Nutella Stuffed Sea Salt Chocolate Chip Cookies

The final product for the bake-off

I work at a healthcare agency and like most good communications agencies, we usually have an abundance of food. From free lunch to cooking/baking contests, we are very well fed. Today we had a bake-off to raise money for multiple sclerosis, a disease close to the hearts of several people who I work with. About 20 people baked amazing bars, cookies, pies and cupcakes for the panel of judges to score by taste, presentation and overall experience. After the judging, all employees were invited to an all-you-could eat baked goods feast for a $5 donation. The bake-off raised more than $300 for a great cause AND my cookies got first place! I can’t take credit for the recipe, but I thought I’d share it with you along with a few tips and pictures. I plan to try several variations of this cookie, so stay tuned.

Here is the recipe for Nutella Stuffed Sea Salt Chocolate Chips Cookies, originally found on Ambitious Kitchen’s blog. Scroll to the bottom for some pictures that might help make your baking experience easier!

This is one of the best cookies I’ve ever had!

Nutella Stuffed Sea Salt Chocolate Chip Cookies
Prep: 2 1/2 hours      Total time: 3 hours        Servings: 24 – 28 cookies

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter
• 1 1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon plain greek yogurt (I used fage 2%)
• 3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
• 1 jar of Nutella, chilled in refrigerator for at least 2 hours
• Course sea salt for sprinkling

Directions

1. Whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt in a bowl, and set aside.
2. Brown butter: heat thick bottomed saucepan (light-colored is easier to monitor butter) over medium heat, cut butter into equal size chunks and melt it in the saucepan. The butter will begin to foam. Continuously whisk the butter and watch for it to begin to form brown flakes in the bottom of the saucepan. Continue to whisk and remove from the heat as soon as the butter begins to brown and gives off a nutty aroma. Immediately transfer the butter to a bowl to prevent it from burning. Let it cool for several minutes. (NOTE: Browning butter can take some practice. Watching a few YouTube videos about it first is helpful.)
3. With an electric mixer, mix the butter, brown sugar and sugar until thoroughly blended. Beat in the egg, yolk, vanilla and yogurt until combined. Slowly add the dry ingredients and beat on a low-speed until just combined. Gently fold in the chocolate chips.
4. Chill the dough covered for two hours in the refrigerator.
5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
6. After dough is chilled, measure about 1 1/2 tablespoons of dough and roll it into a ball. Flatten the dough thinly into your palm and place 1 rounded teaspoon of chilled Nutella into the middle of the dough. Fold the dough around it and roll back into a ball. (NOTE: It doesn’t have to be rolled perfectly, but make sure there isn’t Nutella seeping out of the sides. If it is, add more dough to fully cover the Nutella).
7. Place dough balls on ungreased cookie sheet about two inches apart and flatten the tops with your hand.
8. Bake the cookies for 9 – 11 minutes (error on shorter side) or until edges are slightly golden brown. They might look a little undone but that is OK because they will continue to cook on the pan.
9. Cool the cookies on the cookie sheet for two minutes and then sprinkle with a little sea salt.
10. Continue to cool the cookies on the baking sheets and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
11. ENJOY!

Let me know if you try them or do a variation. I think pumpkin in the center would be good!

Here are a few tips: 

Browning the butter correctly is one of the most important steps in the recipe. It provides a slight nutty flavor that compliments the chocolate and salt perfectly. Here is a picture of the first step in browning butter:

The dough tastes amazing…I almost didn’t even make the cookies.

Before baking, make sure you flatten the tops of the cookies with your hand. This creates a flat surface to sprinkle the salt on, otherwise it will roll off:

Getting the Nutella to stay inside the dough can be a little tricky. The thinner you get the dough in your palm, the easier it will be to roll back up. Also, chilling the Nutella helps a lot!

Tagged: bake sale, bakeoff, baking, chocolate, chocolate chip, cookies, nutella, recipe, sea salt