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Nutella stuffed chocolate chip cookies made with brown butter, toasted hazelnuts and pools of chocolate – for some hazelnut & chocolate in every single bite.

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Close up of the nutella chocolate chip cookies.

nutella stuffed chocolate chip cookies

This is *the* cookie for nutella lovers. It all starts off with a brown butter cookie dough base that yields the softest centers with crunchy edges. We’ll then fill up the dough with pools of chocolate and toasted hazelnuts – and then stuff each cookie with a whole tablespoon of nutella so that you’re sure to get some delicious hazelnut and chocolate flavor in every bite.

why you’ll love these nutella stuffed chocolate chip cookies:

  • They’re simply *perfect*: these are small batch cookies, but don’t let that fool you into thinking they’re not perfect and delicious. They’ve got soft centers, crispy edges, and they’re super flavorful.
  • Nutella center: because who doesn’t want more chocolate in their chocolate chip cookie.
  • Easy to make: the cookie dough all comes together in one bowl – no hand mixer or stand mixer required.

expert baking tips

Weigh your ingredients:

My recipes are all written in grams because it is the most accurate way to bake. When you use a kitchen scale, you ensure that your baked goods turn out as close to the written recipe as possible. Plus, the cleanup is way easier when using a scale! I will provide standard cup measurements but please note that I have not tested the recipe using cup measurements and therefore can not guarantee your recipe will come out how mine did. Here is my favorite kitchen scale.

Mix the dough carefully:

When adding in the flour, only fold the mixture just until no flour streaks remain. Over mixing the dough leads to more gluten formation, which can make the cookies thicker and more tough in texture.

chill the cookies prior to baking

I know, I know – it’s frustrating to have to wait! However, because we’re using melted brown butter, we want to give the dough time to firm up. Letting the cookie dough chill just a little bit in the fridge means that the cookies will bake up thicker. This also gives the flavors a little bit of time to meld together.

Under bake for perfect cookies:

Cookies continue baking after they have been taken out of the oven. Once the edges turn slightly golden brown, and the cookies look just a little wet on top still, they are ready to come out. Let the cookies rest on the baking sheet for an additional 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool.

The secret to perfectly round cookies:

Wanna know the secret to perfectly round cookies? It’s cookie scooting! Right when the cookies come out of the oven, take a bowl, cup, or biscuit cutter that is just slightly larger than your cookies and place it over one of the cookies. Gently swirl the bowl around the cookie to make the cookie perfectly round (and slightly thicker). And that’s all there is to it!

A note on oven temperature:

Ovens vary and fluctuate in temperature and might not always actually be at the temperature they claim to be at. If you love to bake like I do, I highly recommend getting an oven thermometer. They are super helpful for letting you know when your oven might be lying to you! I use this one.

Close up angled view of a nutella stuffed chocolate chip cookie.

ingredients for nutella stuffed chocolate chip cookies:

  • All purpose flour: for structure and chewiness.
  • Baking powder & baking soda: for helping the cookies rise.
  • Salt: to help balance and bring out the sweetness of the cookies
  • Unsalted butter: for tenderness and flavor. You can use salted butter in place of the unsalted, just be sure to omit the extra salt from the cookies. We’ll also be browning the butter for some extra delicious toasty flavor. If you’re looking to make this dairy-free, Miyoko’s Creamery vegan butter has the ability to brown just like regular butter and works like a charm.
  • Granulated sugar & light brown sugar: a combination of both gives us cookies with crispy edges and soft and chewy centers.
  • Egg: for binding and for moisture.
  • Vanilla: for flavor. I use and love this vanilla extract!
  • Semi-sweet chocolate: I recommend semi-sweet or dark chocolate. Please note that if you use all chocolate chips, the cookies will bake up a little thicker, and if you use all chopped chocolate, they will be a tad thinner.
  • Chopped hazelnuts: for flavor and texture.
  • Nutella: or any chocolate hazelnut spread – truly the star of the show here. We will stuff each cookie with 1 tbsp. of nutella, and then swirl a bit on top of each cookie prior to baking.

how to make nutella chocolate chip cookies

Here are a few images of the process of making these nutella chocolate chip cookies. You can find the full recipe at the end of the blog post!

