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
To Brown the Butter (It's easy, I promise!)
- 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
- 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 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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Elizabeth
Question! What role does the cornstarch play? I tend to not like added starches in other foods because I think it dulls the flavor and sometimes gives things a texture I find weird. Other people love these things but not I, so wondering: what happens without cornstarch? Thank you thank you!
Sam
Hi Elizabeth! The cornstarch helps makes the cookies nice and soft. It will work without the cornstarch but they likely won’t be quite as soft. You’ll need to replace it with flour. 🙂
carl stephens
This is the perfect recipe for making your favorite stuffed cookie. This time I left out the Nutella and chocolate and used Sam’s lemon curt recipe for the stuffing. Then dusted them with power sugar.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We LOVE that idea, Carl! Thanks for sharing 🩷
carl stephens
Fantastic cookie!! I put the Nutella in a piping bag then pipe it into silicone ice cube trays before freezing.
Lola
How long do these cookies stay fresh for?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Lola! These stay fresh for about a week if in an airtight container. 😊
Denise Williams
I don’t normally comment but these cookies are perfection. Thanks for sharing the recipe!!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy you like them, Denise! Thanks for commenting 😊
Liv
Does creaming the butter/sugar instead of just mixing improve this for chewiness, or do you deliberately not?
Sam
Hi Liv! It’s best to brown the butter and use as indicated for best results, I would not recommend re-solidifying it and creaming it for this recipe. I hope that helps!
Grace
I made these cookies last December for a cookie exchange and have not stopped thinking about them. They were a hit at the party – and so delicious. I took a tip from elsewhere in the comments and took out a handful of nutella drops from the freezer at a time – I just placed them on second sheet of wax paper on a plate – because they really are much easier to work with when they are frozen. I will definitely make these cookies again!
Morgan
Can you use Chocolate Sunbutter as a nut-free alternative to Nutella?
Sam
Hi Morgan! I have not tried it so I can’t say for sure how it would turn out. I’m just not sure how the sunbutter will hold up in the oven. If you do try it, I would love to know how it goes! 🙂
Taylor
This recipe was a major fail for me. The cookie dough part itself worked out nicely and the flavor was really excellent with the browned butter. However, I absolutely could not get the nutella to cooperate no matter how hard I tried. The cookies turned out a gigantic mess and a huge failure. Sad day, really frustrating!
Sam
I’m so sorry to hear this happened, Taylor! Was the nutella frozen enough to be handled and placed into the dough? You can see how I do it in the video just above the recipe if that helps. 🙁
Nadia
Can I make the dough ahead of time and freeze the cookie balls to bake at a later date ?
Sam
Yes, that’s no problem, enjoy!
Nilda
Hi Sam,
I’ve already made these cookies and people love them! I want to double my recipe, but I was wondering once I have all the ingredients put together can I put it in a KitchenAid mixer to make the dough?
Nilda
Sam
Hi Nilda! This recipe could be made in a stand mixer. 🙂
Nilda
Hi Sam,
I made this recipe last week and shared them with my daughter, son-in-law and grandson and they were a hit!
I plan to make them for some friends who are Nutella lovers for Halloween. Thank you for an amazing recipe!
Sam
I’m so glad everyone enjoyed them so much, Nilda! 🙂
Ni
Hi is it possible to add coca powder to the cookie dough, please let me know how much we can add or if we should replace some of the flour with it
Sam
Hi Ni! You would have to substitute some of the flour but I haven’t tried it yet to say with confidence exactly how much it would need to be substituted.
Jenny
First of all, these are SPECTACULAR!!! These may become a regular at our frequent barbecues because 1) They’re a HUGE hit 2) I can make them the night before 3) When they sit out in the heat… it just melts the Nutella “surprise” into absolute perfection!
I actually needed to make smaller cookies, as someone else, did for a large barbecue we were having so I halved the size of the cookies and baked them for about 10 minutes. And since the BBQ became such a big one, I ended up needing to make two batches. The first batch I had quite a bit of downtime because I kept having to refreeze the Nutella drops but my husband inadvertently came up with a different way to do the drops that helped SO MUCH with the second ones, I thought I’d share (in case someone else was making 40 smaller cookies like we did).
Instead of setting the Nutella drops on one piece of waxed paper, he cut the paper into sections so I was only taking out four or five drops at a time. The second set went so much faster than the first because I wasn’t having to refreeze each time they started to thaw. I just went to the deepfreeze to take out a few at a time. I’m a little embarrassed that I didn’t come up with that simple of a solution 😆 on my own, but I just thought I’d pass the info along in case it might help someone else.
Sam
Thank you so much for the feedback, Jenny! I’m so glad everyone enjoyed them so much! I like the idea to only grab a few at a time. 🙂
N Wilmot
What temperature would you recommend for those using a fan forced oven in Australia please? Thank you!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We don’t have experience with baking in fan forced ovens, unfortunately 🙁
Maxine Lauer
There are a lot of steps, but they are so worth it. The outcome is delicious. I did make mine smaller than the recipe, because I needed smaller cookies. I got about 30. I also stuffed some of them with the PB mixture from the Chocolate Peanut Butter cookies as an experiment, the urned out awesome, too. Definitely a make again recipe.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy you enjoyed them, Maxine! Thanks for coming back to leave a review ☺️