Nutella Stuffed Snickerdoodles
You’re gonna love these irresistible Nutella stuffed snickerdoodles, buttery, soft and chewy cookies, full of delicious chocolate hazelnut cream (AKA Nutella) with crushed nuts and cinnamon inside and out. Heavenly in every bite!
These cookies are the ultimate indulgent twist on a classic and they’re quick and easy to make.
I only recommend adding a little extra time for chilling the dough and your house will smell amazing while these are baking!
WHAT IS A SNICKERDOODLE?
Snickerdoodles have been around for a long time, their origins are still up for debate, but certainly they are a popular favourite today in the US and Canada. True snickerdoodle cookies have a very slight tanginess to their flavour. This comes from the cream of tartar added to the recipe and also gives them their unique cracked top appearance.
If you decide to give this recipe a try, let me know! Leave a comment below and rate it – it’s really helpful to me and the other readers. And don’t forget to take a picture and tag it #thegourmetlarder on Instagram. I love seeing what you come up with! 🙂
RECIPE HIGHLIGHTS
- EASE: easy.
- FREE FROM: for ideas on sugar and dairy-free, check my substitutions section for details.
- GREAT FOR: a treat, picnics, friends and family visiting. They also make a nice addition to homemade gift boxes!
- TASTE & TEXTURE: tangy, slightly chewy cookies, coated in crushed nuts and cinnamon sugar, but the best part is certainly the gooey Nutella hidden inside.
- SERVING: great with a hot drink or a glass of milk.
- QUANTITY: 12 cookies
- TIME: 52 minutes, including 30 minutes chilling time.
© THE GOURMET LARDER. All images and content are copyright protected. If you want to share this recipe, please do so using the share buttons provided. Please do not republish the recipe or its content in full instead, include a link to this post for the recipe. Further information can be found in my FAQ’s.
INGREDIENTS
For this recipe all you need are these ingredients:
- Nutella – makes the cookies extra special, try my homemade Nutella recipe, to make them even more irresistible.
Chocolate spread recommendations– Nutella hazelnut chocolate spread, Biona Organic Duo Chocolate Hazelnut Spread.
- Butter – adds structure and flavour. I use salted butter for most of my baking as it intensifies the flavours, but feel free to use unsalted if you prefer. Make sure it’s at room temperature before using.
- Caster or granulated white sugar – gives the cookies the soft, chewy centres and a little crunch to the finished cookie once baked.
- Brown sugar – gives the cookie its crunch, crispy edges and a more flavourful taste.
- Egg – binds the ingredients together and gives flavour.
- Pure vanilla extract or paste – adds that extra delicious taste to compliment the cinnamon.
– Vanilla recommendations: pure vanilla extract or vanilla paste or vanilla pods.
- Plain or all-purpose flour – builds structure.
- Cream of tartar – creates a cracked top appearance and adds a little tanginess to the cookies. If you don’t have cream of tartar, you can replace it with a tablespoon of lemon juice or white vinegar.
- Bicarbonate of soda or baking soda – is a raising agent that reacts with the cream of tartar. Baking powder also works but will not offer the tangy flavour cream of tartar adds.
- Ground cinnamon – adds a beautiful warm spice to the inside and outside of the cookie.
- Crushed peanuts – add an extra flavour and texture to the outside of the cookies. For a very special version use chopped hazelnuts.
TIP: I highly recommend adding a good pinch of fine salt to your biscuit doughs. In a seemingly absurd or self-contradictory way, salt intensifies the mouths’ ability to taste sweetness. It is the sodium that sends signals to move glucose into the sweet taste receptor cells, thus triggering the cells to register sweetness. The result is that salt not only alerts our ‘salt sensitivity’, but also triggers our ‘sweet sensitive’ taste buds.
SUBSTITUTIONS
While I am making recommendations for alternative ingredients, I haven’t necessarily tried them. If you try making any adaptions, I would love to know how you get on and share it with the other readers.
