Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies with Nutella Filling

Teaser Photos.  This is what you have to look forward to when you cook this beautiful recipe.

Who doesn't love Nutella?  The answer is no one.  Except for those born without taste buds or hearts.  I love it on toast or bagels with fruit.  I love it on pancakes or crepes with fruit.  I love it in cookies and cakes and custards.  I love it on a spoon or on my fingers.  Nutella belongs in my mouth is the basic point.  So when I came across a recipe for Nutella stuffed cookies on Tasty Kitchen, I was more than a little excited.  I was ecstatic.  Delighted.  Overjoyed.  Psyched.  Stoked.  Moving on.  I only made a couple changes to the original recipe.  I don't care for the sweet and salty combination so I did not add the sea salt the original recipe did.  I also decreased the amount of chocolate chips because they make things extremely difficult and I ended up picking a bunch out as well as having quite a bit left in the bag when I was done.  I also changed the type of butter because I'm a rebel and I prefer salted butter.  I also changed the time it needs to cool. They are some wonderfully soft cookies, so you need to allow them to cool sufficiently to move them at all.  Don't worry, they will not harden (if you didn't overcook them).  Even after cooling for three hours, my cookies were still delightfully soft.

When I found this recipe a friend of mine, whose new nickname is the Crochet Queen, offered me her sister for a batch of cookies.  I settled for crocheted goods for my unborn child.  She created a dragon for my baby boy and is working on a hat too.  I also threw in some Strawberry Lemonade and Flan.  I will be making the Flan in the next couple of weeks for her (recipe to be posted later, but I haven't found anyone that doesn't love my recipe yet).

Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies with Nutella Filling

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 Cups All-Purpose Flour
• 1 1/4 Teaspoons Baking Soda
• 1/4 Teaspoon Salt
• 1 Cup Salted Butter
• 1 1/4 Cups Dark Brown Sugar
• 1/4 Cup Granulated Sugar
• 1 Egg
• 1 Egg Yolk
• 1 1/2 Teaspoons Pure Vanilla Extract
• 1 Tablespoon Plain Greek Yogurt
• 1/2 Cup Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
• 1/2 Cup Dark Chocolate Chips
• 1 (13 Ounce) Jar Nutella

The Fun Part

1. Whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt in a medium sized bowl.
2. Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat.  When it begins foaming, start whisking constantly to prevent it from burning.  When the butter begins to brown on the bottom of the pan and starts to give off a slightly caramely/nutty scent, remove it from heat and pour into a large mixing bowl.  Allow it to cool for a few minutes.
3. Using an electric mixer, mix the butter with the sugars until it is well blended.  (I had to break up the brown sugar clumps with my hands.)  Add the egg, egg yolk, pure vanilla extract, and greek yogurt until combined.  Add the dry ingredients a bit at a time on a slow speed until combined.  Gently mix in the chocolate chips.
4. Put the dough in a storage bag (or cover the bowl) and let chill in the refrigerator for two hours.  Now is a good time to put the Nutella in the refrigerator as well, you will need it chilled.
5. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit.  Once the dough is chilled, form the dough into balls about two and a half tablespoons large.
6. Flatten out one of the balls.  Use a melon baller or teaspoon (the melon baller makes it super easy) to scoop some of the chilled Nutella onto the center of the flattened ball.  Carefully pick up the ball and close it up around the Nutella.  Roll the ball a bit to seal the Nutella in.  Gently flatten the ball a little bit, being careful not to crack the cookie (too much).  If you end up with some cracks on top of the cookie it will be okay, but you don't want it too cracked on the bottom and side.  Repeat with the rest of the dough balls.
7. Place the cookies on non-stick pans about one and half to two inches apart.  Bake for nine to eleven minutes, my oven did it wonderfully in ten.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool for at least five minutes on the cookie sheet.  They will be soft, especially in the middle.  Use a spatula to remove the cookies from the cookie sheet (carefully) and place them on a wire rack to cool the rest of the way.

Now for some drool worthy pictures.  Notice the way the Nutella just melts right out of them as soon as they are broken.  Yum.  I would lick the counter if needed to preserve all the Nutella flavor.  Too far?  I think not.

Look at them all just sitting there innocently.  Not knowing that they are all going to be devoured.