Nutella Cookies

Nutella Cookies are subtly chocolaty with a hint of hazelnut. Perfectly soft and chewy, with bittersweet chocolate scattered throughout.

Mouthwatering and simple Nutella cookies are a dynamite reason to open (or finish) your cupboard’s coveted jar of Nutella! In this recipe, the bittersweet chips give a welcome burst of rich chocolate that beautifully complements the smooth and creamy Nutella dough. I tested and retested the ratio of ingredients, so that everything is perfect in this easy to make cookie!

If you prefer extra-chocolate cookies, my chocolate pudding cookies or chocolate biscotti will satisfy even the most intense chocolate craving!

Ingredients & Substitutions

• Unsalted Butter
• Nutella: Nutella adds fat, cocoa solids, and hazelnut flavor all at once, giving the cookies their soft, almost brownie-like texture. You can use another brand of chocolate hazelnut spread if you prefer, though the flavor will vary. Have extra? Make this nutella banana bread next!
• Light Brown Sugar: Brown sugar provides moisture and chew from its molasses content, which keeps these cookies soft for days. Do not swap it out entirely for white sugar; the cookies will spread more and lose that slight caramel depth. Dark brown sugar works in a pinch if that is what you have.
• Granulated Sugar: Granulated sugar helps the cookies spread just enough and contributes to slightly crisper edges that contrast the soft centers.
• Egg
• Vanilla Extract: Two teaspoons of vanilla rounds out the chocolate and hazelnut notes so the flavor does not taste flat.
• All-Purpose Flour: Flour provides the structure that holds everything together. Looking for a gluten-free cookie? Check out these almond flour chocolate chip cookies.
• Cornstarch: Cornstarch interrupts gluten formation, which keeps the centers soft and plush and helps the cookies hold their shape without excessive spread. If you do not have cornstarch, tapioca starch works as a substitute in equal amounts.
• Baking Soda
• Kosher Salt
• Bittersweet Chocolate Chips: Bittersweet chips add pockets of intense chocolate that contrast the sweeter Nutella base, which is what keeps these cookies from tasting one-note. Ghirardelli is what I use here, and it is the same quality chip I rely on in my White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies for the same reason: they melt cleanly while still holding distinct pieces in the finished cookie.

See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.

Variations on This Chewy Nutella Chocolate Chip Cookies

• Stuffed Nutella Cookies. Flatten each dough ball into a disk and wrap it around a frozen scoop of peanut butter, caramel candy, or additional Nutella before rolling it back into a ball. The filling stays molten at the center while the cookie bakes up around it, which is a serious upgrade for a dinner party or cookie box.
• Ice cream sandwiches. These Nutella cookies are delicious with a scoop of chocolate ice cream or vanilla bean ice cream between them.
• Mix-In Swap. Replace the bittersweet chocolate chips with white chocolate chips, chopped toasted hazelnuts, or double chocolate chip cookies-style layered chips for a more intense chocolate experience.

Professional Tips

• Use cold but pliable butter. Butter that is too warm will take on too much air during creaming and push the cookies toward a cakey texture. Aim for 65 to 68°F: firm enough to hold its shape but soft enough to leave an indent when pressed.
• Add flour gradually and stop early. Incorporate the dry ingredients in small additions and stop mixing the moment the last bit of flour disappears. Overworked dough builds gluten quickly, and the difference between tender and tough shows up in the very first bite.
• Do not overbake. Pull the cookies at 9 to 11 minutes at 325°F convection or 350°F conventional, when the edges are set, and the tops have just started to color. They will look underdone in the center, and that is correct. They firm up as they cool, and if you wait for them to look fully done in the oven, the bottoms will burn. I learned that the hard way.
• Scoop before you chill. Portion the dough into balls with a 1-inch cookie scoop before refrigerating. Scooping first means your dough balls are ready to go straight from the fridge to the oven. If you love having cookie dough on hand for baking on demand, the same freeze-and-bake approach works beautifully for thick chocolate chip cookies as well.

How to Make Chewy Nutella Chocolate Chip Cookies

The dry ingredients come together separately before being added to the creamed base, so have both bowls ready before you start.

Step 1: Whisk the dry ingredients. Combine the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl and whisk until evenly distributed.

Step 2: Cream the butter, Nutella, and sugars. Add the butter, Nutella, brown sugar, and granulated sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium-high speed until the mixture is combined and looks uniform.

You want the butter cold but soft and pliable here, not room-temperature-soft. Butter that is too warm takes on too much air during creaming, which pushes the cookies toward cakey rather than chewy. The mixture will look dense and fudgy at this stage, which is correct.

Step 3: Add the egg and vanilla, beat until light. Add the egg and vanilla and continue mixing on medium-high with the paddle attachment. Scrape down the bowl once with a spatula partway through. After about 4 minutes total from when you started creaming, the mixture will look noticeably lighter in color and slightly fluffy.

Step 4: Add the flour mixture gradually. Reduce the mixer speed to low. Add the flour mixture in 2-3 small additions, waiting until each is barely incorporated before adding the next. Scrape down the sides of the bowl several times throughout. Stop mixing the moment the last addition disappears into the dough.

Step 5: Fold in the chocolate chips. Add the chocolate chips and mix briefly on low just until they are evenly distributed throughout the dough.

I always reserve a small handful to press onto the tops of the dough balls before baking, which I love for both looks and that extra hit of chocolate in every bite.

Step 6: Scoop the dough. Use a 1-inch cookie scoop to portion the dough into balls. Scoop now, before chilling, because portioning cold dough is frustrating and the balls will be uneven. If you are chilling the dough, place the scooped balls on a parchment-lined sheet or plate, cover well with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or up to 3 days.

Chilling the dough is optional, but the flavors deepen noticeably and the cookies bake up thicker. Two hours is the minimum; overnight is better.

Step 7: Preheat the oven and prep your pans. Set the oven to 350°F conventional. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. The dough balls go onto the sheet 2 inches apart to give them room to spread without merging.

Step 8: Bake until the edges are set. Slide the sheet into the oven and bake for 9 to 11 minutes. At the 6-minute mark, rotate the pan. The residual heat from the pan will finish the centers as they cool. Do not wait for the tops to look fully baked or the bottoms will overbake and the centers will be dry rather than fudgy.

Frozen dough balls bake at 350°F for 12 to 14 minutes straight from the freezer with no thawing required.

Step 9: Cool on the pan, then transfer. Let the cookies rest on the hot baking sheet for 5 minutes before moving them. Transfer to a wire rack and let them cool completely, though I will admit they are very difficult to leave alone at the 10-minute mark.

Recipe FAQs

Before You Go

These fudgy, Nutella-filled cookies are the kind of thing that disappears from the counter faster than you can plate them. If you want to keep baking, browse more Cookie Recipes or just make these cherry chocolate chip cookies next!