VEGAN OPTIONS
- Butter: I recommend Naturli vegan block or Flora plant-based block butter alternative.
- Chocolate spread options: There are various vegan chocolate spread options available. Monty Bojangles Vegan Luxury Belgian Chocolate Truffle & Hazelnut Spread, Naturya Vegan Cacao & Hazelnut Crunchy Spread.
SUGAR-FREE AND LOW-CALORIE OPTIONS
- Sugar-free or calorie reduced options: try alternatives such as coconut sugar, honey, natural erythritol, xylitol, stevia or fructooligosaccharide powder instead. There are also sweetener mixes available, that are 70% calorie reduced and low in carb.
- Brown sugar suggestions: Pure Via Baker’s soft brown sugar or Sukrin Gold’s natural brown sugar alternative.
WHAT VARIATIONS CAN I MAKE?
- Caramel Centres – try placing either Rolo’s or Werther’s soft caramels into the centre instead of the Nutella.
Caramel sweet recommendations: Rolo’s or Werther’s soft caramels
- All chocolate snickerdoodles – remove 25g of the flour from the dough and add 25g cocoa powder.
Cocoa recommendations: Dr. Oetker fine dark cocoa powder or not as dark – Sevenhills wholefoods organic cacao powder
- Chocolate chips – add them to the cookie mix for even more taste.
Chocolate chip recommendations: Menier Swiss dark chocolate drops or Menier Swiss milk chocolate drops. Vegan option: Nibble Simply Divinely Dark Madagascan Chocolate Chips.
- Chocolate ganache would also make a great alternative to Nutella.
How to make a Chocolate Ganache – Chocolate ganache is made with just 2 ingredients, 100ml cream and 150g good quality chocolate, white, dark or milk. Chop the chocolate and place it in a heat proof bowl. Bring the cream to a boil in a small saucepan and then pour it over the chopped chocolate and stir continuously until melted and smooth. Then set aside, it will thicken as it cools.
Chocolate recommendations: bars – Lindt Excellence dark 70% bar 100g, Montezuma’s darkside 51% bar 90g, Menier dark cooking chocolate 100g, Green and Black’s Organic dark Chocolate 100g, 1kg bags – Callebaut dark chocolate, Callebaut milk chocolate, Callebaut white chocolate.
If you experiment, I would love to know how you get on and share it with the other readers.
NUTRITION
Serving: one cookie
Nutrition information can vary for a recipe based on factors such as precision of measurements, brands, ingredient freshness, or the source of nutrition data.
I strive to keep the information as accurate as possible but make no warranties regarding its accuracy.
I encourage you to make your own calculations based on the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
STORAGE AND FREEZING
Snickerdoodle cookies taste best fresh out of the oven, but they will keep for up to 1 week stored in an airtight container at room temperature.
You can also freeze snickerdoodles for up to 3 months. Defrost them for half an hour.
Freezing the cookie dough – freeze the scoped dough on the baking tray or a plate that fits in your freezer (lined with baking paper). Once they have frozen solid, approx. 30 minutes, transfer them to a freezer-safe, airtight container. They will last up to 3 months in the freezer.
Freezing the baked cookies – cool the biscuits completely after baking and place them in a freezer bag or airtight container. They will last up to 1 month. When you are ready to serve, allow the cookies to reach room temperature.
© THE GOURMET LARDER. All images and content are copyright protected. If you want to share this recipe, please do so using the share buttons provided. Please do not republish the recipe or its content in full instead, include a link to this post for the recipe. Further information can be found in my FAQ’s.
TOOLS YOU’LL NEED
Here is some kitchen equipment that I use and recommend for this recipe.
I like the sturdiness of this bowl and its 4 litre capacity means I can use it for mixing just about everything in the kitchen. It is also microwave, freezer and dishwasher safe.
