Nutella Chocolate Chip Cookies

Your favorite chocolate chip cookie with an added bonus of Nutella (I mean, how could you go wrong with a combo like that?) These petite cookies are wonderfully soft and chewy, freckled with mini semisweet chocolate chips, and finished with a sprinkle of flaky sea salt.

The perfect balance of sweet and salty, nutty and chocolatey, gooey and chewy, these Nutella chocolate chip cookies are simply magical, as is how quickly they disappear into thin air (hmm, now where on Earth could they have gone?)

Did you know that Nutella has its own holiday? February 5th to be exact.

Forget Valentine’s and President’s Day, we need more food-centric holidays like this!

Because Nutella really is something to celebrate.

As good as it is right out of the jar, these cookies are truly something special. Soft and chewy like your favorite chocolate chip cookie, but with an extra jolt of milk chocolate and hazelnut. Don’t be surprised if they disappear rather quickly, and neither you or your husband will admit to eating more than your share (even though it’s obvious you both ate a few more than you’re willing to admit). They’re just that kind of cookie.

These cookies are a favorite recipe of mine, one that I’ve made many times over the years since my friend Erin first shared them with me.

Originally published in 2011, I recently updated the recipe to include a bit more chocolate and vanilla, and added a sprinkle flake sea salt at the end (one of my favorite cookie additions, that extra hit of salt really makes the flavors pop). And I took new photos because the single photo in the old post just really didn’t do these delicious cookies justice.

They really couldn’t be easier: just mix up the dough, scoop, and bake. No chilling required!

You know what that means? If you start now (assuming your butter and egg are already at room temperature) you’ll have freshly baked cookies in about 30 minutes (how’s that for nearly-instant satisfaction?)

What’s the Scoop

I have 3 different sized cookie scoops that I regularly use depending on the recipe and my mood that day (some days are just giant cookie days, I’m sure you can relate).

For this recipe, I opted for a small cookie scoop, the same one I use for my amaretti cookies (#60 is the size of the scoop, and it holds about 18-20g of raw dough). I found this to be the perfect snackable size for this richly flavored cookie, although I admit it is certainly a dangerous size as it’s far too easy to grab 2 or 3 at a time.

The beauty of the smaller cookie size is that they bake in mere minutes (7 to be exact), which means you can be enjoying a nice warm cookie less than 30 minutes from now, prep included.

If you want to use a larger scoop size, I’d recommend testing a cookie or two before baking the whole batch: you may find that this recipe spreads more than desired when baked at larger sizes. If that is the case, try chilling the dough for 20 to 30 minutes beforehand which will help reduce spread, or increasing the flour by 1 to 2 tablespoons to give them more structure. You’ll also need to increase the bake time accordingly.

One of my favorite cookie tricks is to swirl a round cookie cutter around the freshly-baked cookies to tuck in the rough/uneven edges, resulting in perfectly round cookies every time.

Picture of Perfection

I always top my unbaked cookie dough balls with a few chocolate chips, pressing the chips into the top of the scooped ball of dough just before popping it in the oven. When baked, these last minute chips will float on top of the cookie as it spreads out, resulting in picture perfect cookies every time.

Drop it like it’s hot: After about 6 minutes of baking, give the baking pan a firm rap or drop it from an inch or two to deflate some of the excess air, then rotate the pan and cook for another minute more. Give it one more drop at 7 minutes before pulling it out of the oven.

I finished my cookies with a sprinkle of flake sea salt immediately after they come out of the oven (while the cookies are still soft and the chocolate is still molten so the salt will have something to stick to). The little kick of salt amps up the flavors and balances out the sweetness of the cookie perfectly.

Note if you opt to skip the finishing salt, I recommend increasing the salt in the recipe to 1/2 teaspoon.

Freezing & Storage

These cookies are best enjoyed within a day or two of baking when they are still soft and chewy. Because of their thinness they do tend to dry out more quickly than thicker-batch cookies. Cover and refrigerate in an airtight container to increase the shelf life to 3 to 4 days.

If you don’t anticipate finishing off the entire batch before then (which, I’ll admit, is far easier than you might think for 40 cookies), you can freeze the baked cookies as well as the unbaked balls of cookie dough to make them last even longer.

Freezing already baked cookies is one of my favorite tricks, particularly for chewy cookies like these as I find they magically become even chewier once frozen. And unlike cookies stored at room temperature or even refrigerated, frozen cookies keep their softness for months without drying out.

To freeze baked cookies, let cookies cool completely, then freeze on cookie sheets in a single layer for an hour or so until frozen solid, then transfer to an airtight bag, removing as much air as possible before sealing and freezing. I’ll often wrap two or three cookies in a piece of plastic wrap and then put them inside the zip-top bag, which helps reduce freezer burn even more (and makes for super convenient snack-sized packs for those urgent cookie cravings).

The cookies will be pretty firm when completely frozen, I recommend letting them sit at room temperature for 10 to 20 minutes before chowing down, if you can stand to wait.

To freeze unbaked cookie dough, scoop balls and arrange on a cookie sheet (you can arrange them much together than if you were baking, just as long as they aren’t touching). Press a few chocolate chips on top if desired, then place the cookie sheet into the freezer for 2-3 hours until frozen solid. Once frozen, transfer the dough balls to a zip-top bag labeled with the cookie name, date, and baking instructions, then seal, removing as much air from the bag as possible.

To bake frozen cookie dough, arrange frozen dough balls (no need to thaw!) on a baking sheet and let sit at room temperature for 10 minutes or so to let the temperatures equalize. Reduce the called-for oven temperature to 325 degrees F and bake for slightly longer than the recipe calls for, about 8-10 minutes. The slightly lower temperature will help the frozen dough balls bake more evenly (otherwise you’ll end up with crispy edges and an underdone center).

Ingredient Notes & Substitutions

Nutella – I used name-brand Nutella, but other similar chocolate hazelnut spread should work just fine here. I don’t recommend using a straight nut butter though, which is coarser, oilier, and not sweetened and may not produce the same end result.

Mini Chocolate Chips – I used mini semisweet chocolate chips for this recipe, which I felt produced a better balance in the smaller sized cookies than regular sized chips. You can also use finely chopped dark chocolate, but because it lacks stabilizers like chocolate chips, may cause the cookies to spread more (just chill the dough for 20-30 minutes if so).

Flake Sea Salt – A sprinkle of Maldon flake salt is my favorite way to finish cookies. If you opt to skip the finishing salt, I recommend increasing the salt in the cookie itself to 1/2 teaspoon.

(Note this recipe was originally published in 2011 and has been updated as of May 2024. The new recipe includes more chocolate chips, more vanilla extract, and a little extra flake salt sprinkled on top, plus clarified instructions and process photos).