These hazelnut chocolate lava cookies are thick and soft in texture, and bursting with a molten core of chocolate. It’s heaven in every bite!
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Finally a new cookie recipe is here! So many of you are already addicted to the Levain Bakery Cookies, the Chocolate Brownie Cookies or also the Skinny Coconut Oil Chocolate Chip Cookies, and I’m back today with another cookie recipe stuffed with an ooey-gooey chocolate center, Nutella style.
Just imagine a warm chocolate chunk cookie coming out from the oven. The edge are slightly crispy, the center is soft and slightly under-baked, and the cookies also have a nutty texture of hazelnuts with a crunchy bite. But it doesn’t stop here. Now imagine you grab one of these cookies, break it apart, and you have this molten core of chocolate coming out from the center. You get it right: it’s like a dream come true!
These cookies are:
- Thick and generous
- Slightly crispy on the edge and soft in the center
- Perfectly nutty in texture with a crunchy bite
- With an irresistible chocolate lava center
- EASY to make. I promise!
Ingredients for Hazelnut Chocolate Lava Cookies
This cookie recipe is based on my Hazelnut Chocolate Chunk Cookie recipe. It features :
- Basic cookies ingredients: all-purpose flour, cornstarch baking soda, caster and brown sugar, salt, butter, eggs, vanilla, chocolate chunks.
- Hazelnut flour or ground hazelnut (cf. note at the bottom of the recipe card)*. This brings a subtle nutty and chewy texture to the cookies. I also added extra chopped hazelnuts for a crunchy bite.
- A core center of hazelnut chocolate spread.
Prepare the chocolate filling
The first step to making these cookies is to scoop out and freeze the hazelnut chocolate spread, which will be the core center of the cookies. Scoop out 12 heaped teaspoons of hazelnut chocolate spread onto a tray lined with parchment paper, and place in the freezer to firm up.
Make sure you do it before you prepare the cookie dough and let chill until solid, about 30-60 minutes. This way, the spread will be easier to handle when stuffing the cookies. If using hazelnut chocolate spread at room temperature, everything becomes messy and you just miss the point of the recipe with a core center of chocolate (instead you’ll have a lovely mess of chocolate spread everywhere, still delicious though).
Why I don’t use Nutella
I could have called this recipe Nutella Stuffed Cookies but I like to pay close attention to the quality of ingredients I use, their health aspect and their impact on the environment. Nutella uses refined palm oil which is very unhealthy while its production is very taxing on the environment (palm oil production and deforestation go hand in hand). Instead of using Nutella, I chose an organic hazelnut chocolate spread which, although equally rich, is more mindful of the environment. Other possible options include the use of chocolate fudge or gianduja.
How to make hazelnut chocolate lava cookies?
It’s way easier than it seems to make these hazelnut chocolate lava cookies. So stick around while I’m guiding you through the steps.
- Freeze hazelnut chocolate spread into little dollops until solid (as explained above).
- Prepare the cookie dough and chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours.
- Scoop cookies with a cookie scoop to portion.
- Flatten the dough slightly into a disc shape, and add a frozen lump of chocolate spread to the middle.
- Wrap the cookie dough around the chocolate spread ball fully so its covered and becomes ball of cookies.
- Bake cookies for about 10-12 minutes or until edge are slightly crispy and center is still soft. Remove from the oven and let sit for a few minutes; they will continue to bake on the baking sheet.
Important note: when adding the little dollops of hazelnut chocolate spread work quickly so it doesn’t warm up too fast, which would mess up the process.
For all sweet tooths out there, these Nutella-style stuffed cookies are impossible to resist. Biting into a surprise center of gooey chocolate spread is pure delight. Pour yourself a glass of milk to serve along with your cookies and enjoy!
More scrumptious chocolate chip cookies:
- Super Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Hazelnut Chocolate Chunk Cookies
- Levain Bakery Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Brown Butter Coffee Tahini Cookies
- Chocolate Chip Skillet Cookies
- Daim Bar Cookies
Hazelnut Chocolate Lava Cookies
- Prep Time: 25 mins
- Cook Time: 12 mins
- Total Time: 37 minutes
- Yield: 12 cookies 1x
- Category: Cookies
- Diet: Vegetarian
These hazelnut chocolate lava cookies are thick and soft in texture, and bursting with a molten core of chocolate. It’s heaven in every bite!
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We’ll send it straight to your inbox, along with weekly food inspiration!
Ingredients
- 1 ¾ cups (210g) all-purpose flour
- 1½ teaspoon cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 pinch of salt
- ¾ cup (180g) unsalted butter, melted
- ¾ cup (135g) light brown sugar
- ⅓ cup (70g) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 yolk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½ cup (55g) hazelnuts, ground*
- ½ cup (75g) hazelnuts, chopped
- ¾ cup (110g) dark chocolate, finely chopped**
- 12 teaspoons hazelnut chocolate spread (Nutella style)
- Sea salt, to serve
Instructions
- Scoop out 12 heaped teaspoons of hazelnut chocolate spread onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, and place in the freezer to firm up. This usually takes 30-60 minutes.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cornstarch, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
- Melt the butter in a small pan or in the microwave and pour it into a medium-sized bowl. Add in the brown sugar and granulated sugar and whisk vigorously until no sugar lumps remain. Whisk the egg, yolk, vanilla extract and ground hazelnuts.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ones and mix together with a spatula. Fold in the finely chopped chocolate and the chopped hazelnuts. Cover the dough and chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 325°F (160°C) and line two large cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- Scoop cookies with a cookie scoop to portion. Flatten the dough slightly into a disc shape, and add a frozen lump of hazelnut chocolate spread to the middle. Then wrap the cookie dough around the hazelnut chocolate spread ball fully so its covered and becomes ball of cookies.
- Place cookies onto each parchment paper, leaving enough space in between each of them so they have space to spread out a little bit.
- Bake each batch for about 12 minutes, then remove from the oven.***
Notes
* You can prepare your own hazelnut flour by pulsing hazelnuts in a food processor until finely ground. It’s ok to keep some texture a little bit.
** Use high quality baking dark chocolate and chop finely with a knife so that you have small pieces of chocolate instead of chocolate chunks. This will make the cookies a little bit thicker and enable them to hold their shape better with the gooey center of hazelnut chocolate spread. Alternatively you can use mini chocolate chips.
OR if you do want very chocolaty cookies and don’t mind them to spread out a little bit, go for chocolate chunks or regular size chocolate chips. The gooey center of hazelnut chocolate spread will somehow meld with chocolate chunks. Both options are delicious!
*** Baking tip: It’s important to remove the cookies from the oven when they look slightly under-baked (i.e. slightly golden and crispy on the edge but still soft and gooey in the center). Leave them on the baking sheet for about 5 to 10 more minutes so they firm up a little bit, then transfer to a cooling rack.
Did you make this recipe?
Lastly, if you make this Hazelnut Chocolate Lava Cookies, be sure to leave a comment and give this recipe a rating, letting me know how you liked it. And of course, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Thank you and enjoy!
