Nutella. Yummy, gooey, chocolatey, hazelnut spread.
Cookies. Crispy, chewy, buttery, warm dough.
Nutella + Cookies? Oh. My. God.
It is a revelation. Nutella filled cookies. Soft, gooey filling inside a slightly crisp, chewy cookie. Like a chocolate chip cookie, but with a completely different texture. Like the hazelnut filling in a Ferrero Rocher, without the crunch. Like Nutella on toast, but better. I can’t even explain it to you.
The other day when I made chocolate chip cookies, I had a lot of dough and not that much chocolate. So I put aside a bowlful of dough and decided to do something else with it.
We had a brand new jar of Nutella in the cupboard. So I stuck the whole jar in the fridge to get it hard and see what i could do with it. It got fantastically hard, so I scooped out small balls of it and rolled cookie dough around it. I don’t know what gave me the idea, but I’m so glad it came to me.
NUTELLA FILLED COOKIES
I used New York Times cookie dough (without the chocolate chips) for this, but feel free to use your favourite recipe. You can also halve this recipe if you like.
250g unsalted butter, softened (1 cup or 2 sticks)
1 1/4 cup light brown sugar (10 oz)
1 cup white sugar (7 oz)
2 eggs
1 3/4 cup plain flour (9 oz)
1 3/4 cup Italian 00 bread flour (9 oz)
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp sea salt (plus extra for sprinkling)
Nutella, refrigerated
Cut the butter into about 8 pieces. Put it in the bowl of your electric mixer along with both sugars. Beat until very pale and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Put the flours, soda, baking powder and salt in the bowl. Mix on a low speed until just combined.
Transfer the dough to a ceramic bowl (and use plastic wrap to cover) or an airtight container. Refrigerate for a minimum of 2 hours and up to 48. The longer you leave it, the better the flavour.
When you are ready to bake, preheat the oven to 170 C and line 2-3 baking sheets with parchment paper.
Scoop out a ball of the cookie dough using an ice cream scoop or tablespoon.
Flatten the scoop as much as you can with the heel of your hand.
Using a melon baller or a teaspoon, scoop out a small ball of Nutella and place it in the middle of the dough.
Wrap the sides of the dough up around the sides of the Nutella ball.
Roll it between the palms of your hands until the dough forms a smooth ball around the Nutella. If any cracks form, just pinch the edges together and roll again.
Sprinkle lightly with sea salt.
Bake for 10 minutes, until golden brown but still soft. Makes 60-70 cookies.
