Nutella Stuffed Sea Salt Chocolate Chip Cookies

When SK showed me this very obscene photo I got so excited I wanted to bake what I saw immediately. Yeah, immediately as in NOW, SEKARANG, TONG KIM! If I knew the Tamil word for "now", I would say it out loud too.

But of course I had to wait. I can only bake on weekends. I know some people who can cook or bake after they get home from work. Not me. I don't have the will nor the strength to do that. I suppose I am cacat in that respect.

So there I was in my kitchen last weekend, recipe in hand peering closely at the list of ingredients. I had to convert the cup measurements into grams because I don't know how to measure flour accurately using cups. But sugar and chocolate chips is fine because they are solid.

Getting into the nitty gritty, there were two things that I had to do :

• The recipe calls for 275g of brown sugar and 50g of granulated sugar. This totals 325g sugar. That is a lot of sugar because the amount of flour used is 343.75g. Factor in the sweetness that would come from 305g of chocolate chips, there you have it, a disaster of diabetic proportions. And don't forget, Nutella is sweet too. I was debating in my head whether to reduce or totally omit sugar.

• Nutella is soft and gooey, especially so in our tropical heat. I read that the trick is to either chill the Nutella in the fridge or freeze teaspoonfuls for easier handling. Aiyo, so leceh! But what needs to be done has to be done.

I decided to bake only half recipe and I had no idea how many cookies I would get. Before I started, I froze 25 teaspoons of Nutella for easier handling. My Nutella was kind of dryish because it was leftovers with about 1/4 bottle left.

After that, I browned the butter, something that I have never done before. Quite honestly, I did not like the smell at all. After preparing the batter, I chilled it for a few hours because I had to run out with my partner for our grocery shopping. 

It was a good thing that I froze the Nutella because it would have been very stressful trying to encase the soft gooey Nutella into the cookie batter. After I was done with the first batch, I returned the balance of the Nutella into the freezer. My cookies did not spread flat like the one in Ambitious Kitchen. Instead they were fat and chunky. 

I baked the cookies for 18 minutes, turning the pan at half time for even baking. Once the cookies were out of the oven, I sprinkled them with sea salt and couldn't wait for the cookies to cool down. The smell was fantastic, and I am convinced that the browned butter had something to do with that, though I did not like the smell at the beginning.

When the cookies were almost cooled, I took a bite. H**y c**p!!! I say, these cookies I tell you are the best d**n cookies I have ever tasted. The sweet salty dynamics from the combination of sea salt and chocolates/Nutella made these so b*****y awesome. S**t!! I ate 8 cookies!! Please excuse the colourful language, these cookies bring out the worst in me. 

I sat on my dining table looking at the remaining cookies on the cooling rack. They were still warm. I wanted more because they were so freakin good. Should I? Should I? But no, I walked away and started washing all the mixing bowls and whatnots. Then I stored the cookies in a small canister and saved them for my partner. Caring is sharing, so we must share the fats too hee..hee..hee..

I ate all these. And wanted more.

I highly recommend these cookies because they are truly awesome with a capital A. And for heaven's sake, please bake the full recipe. Or double it. I got 16 cookies from half recipe and I ate half of that. Yikes! Make that a double yikes!!

Nutella Stuffed Brown Butter Sea Salt Chocolate Chip Cookies

Recipe source : Adapted from Ambitious Kitchen

Note : The adapted recipe below is for half recipe and I have drastically reduced the sugar content. Please go the recipe source for the original recipe.

Makes about 16 cookies

Ingredients :

- 170g self-raising flour

- 113g butter

- 50g granulated sugar

- 1 eggs

- 1 tsp vanilla extract

- 1/2 tablespoon Greek yogurt

- 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips

- 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

- 16 teaspoons Nutella, frozen or chilled

- coarse sea-salt for sprinkling

Method :

1. Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat.

2. The butter will begin to foam. Whisk consistently during this process.

3. After a couple of minutes, the butter will begin to brown on the bottom of the saucepan. 

4. Continue to whisk and and remove from heat as soon as the butter begins to brown and gives off a nutty aroma. Immediately transfer the butter to a bowl to prevent burning. Set aside to cool.

5. Using an electric mixer, mix the butter and sugar until thoroughly blended.

6. Beat in the egg, vanilla and yogurt until combined.

7. Fold in flour using a spatula and mix till just combined. Fold in chocolate chips.

8. Chill dough in the fridge for at least 2 hours.

9. Preheat oven to 160C.

10. Measure about 1.5 tablespoons of dough and roll into a ball. Flatten the dough ball very thinly into the palm of your hand. Place 1 teaspoon Nutella in the middle and fold dough around it. Gently roll into a ball. Make sure Nutella is not seeping out of the dough. Add more dough if necessary. 

11. Place dough balls on lined baking tray, 2 inches apart and flatten with your hand very gently.

12. Bake for 10-18 minutes, depending on how crispy you want the cookies to be. Turn the baking tray at half time for even baking. I baked mine for 18 minutes because I like my cookies crispy.

13. Remove from oven and immediately sprinkle with sea salt.

14. Transfer to cooling rack and once completely cooled, store in an airtight jar. No, I mean eat some right away and save some in the jar :)

I am submitting this post to Cook and Celebrate Christmas 2014 hosted by Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids, Yen from Eat Your Heart Out and Diana of The Domestic Goddess Wannabe.