Frozen balls of nutella.
The butter browned in a saucepan.
  • Freeze 1 tbsp. scoops of nutella.
  • Cook the butter on the stove until it turns amber in color and develops little brown specks.
The wet ingredients mixed together.
The finished cookie dough in a mixing bowl.
  • Whisk together the brown butter and both sugars, followed by the egg and vanilla.
  • Then mix in the dry ingredients, followed by the chocolate and hazelnuts.
A frozen piece of nutella on top of a flattened piece of cookie dough.
The finished cookie dough topped with nutella and chocolate chips.
  • Flatten cookie dough balls with your palms, place a piece of frozen nutella in to the centers of them, then roll them back up.
  • Chill the cookies, top them with additional chocolate, hazelnuts, and nutella – then bake!

nutella stuffed chocolate chip cookies
recipe q&a

What is brown butter?

Brown butter is super simple to make so don’t worry! It’s just regular butter that is cooked on the stove until some of the moisture evaporates, allowing the milk solids in the butter to be toasted. The result is this butter with an amber hue and little speckles that has a toasted and slightly nutty aroma.

can I double this recipe?

Definitely – I’ve tested this recipe up to quadrupling it with no problem. Please be sure to use grams for the best results.

do I need to use nutella?

You can use your favorite chocolate hazelnut spread here, I personally love Bonne Maman’s. These are just called “nutella” stuffed ccc’s because that’s easier than “chocolate hazelnut spread stuffed ccc’s” 🙂

can I make these cookies ahead of time?

Definitely – cookie dough really only gets better with time. You can keep the cookie dough tightly covered in the fridge for up to 2 days before baking. For longer term storage, you can also freeze the cookie dough balls. Just be sure to take the dough out of the fridge at least 30 minutes to 1 hour before you want to bake, so that it becomes soft enough to scoop again.

How to store nutella chocolate chip cookies

Store these cookies in an airtight container at room temperature. They will keep for up to 5 days, but will taste the best 1-3 days after baking.

Close up of one of the nutella stuffed chocolate chip cookies broken in half.

nutella stuffed chocolate chip cookies troubleshooting

Measuring error: Typically, the #1 culprit for this is always not measuring the flour properly. If you use cup measurements, you run the risk of adding too much flour to the dough which can make it super dry. If you’re using cup measurements, make sure that you fluff up your flour and then spoon it into your measuring cup, rather than scooping up the flour with the measuring cup. Measuring will also be sure that you end up with the right amount of brown butter and that you cooked it for the proper amount of time.

Overmixing: if you over-mix the dough, you will introduce more gluten into the cookies which will lead to tougher, thicker cookies. Make sure to only fold in the flour just until that last streak of flour disappears into the dough.

Oven temperature: Like I said before, it’s possible that your oven isn’t at the temperature that it claims to be at – which is, unfortunately, more common than it should be. If your oven is hotter than 350F without your knowledge, you’ll end up with thicker, more dry cookies.

Chilling the dough: The #1 reason for this would be that you didn’t chill the cookie dough. Although it can be frustrating to wait, the cookie dough does need to chill to give time for the butter to firm up and the ingredients to meld together so that they don’t completely spread out in the oven.

Browning the butter: Another reason I recommend measuring your ingredients. When you brown the butter, moisture cooks off of it. So, if it wasn’t cooked for long enough then there would be extra moisture in the dough, which would make the cookies spread out more.

Oven temperature: It could also be that your oven temperature is running lower than it claims to be. For that reason, I recommend always using an oven thermometer. The one I use was ~$6 and is linked under “baking tools” in my amazon storefront below!

tools and ingredients:

You can find all my favorite tools and ingredients that I use on my Amazon Storefront page, here!

other recipes you might enjoy:

Close up of a nutella stuffed chocolate chip cookie.

did you make this recipe?

