The ultimate gourmet-style cookies, these Nutella stuffed cookies are made with browned butter, flecked with semisweet chocolate, lightly sprinkled with sea salt, and most importantly, bursting with a molten core of Nutella! Despite their gourmet-status and ingredients, they’re actually quite simple to make, and if you’ve never made browned butter before I’ll walk you through all of the steps in detail in the recipe!
I don’t like to think of myself as a bragger (braggart? I’ve thought about this for too long and the word is starting to lose all meaning to me).
I’m proud, sure, of many of my recipes and this little space that I’ve created, and I can get full-on impassioned when talking about egg yolks and butter and the importance of keeping a thermometer (or two) in your oven at all times.
But I don’t really like to boast about my recipes. Sure, here I talk about their best qualities, but in the real world it’s more of a “I thought this was good, and I hope you like it too”, and let the cookie/cake/etc. speak for itself.
But I have been full out bragging about these cookies. Everything short of stopping people in the halls of the hospital where I work and telling them about “these amazing Nutella stuffed cookies that I made”.
Maybe cutting drastically back on the amount of sugar that I’m consuming during Lent has sent my brain into a cookie-obsessed frenzy, but I’m full-on crazy about these Nutella-stuffed cookies, and I want everyone to try them.
They’re actually a Frankenstein of a cookie driven together by my newfound love of browned butter cookie dough (I used nearly the same exact dough in Friday’s recipe, shhh) and merged that with my love of stuffing desserts inside other desserts, and the half-empty jar of Nutella left over after making a video of these Nutella brownies. Rather than finish off the Nutella spoonful by shameful spoonful, I opted to instead stuff it inside my recent favorite cookie dough for these Nutella stuffed cookies.
Part of me wanted to wait a while before sharing this recipe since, as I mentioned, the base cookie dough was just used in my last recipe, but there was no waiting with these. I felt that it was my duty to the universe to release this recipe as soon as humanly possible, and so here we are 😉
Soft cookies flecked with real chocolate, infused with the golden browned butter in every delectable bite, and centers filled with sweet molten Nutella. There was no waiting with this recipe.
I’ve already talked here and here (and about a half dozen other places on the blog) about the joys of baking with browned butter.
If you haven’t browned butter yourself yet, that’s going to have to change because it is essential for the best possible cookie dough and flavor, and ultimate Nutella stuffed cookies. It’s amazing how such a simple technique can take a standard cookie dough and transform it into something amazing, but it can!
For those of you a little leery of toasting your butter, I include detailed notes and a photo in the recipe to make the process as smooth as possible. Just remember to not take your eyes off of it, because the second you turn your back it’s bound to burn.
Rather than use chocolate chips in this recipe, I opted for a single 4-oz bar of semisweet baking chocolate. I chopped it very finely so that there would be a bit in every bite without being overwhelming when paired with the chocolate flavor of the Nutella.
Enjoy!
And P.S.
If you live in my neighborhood you’re more than likely very aware that there’s a giant snowstorm headed our way tomorrow, and the likelihood of a snow day is strong. Do yourself a favor and skip the milk, toilet paper, and bread, and stock up on butter, Nutella and sea salt.
I can’t think of a better way to pass a snow day than with a batch of Nutella stuffed cookies (sure beats shoveling!).
Nutella Stuffed Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter
- 1 cup (280 g) Nutella
- 1 cup (200 g) brown sugar
- ⅔ cup (135 g) white sugar
- 2 eggs room temperature preferred
- 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 ¾ cups + 2 Tbsp (362 g) all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoon cornstarch cornflour in UK
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 4 oz (113 g) semisweet chocolate bar very finely chopped
- sea salt for sprinkling
Instructions
Portion the Nutella
- Prepare your Nutella filling first by lining a cookie sheet with wax paper and dropping Nutella by 2 teaspoon-sized dollops onto cookie sheet. Place in freezer to harden while you prepare your cookie dough.1 cup (280 g) Nutella
Brown the Butter:
- Cut your butter into Tablespoon-sized pieces and place in a medium-sized saucepan. Melt over medium-low heat.1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter
- Once butter has melted, increase heat to just above medium heat.
- Swirl and scrape the sides of the pan frequently with a wooden spoon or heatproof spatula - the butter will bubble and pop. Once the bubbling/popping slows, the butter will begin to turn brown, it will look like this once it's finished:
- Watch the butter very carefully at this point, and once it begins to brown and you smell the nutty aroma of browned butter, remove from heat quickly and pour into a large, heatproof bowl.
- Allow butter to cool for 25-30 minutes, until no longer warm to the touch, before proceeding with the recipe.
For the Cookie Dough
- Preheat oven to 375F (190C) and line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Add sugars into cooled browned butter, stir well.1 cup (200 g) brown sugar, ⅔ cup (135 g) white sugar
- Stir in eggs, one at a time, stirring well after each addition.2 eggs room temperature preferred
- Add vanilla extract and stir.1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- In a separate, medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda and salt.2 ¾ cups + 2 Tbsp (362 g) all-purpose flour, 2 teaspoon cornstarch, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon baking soda, ¾ teaspoon salt
- Gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture, stirring until ingredients are completely combined.
