Brown Butter Nutella Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies

These cookies contain three of my most favoritest things: 1. brown butter, 2. chocolate chips, 3. Nutella. Was there ever any doubt that I would be baking them?

(Hint: That was a rhetorical question.)

Now, obviously I expected pretty great things from this recipe. With an ingredients roster like that, how could I not? But the dough actually exceeded my expectations. As much as I love brown butter (the scent, oh goodness, the scent! it needs to be bottled, asap, so I can wear it on my body 24/7. Somebody get on that please), it usually adds a pretty subtle flavor to whatever it's in. Not these cookies. The nutty oh-so-delicious brown butter flavor really comes out in the final dough, tasting almost as strong as it smells!

That's probably because there is a lot of butter involved. I advise you to try not to think about it.

Probably one of the biggest only downsides to baking is being all too aware of what's going into your baked goods. Ignorance is bliss for a reason. Luckily, I am a master in the art of denial.

These cookies spend two hours chillin' in the fridge before they're ready for you to bake them into gooey glorious vessels of goodness. (Eat them warm. Seriously. What's the point of the Nutella filling if it's not a melty, delicious mess?) That means that the dough is pretty hard when it emerges. I had a difficult time trying to form them into balls, much less wrap their crumbly selves around Nutella globs. I think this was partly because due to a snafu with the browning process (dorm kitchens are sketchy; let's not talk about it) my dough was a little short on butter, ergo more crumbly than it probably would have been otherwise. But I also recommend letting the dough come to room temperature before working with it. Yes, this means you will need to plan well ahead before sinking your teeth into a fresh-from-the-oven morsel of nutty chocolatey delight. But it will be worth it. I promise.

I conclude today's post with a glimpse of my work space, because it invariably complicates the process of every recipe I attempt here at school with its janky appliances, lack of proper ventilation system, and overall complete lack of any ambiance whatsoever. 

Oh, dorm kitchens. How I will *not* miss you when I'm gone and moved on.

- Molly

Brown Butter Nutella Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

2¼ cup all-purpose flour

1¼ teaspoons baking soda

¼ teaspoon of salt

2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter

1¼ cup packed dark brown sugar

¼ cup granulated sugar

1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk

1½ teaspoons vanilla extract

1 tablespoon plain greek yogurt

¾ cup chocolate chips

½ cup milk chocolate chips

½ cup dark chocolate chips

1 jar of Nutella, chilled

Coarse sea salt for sprinkling

Instructions

1. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl and set aside. Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. The butter will begin to foam. Make sure you whisk consistently during this process. After a couple of minutes, the butter will begin to brown on the bottom of the saucepan; continue to whisk and remove from heat as soon as the butter begins to brown and give off a nutty aroma. Immediately transfer the butter to a bowl to prevent burning. Set aside to cool for a few minutes.

2. With an electric mixer, mix the butter and sugars until thoroughly blended. Beat in the egg, yolk, vanilla, and yogurt until combined. Add the dry ingredients slowly and beat on low-speed just until combined. Gently fold in all of the chocolate chips.

3. Chill your dough for 2 hours in the refrigerator, or place in freezer for 30 minutes if you are super eager, although I cannot promise the same results if you do this.

4. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Once dough is chilled measure about 1½ tablespoons of dough and roll into a ball. Flatten the dough ball very thinly into the palm of your hand. Place 1 teaspoon of chilled nutella in the middle and fold dough around it; gently roll into a ball — it doesn’t have to be perfectly rolled! Make sure that the nutella is not seeping out of the dough. Add more dough if necessary. Place dough balls on cookie sheet, 2 inches apart and flatten with your hand VERY gently. 

5. Bake the cookies 9-11 minutes or until the edges of the cookies begin to turn golden brown. They will look a bit underdone in the middle, but will continue to cook once out of the oven. Cool the cookies on the sheets at least 2 minutes. Sprinkle with a little sea salt. Remove the cooled cookies from the baking sheets after a few minutes and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with remaining dough.