1 electric hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment
1 small cookie scoop or a tablespoon
1 3 oz cookie scoop or a scale to weigh the dough
2 sheet trays
Ingredients
Filling
15ozNutellascooped and frozen
Dry Ingredients
2¼cupsall purpose flour
1tbsp cornstarch
1teaspoonbaking powder
1tsp baking soda
1tsp kosher salt
Wet Ingredients
1cupbutterbrowned
1½cupsbrown sugar
½cupgranulated sugar
2eggs
1egg yolk
1tablespoonvanilla extract
Mix-ins
4ozsemi sweet chocolate chipsor chopped chocolate
Toppings
½tsp flaky sea salt
Instructions
Freezing the Nutella
Scoop 15 - 1 oz scoops of Nutella onto a parchment lined sheet tray then freeze for 1 hour
Mixing the Dry Ingredients
Whisk the dry ingredients together in a medium sized bowl then set aside
Mixing the Wet Ingredients
Brown your butter by melting it in a pan and stirring occasionally until a medium amber color is reached. Remove from the heat immediately and pour into a heat proof bowl being sure to include all the brown specks off the bottom. Let the brown butter cool at room temp for 20 mintues
Using a large bowl and hand mixer or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the brown butter and both sugars for 30 seconds until well combined
Mix in the eggs and egg yolk, one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl between each addition
Mix in the vanilla
Stir in the dry ingredients until almost fully combined. Do not over mix
Fold in the chocolate chips
Scoop the dough into 3 oz balls and place on a parchment lined sheet tray. chill for 15 minutes
Stuffing the Cookies
Press both thumbs into the bottom of the cookie ball, making a large indent. Place one scoop of frozen Nutella in the indent and form the cookie dough back around into a circle. Make sure the cookie is fully sealed so the Nutella doesn't melt out during baking
Repeat this step until all cookies are filled
Refrigerate the stuffed cookies for 30 minutes
Baking the Cookies
Preheat the oven to 350°F and place cookies 3-4 inches apart on a parchment lined sheet tray
Bake for 12-14 minutes. Remove cookies from oven and sprinkle with flaky sea salt
Allow cookies to rest for 2 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack
Eat the cookies warm (after cooling for 15 minutes) for an ooey gooey center or let cool to room temp
Notes
How to brown butter:
Melt the butter in a medium sized sauce pot over medium-low heat. Make sure to use butter that is room temp or been sitting out for at least 45 minutes. This will help you get even melting.
Let the butter continue to cook giving it an occasional swirl or stir with either a wooden spoon or whisk
The butter will start sputtering and foaming up, making lots of noise, this is normal. Once the butter starts to quiet down, watch closely because it's almost done. AS SOON as your butter is quiet then it is done.
Remove it from the heat immediately and our into a heat proof container. Brown butter can burn easily so make sure to pay close attention and don't let it sit in the pan
Do not skip the freezing or chilling steps of this recipe. They make handling and quality so much better. Chilling your cookie dough helps prevent flat cookies
BE SURE to seal the cookies completely after adding Nutella. Otherwise the Nutella will melt out while baking
If you're having trouble sealing the cookies all the way then pop them back in the fridge for about 15 minutes and try again. The dough and Nutella are easier to work with when chilled
Make a batch of cookies ahead of time and freeze the dough! You can make and stuff these cookies then freeze them for use at a later date. Just pull them out of the freezer, allow them to sit on baking pan for about 20 minutes then bake as directed
Use a light colored pan when making the brown butter so you can see how dark it's getting
If you don't have a 3 oz scoop then just weigh out 3 oz balls using a kitchen scale
Only bake 6 cookies at a time on each half sheet tray. Make sure they're spaced out properly to prevent them baking into each other
DO NOT bite into the cookie right out of the oven. You will burn your mouth with molten Nutella. Wait about 15 minutes