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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Isabella
Hi, just finished baking these gorgeous and can’t stop thinking: how can i turn this recipe into a cacau dough? I don’t think by just adding the cocoa, that would be too “easy” 🤔 could you give me some help? And thank you, SO SO much! You have no idea how many recipes i’ve tried – and how many had to throw it away. 😭💔
*Sorry for my english, brasileira here 🙋 hope you understand what i tried to say ☺️
Sam
Hi Isabella! I haven’t tried it this way. You would need to reduce some of the flour and add cocoa powder, but I am not sure how much you would need to adjust each ingredient. You could try using my Peanut Butter Stuffed Chocolate cookies and stuff it with nutella instead of peanut butter. 🙂
Maria Bertone
Hi Sam, Just wanted to share with you that I tried your Nutella Stuffed Cookie recipe for my son’s return from university for the Easter holidays. I cannot tell you what a success they were! I also wished to specifically say that in all my many, many years of cooking I have hardly ever come across such a clearly written and detailed recipe – really you made it full proof and I thank you. If I can work out how to add some photos I took, I will. But don’t your hold breath waiting! Keep up the fab work.
Sam
Thank you so much, Maria! I am so glad you enjoyed the cookies so much! Unfortunately, adding pictures in the comments can prove very difficult. If you have a Facebook profile, I do have a Facebook group and I’d love to see the pictures. 🙂
Erika
So yummy!! But I dont know why mine came out a little bit flat..
Sam
Hi Erika! They may have needed just a little bit more flour, or they may have needed to chill just a little bit longer, or one final culprit could be a bad leavener. 🙂
Nihan
They tasted great but mine rose upwards like little hills instead of spreading out and smelled a little eggy. Great easy to follow recipe!
Maria
Fab recipe!!! Cannot wait to try for my Nutella Addict son when he returns from uni for the Easter holiday. Thank for such a well present recipe and very helpful video. You write very well and, unfortunately, extremely easily and temptingly! Think this will become a family favourite. Thank you again for sharing.
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed the cookies, Maria! Hopefully your son loves them too! 🙂
Lexy
These cookies came out AMAZING! Such an easy to follow recipe even with it being my first time browning butter 🙂 only thing I wish was included was the nutrition value for a cookie, but I’m sure it’s hard to determine that for homemade recipes! All in all, will 100% make again
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed the cookies Lexy! Welcome to the wonderful world of browned butter. 🙂
ebtehal
I wish you posted a photo before baking them to know the shape they were like sphere , weren`t they ? 🙂
Sam
Hi, I just added a video for you below the recipe so you can see exactly how I did it. I hope that helps! 🙂
Rosebud
Thank You for this Excellent tasting cookie recipe but mine come out hard and not soft or chewy. I tried cutting down on the flour but they still come out hard. Also if I don’t flatten them with my fingers before I bake them they come out rounder and higher rather then flat like a chocolate chip cookie. Should I cut back on the cornstarch, baking powder or baking soda? Would that make a difference? Or maybe I’m cooking them too long? Not sure what I’m doing wrong.
Sam
Try cutting the flour down a little bit more. Baking them too long will make them hard. If there is too much flour they won’t flatten like they should. I hope this helps. 🙂
Rose
Thank You so much Sam. I will try your suggestions.
Mike
Good recipe! Thankyou
Sam
Thank you so much Mike! 🙂
Shirley Johnston
Have not made these yet, having trouble deciding if I want to make these or the brownies. LOL!! I absolutely love your videos. You make everything look so easy. Thank you for taking the time to share your knowledge and skill with us.
Sam
Thank you so much, Shirley! ☺️ If it were me I would start with the cookies and then immediately make the brownies! 😂 I hope you do try both of them and love them both.
Shirley
🤣I like the way you think👍
NJ
Hi,
Is there anyway to make these cookies without the eggs?
Sam
I am not familiar with egg substitutes so I cannot say for sure.
Giz
Perfect !! Best cookies i have had ever..thanxxx
Sam
So happy to hear this! Thanks for commenting! 🙂
Sapna
Hi…made loads of batches of this wonder filled cookie but every second batch turns flatter n whenever they r fluffy as yours I feel great..what can b the reason of them turning flat..pl.tell
Sam
If you have a good first batch and the second is flat my best guess is that you are adding dough to a warm/hot pan. You need the pan to be completely cooled before adding more dough to it. If all of the cookies are coming out flat, check to see if your leaveners are good and make sure your butter isn’t too hot when adding sugars to it. I hope this helps. 🙂
Maham
If the dough is not cold enough the cookies will spread will baking and will be flat. If it’s cold enough it will hold its shape.
Debbie
These were very good! The only thing that I will change the next time is to omit the sea salt on top after baking them. Other than that, VERY, VERY GOOD!!! LOVED the technique of browning the butter! I’ll probably use that trick for all of my cookie recipes from now on! Thanks for sharing!
Sam
The browned butter really makes these cookies next level amazing! I am so glad you enjoyed them. 🙂
D. B.
Six and a half million kcal? I can live for almost nine years on this one batch of cookies! 😂
Sam
When you have cookies this good, calories don’t matter. 😉