This recipe for brown butter Nutella chocolate chip cookies was in dire need of a refresh (please peek at the original publish date).

With the extra time I’ve had at home lately, I’ve been playing around with quite a few cookie recipes. After a few batches I finally feel like I’ve got this recipe down!

This recipe was originally adapted from the Ambitious Kitchen! Her mouth-watering photos inspired me to make these cookies in the first place.

Her recipe makes 2 dozen cookies, and I’ve modified it to make a smaller batch of 1 dozen cookies.

I do want to note that this cookie recipe takes a bit of time to make. The cookie dough must chill before you can fill it. It’s totally worth the time commitment but be sure you’re mentally prepared for that as you make them.

If you look on the bright side, a little delayed gratification makes them taste even more delicious!!

The Star Ingredient: Brown Butter

From the Nutella centers to the sea salt sprinkled cookie tops, there’s a lot going on with these cookies.

Despite what you might think, the real star of the show is the brown butter.

The extra step of browning your butter gives these cookies so much depth of flavor and really takes them to the next level.

While you can make this recipe with regular unsalted butter, I highly recommend taking the extra time to brown your butter. You won’t regret it!

If you’ve never browned butter, fear not! It’s a pretty straight forward technique, and only takes about 5 minutes.

Place your butter in a large skillet, heated over a medium heat. Use a rubber spatula to stir the butter occasionally. The butter will gradually melt and start to bubble and foam.

Be sure to scrape the bottom and sides of the pan as the butter browns. This prevents the butter solids from burning.

They separate when the butter is melted and can burn if they’re left sitting at the bottom of the pan.

After about 5 minutes, the butter will turn an amber and start to smell toasty.

Remove the pan from heat and pour the brown butter into a heat proof bowl to cool. It’s important you do this immediately, so that the butter doesn’t burn.

I like to let pop my brown butter into the fridge to speed up the cooling process. I let the butter chill for 30 minutes before using it.

This helps it cool down and solidify a bit, so that it has a consistency similar to room temperature butter.

The Trick to Filling These Nutella Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies

If you’ve ever eaten Nutella, you know how thick and creamy it is! While its unique texture is part of what makes it so tasty, it also can make it hard to use a filling.

My favorite way around this is to make dollops of Nutella (or peanut butter if you have a tree nut allergy) on parchment paper and freeze them.

That way you can pick up each chilled scoop of Nutella, place it in the middle of your flattened cookie dough, and easily wrap the dough around it.

The Nutella will start to soften after about 5 minutes, so you want to work quickly as you fill your cookies.

Another tip I’ve found that makes it a lot easier to hand the cookie dough and wrap it around the Nutella is to lightly moisten your hands with water.

It prevents the dough from sticking to your palms and makes it easier to shape the cookies.

Substitutions and Swaps

While I love this recipe just the way it is, I know some of you might not have all these ingredients on hand.

Below are some swaps and modifications that can be made in this recipe.

• Unsalted Butter – If you only have salted butter on hand, you can use it in place of the unsalted butter in this recipe. Just be sure to omit the salt that this recipe calls for. You can also use vegan butter in its place.
• Nutella – If you don’t have any on hand or aren’t a fan of Nutella, you can also use peanut butter or any nut butter! I just recommend you use a relatively thick nut butter. If it’s too thin / oily, it will be hard to use as a filling and will cause the cookies to spread a lot more as they bake.
• Brown Sugar – You can use light or dark brown sugar in this recipe. I prefer it with light brown sugar, but either type works. The brown sugar prevents these cookies from spreading too much and adds another layer of flavor. If you only have granulated sugar on hand, you can use it instead but the cookies will spread more as they bake.

• Large Egg – You can use a flaxseed egg in its place to make eggless or vegan variations of this chocolate chip cookie recipe.
• Sour Cream or Greek Yogurt: This might catch you off-guard, since not many cookie recipes include sour cream or Greek yogurt! But this adds a lot to the flavor and texture of the cookies, in the same way they make cakes taste deliciously moist. You can also use full fat yogurt, or alternative yogurt (almond, soy, oat) if you’re dairy free.
• All-Purpose Flour – I haven’t tested this recipe out with gluten free flour, but it should work if you use a good blend like King Arthur’s GF flour. Just be sure to mix the dough a bit longer, to help give it structure.
• Chocolate – This part is up to you! I prefer these chocolate chip cookies with dark chocolate chips, but milk or semi-sweet would work great too. You can use either chocolate chips or chunks, and I suggest using whatever type is your favorite!

Tips for Making the Best Brown Butter Nutella Chocolate Chip Cookies

• Wait to turn your oven on until your filled cookies are chilling. The dough takes a while to make, fill, and chill!
• Freeze your scoops of Nutella for at least 20 minutes before trying to fill your cookies. It makes them way easier to stuff inside your cookie dough.
• Let your brown butter cool in the fridge for 30 minutes before using, to make it easier to cream with the brown sugar.
• Cream your brown butter and butter and brown sugar together at a medium high speed for at least 2-3 minutes, until the mixture becomes lighter in color.
• Be sure to properly measure your flour (spoon into the cup measure and then level) or use a kitchen scale to measure your dry ingredients.
• Use a cookie scoop to make sure your cookies are uniformly sized.
• Lightly wet your hands before flattening and filling your cookies. It prevents the dough from sticking to your hands and makes the cookie dough easier to handle.
• Be sure to space your cookies about 2-3 inches apart before baking them! They spread a bit as they bake.
• Press extra chunks of chocolate on top of the cookies before they’re baked. You can also garnish them with sea salt to make them look just as incredible as they taste.

Making These Cookies in Advance and Storing Them

• In the off chance that you have any leftover cookies, they can be stored in an airtight container for up to 5 days at room temperature.
• You can also freeze leftover cookies for up to a month. I like to thaw them in the fridge overnight. I heat them in the microwave for 15 seconds the next morning to make the centers gooey again.
• If you make this cookie dough in advance, you can freeze stuffed cookies in an airtight container for up to a month. Let the cookies thaw in the fridge overnight, then bake as instructed.

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Let Me Know What You Think!

If you try this recipe for brown butter Nutella chocolate chip cookies, please let me know what you think! Leave a rating and comment below with your thoughts 🙂