Salted Caramel & Nutella Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies (The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap 2013!)

Today is the day!! The day that I get to reveal the recipe of the cookies I made for the 3rd annual Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap! This was my first time participating and it definitely won’t be my last, it was so much fun!! Just what is this cookie swap exactly, you ask?

Hosted by Lindsay over at Love & Olive Oil and Julie at The Little Kitchen, the Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap pairs up fellow food bloggers from all over the world to participate in a secret Santa sort of swap. You sign up and receive the name & addresses of three bloggers, you bake & ship them each a dozen cookies, and in turn you receive three dozen back from different bloggers.

By participating (& paying $4.00 at sign up) you also help out a great cause, Cookies for Kids’ Cancer. This year we participates, along with sponsors (OXO, Dixie Crystals, Gold Medal Flour, and Grandma's Molasses) raised over $13,000 for the cause! How awesome is that?!

I had such a great time with this swap! First step was deciding what cookies to bake! I had at least 5 different recipes I was considering but this one was calling my name. A rich brownie like cookie filled with Nutella & caramel, topped sea salt? Yes, please! And I mean you just cannot go wrong with caramel and Nutella, can you? Two sure fire ingredients in my book.

And next was the tricky part, figuring out a safe yet cute way to pack and ship them. Admittedly the first batch of cookies I sent out weren’t quite as cute (but hopefully still safe) because I was still figuring it all out. But for the other two I used Martha Stewart’s treat bags with trays and they looked so cute and seemed really safe! Always go with Martha, she knows her stuff!

I also received some really delicious cookies from some lovely bloggers (which you can see at the end of this post)! It was like Christmas getting cookies in the mail like every other day! I love surprises… especially in cookie form!

If you would like to be informed of when to sign up for the next swap (and you totally should!) click here! And I hope you try this recipe, trust me, they are little pieces of caramel & Nutella heaven!

Salted Caramel & Nutella Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies -

(Recipe adapted from http://www.topwithcinnamon.com/)

This has become my all time favorite cookie recipe! Seriously, my family and I couldn't stop raving about them! We admittedly ate way too many of the extra cookies left over. And I'm sure it's easy to see why. If you love caramel and Nutella, these are for you!

It starts out with a rich and chocolaty cookie dough filled with chocolate chips (cause what this cookie really needs is more chocolate, right? ;)).

You make indentations in the center and fill them each with a small dollop of Nutella and warm & gooey caramel.

Top it with more dough, sprinkle with sea salt, and into the oven they go!

I love that you can see the caramel peeking through!

The texture of these cookies is reminiscent of a brownie to me, soft and gooey!

So I know it may be hard but don’t jump the gun and eat one of these cookies without first breaking it open. When you break open a cookie all the luscious Nutella and caramel just comes flooding out. It’s a beautiful thing & you should experience it..

The sea salt on the top adds that perfect sweet & salty touch. Just a warning though, these are pretty rich so you may want to have a glass of milk on hand!

The cute Martha Stewart packaging!

This is definitely one for all you chocoholics out there! You must give these babies a try! I think you’ll have a new favorite on your hands!

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 cups light brown sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
2 eggs
1/4 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. baking powder
2 cups all-purpose flour
3.5 oz. milk or dark chocolate chips
sea salt, for sprinkling
approx. 1/2 cup (8 tbsp.) Nutella
15-16 caramel-filled chocolates
heavy cream (if you're using the caramels)

Directions:
Line a baking tray with parchment paper. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.

In a medium saucepan, melt the butter. Take off the heat and stir in the brown sugar and eggs. Then add the cocoa, salt and baking powder and stir until well combined. Add the flour and stir until no floury patches are left. Lastly stir in the chocolate chips.

Melt caramels with a little bit of heavy cream in the microwave. Stir till smooth.

Take 1 heaped tbsp. of dough, use your finger make a large indentation the center of the dough; fill the indentation with a small blob of Nutella (like 1/2 tsp. ish), and top it up with the still-warm caramel, or a caramel-filled chocolate. Top with a flattened tablespoon of dough, and seal the edges.

Sprinkle with sea salt and bake for 8-10 minutes.

Cookies I received  -

Championship Cookies from Nika @ http://www.myrthastewart.com/. As soon as I saw these cookies were filled with Snickers and oats, I knew they were a winner! They were so delish! Glad she included the recipe because I will definitely be making them!

Peppermint Brownies from Melissa @ http://www.beingabear.com/. Oh my goodness, these were heavenly!!! Just look at the swirls on the top! They were gone so fast! Can’t wait to bake some of these babies!

Double Chocolate Cookies from Chainey (box didn’t include any blog or contact info). These cookies were so good! A rich and chocolaty cookie with bits of peppermint bark in the center! Amazing!!

Thank you to all three bloggers for these lovely and yummy treats! They were very much enjoyed!

Gifts from the lovely sponsors -

A cute cookie tin and awesome spatulas (that I’ve been using almost every time I cook and bake). Thank you Dixie Crystals and OXO!

As you can see, I had a wonderful first cookie swap experience and I’m already really looking forward to next years! :)