There is a connection between The Queen’s 2012 Diamond Jubilee and these chewy Nutella cookies. Honestly, there is – just bear with me.

My Mum likes trees. A lot.

So … for her birthday last year, we gave her a gift membership of the Woodland Trust, the UK’s leading woodland conservation charity. She hence became the proud owner of a native tree in a wood not so very far away from here. I’m not sure where that wood is, but Mum received the details in her welcome pack.

Mum also receives regular copies of the members-only magazine, Broadleaf. It was in one such issue recently that she discovered the Woodland Trust’s plans to get everyone madly planting trees in celebration of the Jubilee. I hadn’t especially registered the fact but it turns out that Her Majesty The Queen is the only British sovereign ever to celebrate a Diamond Jubilee (other than Queen Victoria in 1897, that is). I guess the Woodland Trust can be forgiven for getting so excited about the whole thing then. And also for using it as a springboard for planting 6 million trees across the UK.

The part of the magazine article that most interested my Mum however was the statement:

We hope neighbours, communities, schools and families will come together to plant thousands of individual trees in their gardens, playgrounds and community spaces – each taking the chance to mark this special moment in history in a way that will stay with them forever.

Can you see where this is heading?

Yep, both my sister and I are in line for receiving a special Jubilee tree that we can plant in our own gardens at home.

It’s good timing. O has been hacking and slashing the overgrown heather in our garden since we moved here last November, whilst my sister also has a new garden to plan after moving house only a few weeks ago. Going down the edible route, we have each requested a Jubilee Hazel from the selection of trees on offer in the Woodland Trust shop. Thanks, Mum 🙂 .

So you see, there is a connection after all.

Hazel trees make hazelnuts … hazelnuts make Nutella … Nutella makes cookies.

Jubilee Nutella Cookies

6 oz plain flour
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp baking soda
4 oz butter
6 oz Nutella
3 1/2 oz light muscovado sugar
2 1/2 oz golden caster sugar
1 large egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
4 oz chopped roasted hazelnuts (optional)

Preheat the oven to 175 degrees C and line several baking trays with parchment paper.

Put the flour, salt and baking soda in a bowl and whisk to combine thoroughly.

Cream the butter and Nutella in a mixer bowl, then add the sugars. Beat until light and fluffy.

Add the eggs and vanilla gradually, beating after each addition.

Fold in the flour mixture, stirring just enough to combine. Stir in the hazelnuts, if using. Pop the batter in the fridge for 15 mins or so until it’s firmed up a bit.

Plop dollops of batter onto the prepared baking trays, leaving plenty of space between them for the cookies to spread (I used about 1 1/2 tbsp of batter for each dollop).

Bake for 15 mins (for soft and chewy cookies) to 17 mins (for crisp and chewy cookies), rotating the baking trays once during baking.

Leave the cookies to cool on the tray for a couple of minutes before removing them to a wire cooling rack.

Makes 14 to 18, depending on the size of your dollops.