I’d love to see and know your thoughts! please leave a comment and review below, and tag me on instagram @freshbeanbakery. #freshbeanbakery

Nutella Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies

5 from 8 votes
Soft brown butter hazelnut chocolate chip cookies stuffed with nutella.
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time50 minutes
Cook Time12 minutes
Total Time1 hour
Servings8 cookies
Calories461 kcal

Ingredients 

  • 8 tbsp. chocolate hazelnut spread + extra for topping
  • 113 g unsalted butter (½ c.)
  • 100 g light brown sugar (½ c.)
  • 50 g granulated sugar (¼ c.)
  • 1 egg room temperature
  • ½ tsp. vanilla
  • 160 g all purpose flour (1 ⅓ c.)
  • ½ tsp. baking powder
  • ½ tsp. baking soda
  • ½ tsp. salt
  • 110 g semi-sweet chocolate* (⅔ c.)
  • 60 g hazelnuts chopped or crushed (⅓ c. + 1 tbsp.)

Instructions 

  • Prior to starting the cookie dough, line a small baking sheet or plate with parchment paper. Scoop out eight 1 tbsp. scoops of chocolate hazelnut spread on to the parchment paper, and set the sheet in the freezer to let the nutella freeze (this takes ~1 hr., you can do this the night before baking the cookies to make the process easier.)
  • Add the butter to a small saucepan set over medium heat. Stir the butter occasionally until it turns amber in color and develops little brown specks.
  • Transfer the brown butter to a medium sized mixing bowl and set it in the freezer for 5 minutes to chill. You should be left with 90g of brown butter, if you have a little less (2-3g), just add in some water until you reach 90g.
  • (OPTIONAL) In the meantime, you can toast up the hazelnuts so they'll have more flavor in the cookies. Add the hazelnuts to the saucepan you browned the butter in, and set it over medium heat. Stir occasionally until the hazelnuts are visibly golden brown. Remove them from the heat and set aside.
  • Once the butter has cooled down a bit, whisk in both sugars.
  • Whisk in the egg and vanilla until well combined.
  • Add in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Use a rubber spatula to fold the mixture together just until a few flour streaks remain.
  • Add in the chocolate and crushed hazelnuts and fold the mixture together just until no flour streaks remain.
  • Scoop out heaping 3 tbsp. scoops of the cookie dough. Use your palm to flatten the cookie dough ball down, then place a frozen ball of chocolate hazelnut spread in the center of the flattened cookie.
  • Fold the overhanging cookie dough on top of the spread, making sure the nutella is completely trapped inside each cookie
  • Place the filled cookie dough balls back into the fridge for 30 minutes.**
  • Preheat the oven to 350°F / 175°C.
  • Evenly space out the cookie dough balls on a parchment lined cookie sheet. If desired, melt some extra chocolate hazelnut spread and use a spoon to top each cookie dough ball off with nutella.
  • Bake for 12-14 minutes, or until the edges of the cookies start to turn golden brown.
  • Once the cookies come out of the oven, I recommend "scooting" them. This just means take a bowl, cup, or biscuit cutter that is slightly larger than the cookie, place it on top of the cookie, and swirl the bowl around to make the cookie a little more round.
  • Let the cookies sit on the hot baking tray for at least 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool. Serve and enjoy!

Notes

Affiliate links: Kitchen Scale (my favorite) | Kitchen scale (great starter option) | | Oven Thermometer | Cookie Scoops | Cookie Sheet Pan | Milk Pan | Hazelnuts
The #1 culprit for cookies that are too thick, puffy or dry is adding in too much flour. I highly, *highly* recommend always using a kitchen scale for the best, most consistent results. However – if you don’t have access to one, here is how to properly measure flour: Fluff up your flour with a fork, then carefully scoop it into your measuring cup and level off the cup with a knife.
*I used valrhona feves for those melty pools of chocolate. The next best thing is using a chopped chocolate baking bar. Note that if you use chocolate chips the cookies may end up a bit thicker.
**At this point you could transfer the dough balls to an airtight container and keep them in the fridge for up to 2 days before baking, or in the freezer for 1 month.

Nutrition

Serving: 1cookieCalories: 461kcalCarbohydrates: 52gProtein: 6gFat: 26gSaturated Fat: 15gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 8gTrans Fat: 0.5gCholesterol: 52mgSodium: 257mgPotassium: 239mgFiber: 3gSugar: 32gVitamin A: 392IUVitamin C: 0.5mgCalcium: 71mgIron: 3mg

Please note that the nutrition facts are only an estimate and may vary based on different brands of ingredients and any substitutions made.

5 from 8 votes (7 ratings without comment)

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