Chocolate Craters filled with Nutella and Hazelnuts

Magnificent Nutella

“Even as a little girl she hungered for learning as a child does for cookies in the late afternoon.”

East of Eden, John Steinbeck

Inspiration

World Nutella Day, February 5th, was looming on the horizon. Nutella is a chocolate hazelnut spread with a cult like following that shows no sign of slowing. If I ever needed inspiration to bake so soon after the holidays, this was it. And what a scrumptious excuse it was. Searching for that sublime balance of hazelnut and chocolate in a cookie first led me down a path of too much chocolate and then I returned to the charming balance of hazelnuts with chocolate. If you like Nutella, these cookies will be a delight.

Essentials

With these little bites you’ll discover a chocolate cookie hugging a creamy Nutella filled crater, topped with toasted hazelnuts and ribbons of chocolate. A charming little dessert for the season of Nutella. These Nutella bites are made in a mini muffin tin with mini cupcakes papers: sometimes three bites are just enough.

	Ingredients
	For the cookies, recipe makes about 3 dozen (each time I tested the recipe, it made 38 cookies)
1 3/4 C	flour
1/4 C	cocoa powder
1 t	espresso powder
1 t	baking powder
1/2 t	baking soda
1/2 t	salt
1/2 C	unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 C	Nutella
3/4 C	sugar
1	egg, room temperature
1 t	vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
	For the filling
3/4 C	Nutella
38	roasted whole hazelnuts (see below for roasting and removing the skins from the hazelnuts)
	For the topping
1/2 C	chocolate chips, I used 60% bittersweet cocoa

1. Prepare the dry ingredients for the cookies: Into a medium size mixing bowl sift or shake through a large sieve flour, cocoa, espresso powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt and set aside.
2. In electric mixer with paddle attachment beat the butter on medium high speed until light and creamy, approximately 5 minutes. Add the Nutella beat another 2–3 minutes until thoroughly mixed into the butter. Scrape down the sides and the bottom of the mixer and mix again. Then add the sugar mixing another 2 –3 minutes. On medium-low speed, add the egg and then the vanilla. Beat until incorporated with the sugar mixture, scraping down sides and bottom of the mixer bowl. On low speed add the dry ingredients. Thoroughly mix the dough by scraping down bottom and side of mixer bowl. The dough will be sticky, not dry. Chill the dough for two hours prior to baking.
3. If your hazelnuts still have their skins on you can remove them after roasting. Place the hazelnuts on a large baking sheet and roast for 8–12 minutes. The interior of the nuts will turn light toasty brown. Remove them from the oven and place them in a clean towel. Rub the nuts together while they are inside the towel to remove their skins. I found that gathering the towel into a bundle with rubber band as a closure made the process easier and made less of a mess. Not all the skins will be removed, but most will be.
4. Preheat oven to 350°. Line a mini muffin tin with mini cupcake liners. Using a tablespoon of chilled cookie dough quickly form the dough into a small cup shape and place in the cupcake paper. The shape does not need to be perfect, but should almost reach the top of the cupcake papers. Once baked the dough will form a nice crown around the top of the cupcake paper. If the dough becomes soft, chill again. It will be easier to handle.
   In the center of the cookie crater place a dollop of Nutella, 1/2 –1 teaspoon. Fill the craters to the top with Nutella. I used two tiny spoons to scoop and place the Nutella into the cookie craters. Place a whole hazelnut on top of the Nutella filling. Bake for 10-15minutes. Mine took 12 minutes to bake. Bake just until the cookie is set. Do not over bake.
5. Cool in the muffin pan for 10 minutes, and then remove the cookies to a cooling rack to cool completely.
6. For the topping, melt the chocolate chips in the microwave. Use a squeeze bottle or spoon to drizzle the melted chocolate over the cookies.

Recipe variation: The cookie craters can be filled with Nutella and then topped with dark and white chocolate chunks. This imbues a more pronounced chocolate flavor, with a little Nutella delight in the very center of each cookie.

World Nutella Day

Ms Adventures in Italy

Bleeding Espresso