Hidden Nutella Cookies

I love chocolate chip cookies, but adding a hidden Nutella pocket on the inside has made this cookies so amazingly delicious and scrumptious!

Bakes About: 26 large cookies

Takes About: 1 hour - 1.5 hours (including baking time)

Difficulty: 1.5 out of 5 (It is the browning butter step that is a little harder)

Prep:

Preheat the oven to 390 degrees F (200 degrees C) and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

Ingredients:

1 cup unsalted butter

About 1 cup of Nutella (around 26 teaspoons)

1 cup dark brown sugar (1 cup granulated sugar with 1 large dollop of molasses)

1/4 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup chocolate chunks

Instructions:

- Step 1 - Start The Browning of the Butter

Place the 1 cup of butter into a small sauce pan and place on medium low heat.

The butter should not be boiling, but rather on a low simmer.

The butter will start to brown slightly, but don't take it off.

Wait a few more moments, until the bottom of the pan has a lovely brown color forming and then remove from heat until needed.

- Step 2 - Make Nutella Balls

Place a piece of parchment paper on a baking rack that will fit in your freezer or a large plate that will fit in your freezer.

Using a teaspoon (a spoon used for tea if you have one, or just a measuring teaspoon if you don't have one) spoon little dollops of Nutella onto the parchment paper leaving enough space between them, so they don't stick together.

Make about 30 dollops (I made more, just in case I make more cookies) and then place them in the freezer while you prepare the rest of your cookies.

These do have to go into the freezer and not the fridge because you want them to be rock hard.

- Step 3 - Mix the Sugar

In a large bowl, mix together the 1 cup of brown sugar (homemade or not) and the 1/4 cup white sugar.

- Step 4 - Mix Together Butter and Sugar

The butter should have cooled down slightly by now, so pour it into the sugar mixture and mix until completely incorporated - about 4-5 minutes.

- Step 4 - Add the Eggs

If your butter and sugar mixture is very warm, do not add the eggs yet and wait until cooled.

Add 1 egg into the butter and sugar mixture and mix until blended.

Add the second egg and the 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract and again, mix until blended.

- Step 5 - Mix the Dry Ingredients

In a separate bowl, mix together the 2 3/4 cup of all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon of baking powder, 1 teaspoon of baking soda, and 1 teaspoon of salt.

- Step 6 - Add the Dry Ingredients into the Wet Ingredients

Add 1/3 of the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix until just blended - not completely incorporated.

Mix another third of the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and again, mix until just blended.

Add the last third of the dry ingredients and mix for just a few moments - just until the flour has slightly been mixed in.

The reason we mix as little as possible when adding the flour into the wet ingredients is we don't want to start activating the gluten in the flour and start making the cookies more stiff.

Using a spatula, blend the remainder of the flour into the batter.

Step 7 - Add Chocolate Chunks

Add the chocolate chunks into the batter and using the spatula. mix until the chocolate chunks are well dispersed.

- Step 8 - Start Filling the Cookies

Pull Nutella dollops out of the freezer and place to the side.

Take a chunk of dough (about 3 tablespoons large) and smoosh it semi flat into your palm. - Be sure not to place with the dough too much, because it can get sticky.

Place a Nutella dollop into the middle of the squashed dough.

Fold the cookie dough over the Nutella bringing it to the middle.

If you need more dough to fill holes, add it - If you have too much dough, break it off and add it to the remaining batter.

Place the completed balls, sealed side down, on the prepared cookie sheet about 3 inches apart from the sides and other cookies.

- Step 9 - Bake!

Toss these cookies into the preheated oven for about 12 minutes or until just browned.

While the cookies are baking, I would either recommend that you make the remaining balls or place the Nutella back in the freezer because they become soft quickly.

- Step 10 - Cool and Enjoy

Once the cookies have baked, place them on a cooking rack.

If you want creamy Nutella to drip out f the cookies, toss them into a warm oven for about 15-30 seconds or a microwave for 5 seconds.

Then, you can make someones day by handing them this beautiful cooking and giving them a great surprise of Nutella in the middle.