These different size mixing bowls are really useful depending on the amount of food you are preparing. They also have airtight lids that fit snugly to seal and keep food fresh, so this set can be used as dry storage bowls with lids on. The plastic lid of the largest bowl has a removable centre. Where one of 3 graters can be used.
I do own a plastic mixing bowl but I am personally not a big fan of them. These 3 bowls are on the smaller size but good for the odd cake making.
These measuring spoons are really handy for getting the right measurements of those small ingredients. I also like the fact that they are magnetic, sticking together and narrow to fit into spice jars.
This tray is ideal for smaller bakes. sometimes I don’t always want to use my main baking tray that came with my oven as it is so big. This one is just the right size and I can use the silicone baking mat on it.
I love using these baking mats. They stop everything sticking to the baking tray and are really easy to clean.
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TIP: I highly recommend using metric measurements and a digital kitchen scale, rather than cup measurements. If you have ever ended up with dry, dense or crumbly baked goods, it might be because of inaccurate volume measurements, not all measuring cups are made equally. All my recipes on this blog are carefully developed so that you can easily recreate them in your own kitchen with success, using metric measurements. It is also a lot easier, less messy and you will get far better, consistent results. 🙂
If you are interested in understanding conversions, here you will find the best conversion chart.
RECIPE TIPS
Use room temperature ingredients – this is really important; it makes it easier to work with and allows the ingredients to emulsify properly.
Freezing the Nutella – trying to roll the cookies up with soft Nutella inside would be difficult and most likely to be a disaster, so please allow for this extra step.
The dough should be sticky – avoid adding more flour to the recipe, it is the most common mistake. Make sure to allow time for the dough to rest in the fridge to firm up a little.
Nutella Stuffed Snickerdoodles
INGREDIENTS LIST
Nutella filling
- 190 g Nutella
Cookie dough
- 100 g butter ((at room temperature))
- 60 g caster sugar
- 100 g light brown sugar
- 1 medium egg (50g total at room temperature)
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract or 1/4 tsp of vanilla paste
- 245 g plain flour (all-purpose)
- 1 tsp cream of tartar
- ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda / baking soda
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp fine sea salt
Topping
- 50 g peanuts or any other nut
- 50 g caster sugar
- 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
Preparation
- Nutella filling: Measure out 12 tablespoons of Nutella onto a plate covered with a piece of baking paper and place in the freezer, until ready to use.
- Cookie dough: Using an electric hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream the softened butter and both sugars together on medium speed until light and fluffy, approx. 2 minutes.
- Add the egg and beat on medium speed until combined. Scrape down the sides as needed and then add the vanilla and beat again until completely incorporated.
- Add the flour, bicarbonate of soda, cream of tartare, cinnamon and salt to the bowl and beat together until well combined.
- The dough is quite sticky, but don't be tempted to add more flour. Prepare a plate or tray that will fit in your fridge, covered with a piece of baking/parchment paper. Using a 2tbsp ice cream scoop or a large spoon, scoop out 12 balls of cookie dough on to your prepared tray. Place the dough in the fridge for 20-30 minutes to firm up.
- Preheat your oven to 170°C fan / 375°F / Gas 5 and prepare 2 large baking trays, lined with baking/parchment paper.
- Take a ball of cookie dough and flatten the dough slightly into a disc shape. Add a frozen piece of Nutella to the centre and then wrap the cookie dough around the Nutella so its covered and becomes a ball again.
- Topping: To crush the nuts, place them in a plastic bag and bash them with a rolling pin. Then combine with the sugar and cinnamon in a large bowl.
- Roll the cookie dough balls in the topping, push the dough slightly into the mix to make sure you pick up lots of topping.
- Place 6 pieces onto each prepared baking tray, leaving space between to allow for spreading in the oven. I like to push down on the balls to flatten them just a little prior to baking.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes until just lightly golden on the edges.
- After 3 minutes, remove the cookies with a spatula and place them onto a wire rack to cool.
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