We’re taking the beloved classic chocolate crinkle cookie and going a little nuts—in the best possible way!—with these Nutella crinkle cookies. Chocolatey and packed with crunchy hazelnuts, they’re thick and soft-baked, and stuffed with a little extra Nutella in the middle for good measure!
I love baking with Nutella, as evidenced by recipes like Nutella chocolate chip cookies and caramel-stuffed Nutella cookies. But with these cookies, I think I may have reached Peak Nutella Cookie (PNC). These are the most Nutella-y of all the Nutella cookies. We’re making the dough with Nutella, of course, but then also stuffing each cookie dough ball with more Nutella, because, let’s be honest, why wouldn’t we??
Warm from the oven, the centers of these Nutella crinkle cookies are deliciously gooey. After about a day, the Nutella centers set into a soft and fudge-y texture, like the inside of a truffle. They are equally delicious both ways.
By the way, if you love crinkle cookies as much as I do, you’ll want to try chocolate raspberry crinkle cookies and lemon crinkle cookies, too!
I use a stand mixer for these cookies, but an electric hand mixer works too. This Nutella cookie dough is extra soft, so chilling is necessary—2 hours is the minimum. Chilled cookie dough is not only easier to handle and roll into balls, it also bakes thicker cookies.
After refrigerating the dough, it will be quite crumbly and that’s ok. You want a thick, crumbly dough because you’re going to be handling it so much when filling and rolling it.
To fill and shape the cookies, take 1 scant Tablespoon (about 17g) of crumbly cookie dough:
Roll it in your hands to make a ball. Press your thumb into the ball as if you were making a thumbprint cookie, and pinch and mold the dough into a shallow bowl shape. Repeat steps 1 & 2 to make a second cookie “bowl.”
We use a similar process to stuff these peanut butter-filled brownie cookies. You may find it’s easier to roll and shape ALL the cookie dough “bowls” first, before filling half with Nutella.
Now that all of the dough balls are filled and rolled, you can coat them in confectioners’ sugar. Like with these chocolate crinkle cookies, roll the cookie dough balls into granulated sugar first, then give them a heavy coating of confectioners’ sugar.
Why both sugars? These Nutella crinkle cookies are extra moist, so the confectioners’ sugar always ends up melting a bit and/or turns yellow-ish as a result from melting. Not a problem when it comes to taste, but if you want the snowy look of stark-white confectioners’ sugar on top, coat the cookie dough balls in a little granulated sugar first. Just a light layer, then go heavy on that confectioners’ sugar topping.
Bake the cookies until they begin to crack/crinkle, about 11–12 minutes.
As the cookies bake, the confectioners’ sugar coating crinkles and cracks as the cookies take their shape. Hence, the cute crinkle name. I love these.
Chocolatey and packed with crunchy hazelnuts, these Nutella crinkle cookies are thick and soft-baked, and stuffed with a little extra Nutella in the middle for good measure! Filling the cookies is optional—see Notes.
