Brown Butter Nutella Cookies

“You can be miserable before eating a cookie.  You can be miserable after eating a cookie.  But you cannot be miserable while eating a cookie.  Ina Garten

These cookies should be outlawed.  As if they weren’t decadent enough with the inclusion of triple chocolate chips,  they are stuffed with Nutella!  Swoon.  My first introduction to them came from my Canadian friend Christine who brought them to a bookclub meeting.  One bite and everyone was moaning with pleasure and asking what was in those cookies.  Christine revealed the secret ingredient, Nutella in the center, making these cookies soft and fudgy.  We made joining the bookclub conditional on Christine sharing the recipe.  Upon making them myself, I noted a second secret ingredient that really elevates these cookies into a stratosphere of their own:  brown butter.  I think melting the butter first until it foams and gets good and brown adds another distinctive layor of flavor.  I think these might be the best cookies on the entire planet.  Guess who the newest member of our bookclub is?

• Servings: 2 dozen
• Print

• 2 1/2 cups unbleached flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 1 1/4 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk
• 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 tablespoon Greek yogurt(I used maple but plain is fine)
• 3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips(can substitute white chocolate chips)
• 1/2 cup dark or bittersweet chocolate chips
• 3/4 cup chopped pecans, toasted, optional
• 24 teaspoons of Nutella

Preheat oven to 350 F

1. Melt butter on medium heat in a medium saucepan, stiring occasionally until it is foaming and small brown bits start forming in the bottom of the pan.  You will want to scrape every last bit into the batter.  Cool 5-8 minutes.  You can continue making the batter in the saucepan once it has cooled to make cleaning up easy.
2. Mix the flour, baking soda and salt in another bowl.  Reserve.
3. Combine the brown sugar and sugar in a bowl. Stir into the cooled butter and mix until well incorporated, using a hand mixer or a wooden spoon.
4. In a small bowl, whisk the egg, egg yolk, vanilla and yogurt until smooth.  Add to the butter/sugar mixture and incorporate using the hand mixer or wooden spoon.
5. Add the flour mixture in gradual increments until just blended.
6. Using a wooden spoon, stir in the chocolate chips.  Because the dough is warm, some of the chocolate chips will melt.  This will leave lovely chocolate swirls in the final cookie.  If using the pecans, add them in now.  Avoid over mixing.
7. On a parchment-lined baking sheet, drop 2 tablespoons of batter for each cookie.  Flatten with your finger or the back of a spoon.  Make a well in the center of each cookie.  Drop a level teaspoon of Nutella in each well.  Gently fold the batter along the sides of the well to encase the Nutella.
8. Bake on the middle rack for 9 to 11 minutes.  Cool completely before handling as the cookies are soft. If you are not concerned with salt intake, you could sprinkle a bit of sea salt on top of the cookies.  These cookies are pretty sweet so the salt offers a nice contrast to the sugar. To reduce some of the sweetness you could substitute more bittersweet chocolate chips in the recipe for the milk chocolate.  The cookies freeze well.

 

Fun Fact: Did you know Nutella was invented by an Italian pastry maker, Pietro Ferrero, in the 1940s when cocoa was in short supply due to war rationing but hazelnuts were plentiful in the Piedmont region of Italy? Ferrero went on to found the Ferrero company.  No wonder it’s so good!