, white flour, chocolate and hazelnut? If I ever make these cupcakes again I definitely would use a little less Nutella as I think I went a bit overboard topping the batter, and it made for a messy challenge trying to make attractively swirled tops.

Mix	Scoop
Top	Swirl
Mmm…Nutella