These chunky Hazelnunt Chocolate Chip Cookies are a great twist on a classic! It’s got a Nutella hit and hazelnuts in every bite.
There was one question playing in my mind when I made these Hazelnut Chocolate Chip Cookies, and it had to do with one of the ingredients included in this recipe: Nutella. I kept wondering what made Nutella so special. How is it that despite all the spreads that have come and gone as fads (hello, cookie butter) we still gravitate towards this chocolate-hazelnut spread?
There’s something addictive about this spread, and for me, even though I don’t have many Nutella recipes up on the blog, I actually really like using it for baking. I love how the Nutella flavor stays true in the resulting desserts. Well, most of the time anyone. You get a sweet chocolate sensation, with a nutty, kind of roasted hazelnut aftertaste. That was what I was hankering for when I made these Hazelnut Chocolate Chip Cookies.
There are a couple of things I wish I had done to take the Nutella flavor of these cookies up a notch, but as it is, I like that touch of Nutella you get in every bite. Freshly out of the oven, the Nutella flavor is not super obvious, but if you know it’s there you will taste it. That light Nutella scent and taste becomes more apparent as the days pass though. I find that homemade cookies are usually at their best in terms of taste the day after baking, when they’ve had time to sit and develop their flavor. These Hazelnut Chocolate Chip Cookies are no exception.
And they taste even better because I used the Ghirardelli baking chips I hauled all the way from San Francisco. (It’s so hard to source them here in Manila!) Out of the different baking chip brands I’ve tried so far, I think the Ghirardelli 60% Baking Chips are the best things to put into cookies. A little more expensive than usual, but absolutely worth it. I usually have to restrain myself from eating the chocolate chips before they go into the cookie dough!
I’m not advertising these baking chips, by the way. I WISH they would sponsor me lol. I’m just saying if you guys get the chance to grab a bag of these, please do. Try them when you bake some cookies and you will see exactly what I mean when I say they’re amazing. You can immediately taste the difference.
Recipe notes
This recipe isn’t complicated in the least, but I do recommend that you do not skip the process of toasting your hazelnuts before you start. Toasted hazelnuts give a nicer crunch and less of a raw-tasting flavor overall. They should add to the whole experience of eating these Hazelnut Chocolate Chip Cookies rather than distract from it.
You start the same way you start any other cookie recipe: creaming the butter and sugar together. It’s important that you get to the light and fluffy stage whether you use a machine or just your hands. As you add the eggs, the dough will become fluffier and less grainy.
Now it’s time to add in the dry ingredients. I like to just sift them into the butter-sugar mixture, and then give the entire thing a good mix from the bottom of the bowl, making sure to incorporate everything together with the least amount of strokes. Stop when the dough looks JUST combined. A bit of flour here and there should be fine. We don’t want to overmix the dough at this point since we’ll give it another go when we throw in the add-on’s.
Now we add in all the goodies: chocolate chips, hazelnuts, and the Nutella. You can use another brand of course.
Once you mix everything in, you will get a fairly soft dough. This dough will require refrigeration because if we bake it immediately, the soft dough will spread too much in the oven. Just portion the dough into mounds on a baking sheet and pop in the fridge for 1 hour (or freezer for 30 minutes if you’re in a hurry) and let it chill.
Once the dough is sufficiently hardened, press a few pieces of chocolate chips on top of the cookies to give it a good look after baking. This is the secret to all those chocolate chip cookies with perfect chocolate chip placement on top. While the first batch is in the oven, remember to place the rest of the dough balls back into the fridge to await their turn.
You’ll want to bake your Hazelnut Chocolate Chip Cookies by batch and let them cool completely before digging in. Give yourself a moment to appreciate the smell of butter, chocolate, and Nutella wafting in the air as the cookies cool. The only thing that I wish I’d done differently was figure out a way to get a pocket of actual Nutella inside the cookies. Maybe I should’ve frozen some Nutella mounds and stuffed them inside the cookie dough balls.
In any case, these are quite an enjoyable afternoon companion with milk!
Chunky Hazelnut Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup 227 grams unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon rock salt
- 1 cup bittersweet or semisweet baking chips, plus more for topping
- 1/2 cup hazelnuts, toasted and chopped
- 4 Tablespoon chocolate-hazelnut spread
Instructions
- In a bowl, cream together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. (You can also use a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment for this step.)
- Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in the vanilla.
- Sift in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix until just combined. Fold in the chocolates, the hazelnuts, and the spread.
- Drop cookies by the tablespoon onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Refrigerate for 1 hour. You can place the cookie mounds a little closer together at this point since we'll be baking them by batch.
- Prepare two clean baking sheets and line them with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Bake the cookies by batch for 15 to 18 minutes, or until golden brown. Make sure to space the dough at least 2 inches apart to give them room to spread. You will likely be able to fit 6 cookies per sheet. Keep the rest of the dough inside the fridge if you're not baking them yet.
- Let cool on baking sheets for at least 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.
Notes
~~~
Enjoyed this post? Follow me on social media for more! I’m on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. See you around!
