Nutella Stuffed Cookies
Hand-mixed brown sugar cookie dough wraps around flat frozen Nutella discs and bakes at 350°F for 12 to 13 minutes, yielding crisp edges, chewy centers, and warm chocolate hazelnut filling.
Equipment
- Heatproof bowl
- Rubber spatula
- baking paper / parchment paper
- 2 trays
- rack
Ingredients
- 10 tbsp Nutella or other chocolate-nut spread slightly heaped
- 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips or chopped 70% dark chocolate
Cookie dough
- 1 1/3 cups plain flour / all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp baking soda bi-carbonate soda
- 1/4 tsp cooking salt / kosher salt
- 120 g / 8 tbsp unsalted butter cut into 1 cm / 1/2 inch cubes (fridge cold is fine)
- 2/3 cup brown sugar tightly packed
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp honey or corn syrup
- 1 large egg (55g / 2 oz), at room temperature
Instructions
Cookie dough
- Distribute the baking soda and salt through the flour in a bowl, then put the bowl aside. The dry mixture should look uniform, without visible pockets of soda.
- Heat the cubed butter in a heatproof bowl on high in the microwave for 30 seconds, then work it with a rubber spatula until the remaining pieces melt. Look for an opaque, milky yellow mixture rather than transparent yellow oil.
- Stir the brown sugar, vanilla, and honey or corn syrup into the butter before incorporating the egg. The combined wet ingredients should have a glossy, caramel-colored appearance.
- Fold in the dry mixture until incorporated, cover the bowl, and refrigerate for 1 1/2 hours. The dough will start slightly warm and too soft to roll, then become firm enough to shape into a log.
Frozen Nutella mounds
- Portion the Nutella onto a small parchment-lined tray, flatten each portion into a round about 8 mm / 1/3 inch thick, and freeze for 1 hour. The discs are ready when they hold their shape as you lift them from the paper.
Stuffing and baking
- Set the oven to 350°F / 180°C, or 160°C fan-forced, and prepare two baking trays with a light coating of grease beneath parchment paper. The paper should lie flat against the trays.
- Gather the chilled dough into a log about 18 cm / 7 inches long and divide it into 10 equal portions. The dough should hold its shape well enough for clean cuts.
- Flatten each portion around a frozen Nutella disc, pinch the dough closed, turn the smooth side upward, shape it into a round about 1.5 cm / 3/5 inch thick, and press chocolate into its top and sides, arranging five cookies on each tray with 8 cm / 3 inches between them. Each round should have a continuous covering of dough around the filling, with no exposed spread or visibly thin patches.
- Bake both trays together for 12 to 13 minutes, checking the edges and centers before removing them. The rims should look golden, with pale golden centers that have just set rather than become firm.
- Keep the baked cookies on their trays for 10 minutes, then lift them onto a rack for at least another 5 minutes of cooling. The bases will firm during the tray rest so the cookies can move without folding or breaking.
Notes
Ingredient tip: Stop microwaving the butter while small pieces remain and stir with a rubber spatula until it looks opaque and milky yellow rather than clear oil.
Assembly tip: Work with a few frozen Nutella discs at a time while keeping the rest in the freezer, and check the base and sides for thin spots when sealing the dough.
Cooling tip: Leave the baked cookies on the trays for 10 minutes before moving them to a rack for at least 5 minutes so the bases firm up without breaking.
Storage and reheating: Cool cookies completely before storing in an airtight container away from heat and moisture, and briefly microwave individual cookies until the center softens.
Nutrition information is an estimate based on common ingredients and serving sizes. Values may vary depending on brands, portions, and substitutions.