Brown Butter Nutella Cookies

Do you know how I always seem really excited about the things that I have baked? Well, if I'm blogging about something, then, well, yes, it is likely that I am proud of that particular baked good. What you rarely see are the complete and total mistakes. I'd like to project the persona of a lady who never has culinary missteps, but that would be a lie--and if there is one thing that I am not, it's a lying lady. I mess up in the kitchen sometimes.

And sometimes, I don't--sometimes I make the most amazing cookies that I've ever eaten in my life. Okay, I know the Internet really likes superlatives... and that as a participant in the Internet, I've taken it upon myself to put a few dozen additional superlatives out into the Universe, mostly about baked goods.

No superlatives here, these might be the best cookies I've ever had.

To give you some context: I've never met a dish with brown butter that I wouldn't immediately consume. Oh, and I had to use, literally, six spoons to scoop Nutella while baking this recipe, because I could not stop myself from putting them into my mouth after scraping the Nutella onto my baking sheet. Even if you can occasionally resist brown butter-laden dishes or spoonfuls of Nutella (I'm sorry about whatever is it that is wrong with you, dear) you should still put these cookies in your mouth.

Also, I tried, really, I did, to modify this recipe--I still think it could be adapted into some amazing and amazingly unhealthy muffin--but I couldn't stop thinking about trying this cookies. So I had to bake them. Immediately. Sometimes baking is my burden.

Nutella-Stuffed Brown Butter + Sea Salt Chocolate Chip Cookies

from Ambitious Kitchen
makes two dozen 

Ingredients

   2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
   1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
   1/4 teaspoon of salt
   2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter
   1 1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
   1/4 cup granulated sugar
   1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk
   1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
   1 tablespoon plain greek yogurt (I used Crema Mexicana, because I was out of Greek yogurt) 
   3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
   1/2 cup milk chocolate chips
   1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
   1 jar of Nutella
   Flake sea salt for sprinkling (I recommend Maldon Sea Salt) 

Directions

1. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl and set aside. Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. The butter will begin to foam. Make sure you whisk consistently during this process. After a couple of minutes, the butter will begin to brown on the bottom of the saucepan; continue to whisk and remove from heat as soon as the butter begins to brown and give off a nutty aroma. Immediately transfer the butter to a bowl to prevent burning. Set aside to cool for a few minutes.
2. With an electric mixer, mix the butter and sugars until thoroughly blended. Beat in the egg, yolk, vanilla, and yogurt until combined. Add the dry ingredients slowly and beat on low-speed just until combined. Gently fold in all of the chocolate chips.
3. Chill your dough for 2 hours in the refrigerator. Scoop 1 teaspoon of Nutella onto a waxed baking sheet (approximately two dozen scoops), chill in freezer until firm.  
4. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Once dough is chilled measure about 1 1/2 tablespoons of dough and roll into a ball. Flatten the dough ball very thinly into the palm of your hand. Place 1 teaspoon of chilled Nutella in the middle and fold dough around it; gently roll into a ball — it doesn’t have to be perfectly rolled! Make sure that the Nutella is not seeping out of the dough. Add more dough if necessary. Place dough balls on cookie sheet, 2 inches apart and flatten with your hand VERY gently. (Really only the tops need to be flattened a bit!)
5. Bake the cookies 9-11 minutes or until the edges of the cookies begin to turn golden brown. They will look a bit underdone in the middle, but will continue to cook once out of the oven. Cool the cookies on the sheets at least 2 minutes. Sprinkle with a little sea salt. Remove the cooled cookies from the baking sheets after a few minutes and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with remaining dough.