The Miniature Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Toffee Cookies from yesterday were so good I created a chocolate-hazelnut version. While the texture is not as light as the peanut butter cookies, these cookies are very tasty and make good use of Nutella. Plus, they're cute and perfect for Halloween.
To create this cookie, I used one of my favorite chocolate cookies (Tex Mex Chocolate Cookies) as a starting point. I cut the recipe half, used Nutella in place of half the butter, replaced the honey with more sugar and added hazelnuts in place of pecans. I also swapped out the natural cocoa for Dutch, and since Dutch cocoa is alkaline, I used baking powder (which is acidic) in place of soda.
Nutella Cookies Texture
The cookies, possibly because of their size and the added Nutella, were dense and slightly crunchy – definitely not as soft as the original cookie, but with a great texture for “minis” and a slight hazelnut flavor which could be improved upon with the addition of hazelnut flavoring or actual hazelnuts. I also did a test to compare the texture when made with shortening vs. butter. In this case, the butter won. The cookies baked with shortening had a nice shape and were a bit crunchier, but I liked the flavor and slightly chewy centers of the ones made with butter.
Recipe
Mini Chocolate Nutella Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup 130 grams all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup 20 grams unsweetened Dutch style cocoa powder or Hershey's Dark (which is Dutch)
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- ⅛ teaspoon salt plus a tiny pinch omit if using salted butter
- 4 tablespoons 60 grams unsalted butter, room temperature or 4 tablespoons (48 grams) butter flavored shortening
- 4 tablespoons Nutella 74 grams
- 6 tablespoons 74 grams granulated Sugar
- ⅓ cup 70 grams packed light brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup chocolate chips
- ½ cup toasted hazelnuts optional
- Halloween Sprinkles
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
- Combine flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt (if using) in a bowl and set aside.
- In a mixing bowl, using a hand-held electric mixer, beat butter, Nutella and both sugars until smooth. Beat in the egg and vanilla. By hand, stir in the flour mixture. When flour is incorporated, stir in the chips and nuts (if using). Using an even, packed ½ teaspoon, shape the dough into small balls and arrange about 20 to a sheet on an ungreased baking sheet. Sprinkle tops with Halloween sprinkles if using.
- Bake for 12 minutes, but keep an eye on them. My cookies always take 12 minutes, but ovens vary. Plus it's hard to tell when these guys are done because they're so dark.
Anna says
Hi Sheila,
I like to add the flour by hand because it reduces the risk of accidentally over-beating it with a hand-held mixer. Over-beating the flour strengthens the glutens in the flour and can cause tough cookies. If you're using a stand mixer and a paddle on low speed, you can just add the flour with the paddle, but a lot of people use hand-held mixers and in my experience, even the lowest setting on a hand-held mixer can be a little rough on the flour.
Sheila in MD says
Question for you Anna...I noticed that you said to stir the flour in by hand...I have of course occasionally seen this in other cookie recipes and have always wondered what the reasoning is...do you know? Thanks! Recipe looks great BTW!
Kerstin says
So cute! And Nutella just makes everything better 🙂
Inés says
Oh, wow, thanks! 🙂
Gloria says
I sure wish we could hand out home made treats on Halloween...these would be perfect! I love double chocolate cookies, but I've never made them.....they go on my endless list...