- Add your finely chopped chocolate bar and stir well.4 oz (113 g) semisweet chocolate bar
- Chill dough in refrigerator for 15-20 minutes.
- Remove frozen Nutella from freezer and cookie dough from refrigerator (if at any point the Nutella becomes too sticky and hard to work with, return to freezer for at least 5-10 minutes)
- Scoop dough by heaping 1 ½ Tbsp-sized spoonful and press frozen Nutella dollop into the center. Form around Nutella until it is completely concealed (add more dough as needed).
- Roll into an even ball and place on a wax-paper lined sheet. Repeat until all Nutella dollops are concealed in cookie dough, and freeze cookie dough balls for 15 minutes.
- Place cookie dough at least 2 inches apart on parchment paper-lined sheet, and bake on 375F (190C) for 12-13 minutes, or until edges are just beginning to turn golden brown.
- Sprinkle immediately with sea salt. Allow cookies to cool completely on cookie sheet before removing (they'll be quite fragile when warm, but will become more sturdy as they cool).sea salt
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.
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Dhwani
Hey Sam!
I want to know that can I use vanilla extract instead of vanilla essence?
And if yes than how much?
Sam
I’m sure it would work but I’ve never baked with vanilla essence so I can’t say for sure how much, sorry Dhwani!
Mary
Hi Sam,
I was wondering if this cookie dough could be mixed in a KitchenAid mixmaster instead of stirring it by hand?…will it affect the texture of the dough making it more crumbly if so? Thanks!
Sam
Hi Mary! It can certainly be made in a KitchenAid, I just usually don’t because the melted butter makes it easy to stir by hand. It shouldn’t affect the dough in any negative way. Enjoy!
J
Wonderful fun recipe. Thank you so much for sharing!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them!
mai
help don’t have cornstarch
Sam
You can leave it out but the cookies may be flatter/not as soft
mai
hi i dont have cornstarch can i just add more flower if so how much thank you these look delicious .
Sam
It should probably be fine it just won’t taste as good, unfortunately I have not tried it so I can’t tell you how much to use in the adjustment.
Dhwani
I just loved the recipe and even those who have rated also appreciate me… thank you for your recipe
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed!
Diana
Hi! Can you please tell me how many cookies this recipe made? Thank you!
Sam
Hi Diana! It should make about 20 cookies.
Cadambari
Hey .. can I use an egg replacement for this recipe ? If yes what is the quantity. Also will the quality and taste of the Cookie affected? Thanks
Sam
Hi, I’m really sorry but I simply don’t know if it can be used, I haven’t used egg replacements before. I’m hoping someone else can chime in and answer.
Reeba Goerge
Can you please make a video of this recipe.
Sam
Hi Reeba, I actually have one here on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Sugarspunrun/videos/854233258066179/
I’ll see what I can do about making a YouTube video of these cookies.
Maryam Jabbar
Hi what size eggs do I use.
Sam
Large 🙂
Layla
Hey , so I got all the ingredients but I’m missing the baking soda ? Can I use something else instead . Thank uuu xxx
Layla
Ooh and. I also don’t have brown sugar , will it still come out alright ? Can I use white sugar instead ?
Sam
It would still work, I just recommend brown sugar for best flavor
Sam
I’m sorry I don’t know of a substitute that would work well 🙁
Deb
Hiii, the first time i baked these cookies they were amazing!!! . Yesterday i tried to bake cookies again and it turned into crumbly cookies ☹️ Do you have any ideias why? I think i might have over stir the doug (5 minutes / sugars and butter).. have no ideia 🙁 i have meansured all ingredients like u said . I have one question do i have to let the butter after is browned cool in the refrigerator?
Sam
Hi Deb! Hmm, that is a long time to stir the dough but with cookie like this that shouldn’t matter quite so much.
I do not cool the butter in the refrigerator, I just let it sit at room temperature. If it gets too cold and re-solidifies that could make it harder for it to absorb the flour and could cause the dough to be too crumbly.
Another possibility could be the flour, did you use grams or cups? with cups it can be easy to over-measure so that’s also possible. I’ve also found that even things like the humidity/weather can affect cookie dough so if it was a particularly humid day that could have even made the difference.
Sorry I don’t know exactly what went wrong, but I hope this helps and if you have any other questions I’m happy to help troubleshoot as best I can!
vaishali ahuja
Should we take dark brown sugar or light brown sugar?
Sam
Either works just fine, I usually use light brown for this recipe but both work so feel free to use your preference 🙂
vaishali ahuja
Hi! Why are we adding corn starch to all purpose flour?
Sam
For the best, chewiest cookies! 🙂
Mitchell Syrett
6,500,000 kcal??!!
325,000 a cookie? Surely not?
Delicious non the less.
Tiffany
These cookies take a bit of extra time and tools/bowls but the cookies are delicious. Like very very delicious. Worth the effort if you want an extra special treat.
Sam
I’m so glad to hear you enjoyed them, Tiffany! 🙂