Baked Sunday Mornings: Nutella Chip Cookies

The Italians get it right; when it comes to food, in my opinion their culinary prowess is unparalleled in the world. One such invention is the luxurious chocolate-hazelnut spread that we know and love as Nutella. It is the filling lovingly shmeared on slices of bread by Italian mothers for their children; the ultimate topping slathered on waffles and crêpes; and thanks to Baked Occasions, it is now swirled into cookie dough. To celebrate World Nutella Day (yup, really a thing), Baked Sunday Mornings is making these Nutella Chip Cookies, and I couldn’t be happier about that. I’m always thrilled to celebrate anything Italian, and although the cookies themselves aren’t exactly Italian, it’s close enough to conjure memories of Nutella treats that I gleefully gobbled up (like the grownup that I am, thank you very much) in Italy.

These cookies are very easy to make– not much more work than a simple chocolate chip cookie. I started by creaming the butter, then adding dark brown sugar and a full cup of Nutella, followed by eggs and vanilla.

I then added the flour in two additions, and lastly folded in chocolate chips and chopped, toasted hazelnuts. The mix-ins augment the Nutella flavor because you know, more chocolate and hazelnuts.

The dough is supposed to be chilled for several hours before being scooped and rolled into balls for baking; I prefer scooping before chilling, which cut down my chilling time to 2 hours. I then rolled the chilled dough balls and froze them for 15-20 minutes before baking. My dough yielded a total of 60 cookie balls.

I baked my cookies for 12 minutes, and the kitchen smelled amazing! These turned out to be soft and chewy, but fell apart easily; I’d probably do 13 minutes next time for a sturdier cookie, especially if making sandwiches. I accidentally forgot about the last batch after the timer went off, and they were probably in for 14-15 minutes– these turned out a little crisper than I would have liked, but still okay. Basically I think anywhere between 12-15 minutes is fine, depending on your desired crispness. The cookies baked up thick and chunky, and while the Nutella flavor was not super strong on the first day, it intensified later!

The only thing I would change is to maybe use mini chocolate chips instead of medium sized chocolate chips, but it’s possible that the bigger chips help retain the chunky thickness of the cookies, so I’d have to think long and hard about that. 😉

I was super proud of myself for thinking of the brilliant idea to make cookie sandwiches… and then I looked at the recipe in the book (versus on the BSM website) and realized that that was already suggested as a recipe note. However, instead of plain Nutella, I made a Nutella ganache, which I also drizzled onto the cookies– see the recipe below.

If you love the combination of chocolate and hazelnuts, these will bring you great amounts of joy. You can find the recipe for Nutella Chip Cookies at Baked Sunday Mornings, and see how my fellow cookie bakers liked them as well! 🙂

Nutella Ganache
Adapted from Magpie’s Recipes

• 6 ounces good-quality bittersweet chocolate (around 60%), finely chopped
• 6 ounces Nutella spread
• ½ cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 tablespoon corn syrup (optional – makes it shiny)

Place the chocolate and Nutella in a medium mixing bowl.

Stir together the cream and corn syrup in a small saucepan and set it over medium heat until it just starts boiling, then pour it over the chocolate and Nutella; let it sit for 5 minutes.

Whisk the mixture starting in the center and moving outward until it is smooth and homogenous. Let the ganache cool for 1-2 hours on the countertop to a drizzleable consistency, stirring occasionally (test by drizzling ribbons in the bowl– they should take a few seconds to disappear).

Before and after chilling the ganache

To assemble the cookie sandwiches, drizzle half of the cookies with ganache, then put the bowl in the fridge to firm up the ganache for the filling, about 1 hour. It should be a scoopable consistency and very shiny.

Use a small ice cream scoop to scoop about ½ tablespoon (or as desired) onto the bottom (undrizzled) cookies, then gently press on the tops and coax the filling to the cookie edges. Let the cookie sandwiches firm up for several hours or overnight at room temperature, or chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.

© Dafna Adler & Stellina Sweets, 2017.