Nutella Stuffed Cookies

Soft and chewy chocolate chip cookies stuffed with creamy Nutella. The ultimate must make gourmet cookie!

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 5

Cook Time 10

chilling 1

Total Time 1 15

Servings Cookies

Calories 247kcal

Author Elizabeth Marek

Equipment

#20 size scoop (roughly 3 Tablespoons)
Cookie sheet
Stand mixer (hand mixer works too)

Ingredients

8 ounces unsalted butter softened, but not melted (2 cups)
5 ounces brown sugar (¾ cup)
5 ounces white sugar (¾ cup)
12 ounces all purpose flour (2 ½ cups)
1 teaspoon salt
1.5 teaspoons baking soda
2 large cold eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
6 ounces hazelnut spread (Nutella) (1 cup)

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

The Nutella Centers

Line a cookie sheet that fits in your freezer with parchment paper. Scoop the Nutella into about 20, 2 teaspoon size dollops. This recipe will make about 20 cookies.
Place them in the freezer for about an hour before beginning the cookie process. They soften very quickly so it is easiest to have the Nutella portions frozen hard.

The Cookie Dough

Prepare a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
In a separate bowl, combine the flour, salt, and baking soda.
In the bowl of your stand mixer with the paddle attachment, add butter and mix until smooth.
I'm using my Bosch Universal Plus mixer, but you can use a KitchenAid, or hand mixer as well.
Add both sugars and cream together on medium speed until pale and fluffy, this could take about 2-4 minutes.
Add the eggs, one at a time until fully incorporated into the sugar mixture.
Add the teaspoon of vanilla and mix briefly.
Gradually add the flour mixture and mix until just combined.
Finally, add the chocolate chips and mix until evenly distributed. Save a few to add to the tops of the cookies for decoration.

Stuffing and Baking the Cookies

Using a #20 size scoop (roughly 3 Tablespoons), scoop the cookie dough onto a sheet pan lined with parchment. It's okay if all of the dough balls are on one sheet pan, you will not be baking them all together.
You can adjust the size of your dollop and cookie scoop to be a larger cookie or a smaller cookie. Just remember your baking time will need to adjust too.
Refrigerate the dough balls for at least 30 minutes. The dough will be easier to work with once it's cold and it will allow the flour to absorb the moisture in the batter, which prevents spreading!
Once your dough balls have chilled, and the Nutella balls are frozen, you'll want to stuff your cookies.
Divide your dough ball into 2 pieces, place the Nutella ball onto the bottom piece, and sandwich the other half on top. Make sure to completely cover the Nutella, and have a little more of the dough on the bottom of the cookie.
Place all of the stuffed cookies back on the tray and refrigerate for another hour, or overnight. This will give the dough and Nutella time to come to the same temperature, resulting in a more even bake.
An hour before you're ready to bake, preheat your oven to 375°F and prepare a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
Place 6 cookies onto the pan and top with a few extra chocolate chips. (optional)
Bake at 375°F for 10-15 minutes. Check the progress of the cookie at 10 minutes, the center may appear to be underdone, but it should look baked, and not "wet". If it does appear wet and shiny over the Nutella ball, continue to bake for an extra 2 minutes at a time until it is finished baking.
Cool the cookies on the tray for 5-10 minutes before attempting to move them to a cooling rack. The molten center will make it weak and could possible crack the cookie when you try to move it. Also, let it cool a bit before biting into it so the lava center doesn't burn the skin in your mouth. Ouch!
Transfer to a cooling rack and store at room temperature for up to 1 week. Nutella is shelf-stable, but if you're stuffing your cookies with other ingreidnets be sure to check the expiration date.

Video

Notes

Make sure you read this recipe all the way through before beginning. This will help you plan out your time accordingly. The prep of this recipe has a lot of start and stop steps in it. If you are in a hurry and don't have time to do the proper chilling, the cookies could possibly not have the desired outcome.
You can use any brand of hazelnut chocolate spread at your local store. This spread has different additives than just a regular ganache has, so it could behave differently if you choose to replace the Nutella with a homemade ganache. If you decide to try this, let me know how it works out!
You can adjust the size of your dollop and cookie scoop to be a larger cookie or a smaller cookie. Just remember your baking time will need to adjust too.
Cold eggs work best for this recipe to prevent spreading, to learn more about the science of the chocolate chip cookie, check out my master recipe.

Nutrition