Brown Butter Nutella Cookies

These brown butter Nutella cookies are some of the most indulgent cookies I have ever made. The Nutella is incorporated by stirring frozen teaspoons of Nutella through the cookie dough. This melts slightly in the oven leaving delicious swirls of Nutella streaked through your cookies.

I browned my butter to give a deep, caramel and nutty flavour to my cookies. For extra texture I added toasted, chopped hazelnuts. Dark chocolate chunks balance out the sweetness from the chocolate hazelnut spread.

I used this brown butter chocolate cookie recipe from Cloudy Kitchen as the base for my recipe. Go and check out her website!

Brown butter Nutella cookies: ingredients

These Nutella brown butter chocolate chip cookies require 12 ingredients:

• Unsalted butter, room temperature or chilled
• Light brown sugar
• Granulated sugar
• Egg 
• Vanilla extract
• Plain flour (all purpose flour)
• Salt
• Baking powder
• Bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
• Hazelnuts
• Chocolate hazelnut spread e.g. Nutella
• Dark chocolate

How to make Nutella cookies

Freeze the Nutella

First you will need to freeze the Nutella. Line a baking tray with baking paper. Next use two teaspoons to make small Nutella balls around 1/2 a teaspoon each. It is best to make around 36-48 Nutella drops. This will allow approximately 3-4 Nutella drops per cookie.

Freeze the Nutella for at least 45 minutes before you continue to the next step. To make your frozen Nutella as hard as possible try freezing at the bottom of your freezer, where it is the coldest.

Brown your butter

Next brown the butter. First slice your butter into medium-sized cubes. In a medium-sized frying pan over a medium heat melt your butter. Once melted heat for 3-4 minutes until it starts to go a nutty golden brown. It will also give off a nutty aroma which is how you know it is ready. I prefer to under-brown rather than over-brown the butter. This reduces the risk of your butter burning and wasting it.

Tip the butter into a bowl and leave to cool. Do not leave in the pan as the residual heat may burn the butter. Cool for at least 15 minutes to prevent the eggs scrambling when you combine the butter.

When you brown butter water is lost. Therefore, you must reweigh the butter after browning. Weigh out 95g of browned butter and tip into a large mixing bowl.

Prepare the hazelnuts

Whilst your butter cools prepare the hazelnuts. First toast them. Toasting nuts brings out their flavour and makes them taste 10x better so do not skip this step. In a small frying pan over a medium heat dry fry the nuts until starting to turn golden brown in places. This takes around 2-3 minutes. Remove from the pan to cool. Do not cool them in the pan, the residual heat may burn your nuts.

Once cool, roughly chop the hazelnuts. Do not chop them too finely, you want each nut to be roughly chopped into 2-3 pieces to give your cookies some texture.

Make the cookie dough

Tip in your light brown sugar and granulated sugar. Use a whisk to combine. Next, add in your egg and vanilla extract. Whisk for at least 2 minutes until the mixture becomes lighter and thicker. By whipping in air to your butter, sugar and egg mix your cookies will be extra soft and light.

Fold through the flour, salt, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda until just combined. Do not over mix the dough once the flour is added. This can build up gluten and you may end up with tough cookies.

Next gently fold in the chopped hazelnuts and frozen Nutella. Your Nutella will melt slightly as you fold it through. This is not an issue as you want to create streaks of Nutella through your cookies. Freezing it simply prevents the Nutella being completely diffused through the cookie dough.

Shape the cookie dough

Line a baking tray with parchment paper. Use an ice cream scoop to make 12 cookie dough balls. Place on the lined baking tray, they can be almost touching at this point. Place in the fridge for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes press your chocolate chunks into the dough and roll back into ball shapes. Place in the fridge for a further 15 minutes whilst you preheat the oven. Line 1-2 more baking trays.

Space your cookies on the trays so they have at least 7.5cm or 3 inches between them. Bake for 11-13 minutes until lightly golden brown all over.

You can use a large circular cookie cutter to mould the cookies into circular shapes if they have spread unevenly in the oven. If you like sprinkle each cookie with flaky sea salt.

Brown butter Nutella cookies

If you liked these cookies try more of my sweet treat recipes!

• Stuffed biscoff cookies
• Biscoff cheesecake cookies
• Easter mini egg chocolate cookies
• Indulgent reindeer chocolate brownies

Brown butter Nutella cookies

5 from 1 vote

Chewy chocolate chip cookies filled with Nutella and toasted hazelnuts. Made using nutty brown butter.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 25 minutes mins

Cook Time 15 minutes mins

Freezing and chilling time 1 hour hr 30 minutes mins

Total Time 2 hours hrs 10 minutes mins

Servings: 12 cookies

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Calories: 323

Ingredients Method

Ingredients

  

• 160g chocolate hazelnut spread e.g. Nutella
• 120g unsalted butter
• 50g hazelnuts
• 120g light brown sugar
• 45g granulated sugar
• 1 large egg room temperature
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 145g plain flour (all purpose flour)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
• 100g dark chocolate

Method

 

1. Line a baking tray with baking paper. Using two teaspoons dived the chocolate hazelnut spread into 1/2 teaspoon sized drops spaced out onto the parchment. Between 36-48 separate pieces will be fine.
2. Freeze the tray of chocolate hazelnut spread drops for at least 45 minutes before you move on to step 3.
3. Place the butter in a medium saucepan. Melt the butter over a medium heat.
4. Continue to cook until the butter foams and turns a nutty golden brown. Swirl the pan often to prevent burning. This will take around 3-4 minutes.
5. Weigh out 95g of the browned butter into a large mixing bowl. Re-weighing the butter accounts for variable water loss during browning. Set aside to cool, around 15 minutes.
6. Lightly toast your hazelnuts in a small frying pan over a medium heat until lightly golden. Around 2-3 minutes. Once cooled roughly chop the hazelnuts.
7. Once the butter is cool add in both sugars to the mixing bowl. Whisk until just combined.
8. Add the egg and vanilla and whisk for 2 minutes, or until the mixture has become lighter and thicker.
9. Add the flour, salt, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda. Fold the mixture together with a rubber spatula until almost fully combined. Do not overwork the dough at this point.
10. Add in the hazelnuts and frozen chocolate hazelnut spread balls. Fold through evenly. The chocolate hazelnut spread will melt slightly and form streaks through the dough, this is what you want.
11. Line a baking tray with baking paper. Use an ice cream scoop to make 12 equal sized balls. They will weigh around 56g each. Chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
12. Take the cookie dough balls out of the fridge. Press the chocolate chunks onto each of the the cookies and re-roll into balls.
13. Chill for another 15 minutes whilst you preheat the oven to 190℃/170℃ fan (375℉/340℉).
14. Divide the dough balls between 2-3 lined baking trays. Allow around 3 inches/7.5cm between the cookies.
15. Bake for 11-13 minutes until lightly golden brown. Leave to harden on the trays for a couple of minutes
16. Remove from the oven. Whilst they are still warm you can use a large round cookie cutter to mould them into circular shapes, if they have spread unevenly. Sprinkle with flaky sea salt, if desired.
17. Leave to harden for a few minutes on the baking trays before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.