Salted Dark Chocolate Nutella Cookies

I’ve always had a sweet tooth. As my good friend would say—it’s my cross to bear. But we haven’t always been friendly with each other. We’ve fought. Turned our backs on each other. Swore we’d never speak again. Only to find ourselves running back into each others arms in a sweet embrace. We have a pretty good relationship these days. We’re done with the fighting. We hang out on a daily basis, but (almost) never overstay our welcome. It works that way.

And I live to blog about it. By day I’m a designer. By night, I’m a baker. Truth be told, I love baking more than designing, but I’m putting my husband through graduate school. I’m a sugar momma—which is fitting in more ways than one. My style is simple. Or better yet, classic. I’m a faux pearls and button-up oxford kind of girl. And my baking philosophy is no different. I love perfecting the classics—brownies, croissants, yellow cake, scones, oh, and salted dark chocolate Nutella cookies (soon to be a classic). I’m a huge believer in making everything from scratch, partly because I love the process. And partly because I like to know what’s in my food. I guess you can call me a purist.

Speaking of salted dark chocolate Nutella cookies, they might just rock your sweet tooth loving world. A work friend had some leftover cookies from a bakery sitting on her desk. She offered them to me. I politely declined and then proceeded to break off a ¼ of the cookie. Five minutes later, the other ¼. And the next thing you know, the whole cookie was gone. First words out of my mouth—I have to figure out how to make these. And the rest is history.

A chocolate cookie, slightly on the crispy side, with a sprinkle of sea salt, and oats for good measure. A swirl of Nutella to hold the two sides together. This is what dreams are made of.

COOKIES

Yields 36 cookies; 18 sandwich cookies

1 1/4 c. all-purpose unbleached flour
1/2 c. unsweetened dark dutch process cocoa powder
1/4 c. oats, lightly ground (to grind, pulse in a food processor for about 30 seconds)
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. baking powder
3/4 c. (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 tbsp. Nutella
1 1/2 c. sugar
1 egg
sea salt

FILLING
13 oz. jar of Nutella

1. Preheat oven to 375°. Line baking sheets with Silpat or parchment paper.

2. Whisk together flour, cocoa powder, oats, baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside.
3. Cream together butter, Nutella, and sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in egg.
4. Slowly add in flour mixture until evenly incorporated.
5. Roll dough into tablespoon-sized balls. Flatten balls with the bottom of a glass, about 2 1/4-inches in diameter. Sprinkle with sea salt. Bake 12 on a sheet leaving 1-inch space between each cookie. Minor spreading will occur.
6. Bake for 8 minutes. Cool for 1 minute on baking sheet and carefully transfer to a cooling rack.
7. Allow to cool completely. Spread Nutella between two cookies. Sandwich and serve!
8. And they lived happily ever after.

Notes:
• To learn more about dutch-process vs. cocoa powder, see this explanation from David Lebovitz.

Want more recipes? Try this vegan, gluten-free ice cream cookie sandwich.