Kirbie's Cravings

Nutella lava cookies

I love lava cakes. For a while now I’ve had this idea playing in my mind to create lava cookies. I tried making nutella lava cookies before, but they didn’t come out exactly as I’d hoped, so I wanted to attempt it again.

I took a chocolate cookie recipe that I love, which is thick and sturdy and put some nutella in the middle of the cookie dough. These came out great. The cookies are very chocolatey and rich and the melted nutella oozing out makes them even more intense.

The fiancee really loved these cookies and couldn’t stop eating them.

Recipe for cookie base is slightly adapted from the one found on Annie’s Eats.

Nutella Lava Cookies

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
These cookies are very chocolatey and rich and the melted Nutella oozing out makes them even more intense.
4.91 from 21 votes

Ingredients

  • 1 cup unsalted butter
  • 1 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 1/2 cups large semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • nutella for filling

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 350°F.
  • Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Cream the butter and sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Blend in the eggs one at a time, scraping down the bowl as needed. Mix in the cocoa powder at low speed until well blended.
  • Add the flour, salt and baking powder to the bowl and mix on low speed just until incorporated. Stir in the chocolate chips.
  • Scoop up about 2 tablespoons of dough and roll into a ball. Flatten the ball in the palm of your hand and put in about 1/2 tbsp of nutella in the middle of the dough. Then wrap the edges around to form a ball and to cover the nutella completely. Place on the prepared baking sheets, and repeat process, placing balls about 2 inches apart. Bake about 13-16 minutes, until cookies are cooked and slide easily off of parchment paper. Serve while warm.

Notes

Recipe for cookie base is slightly adapted from the one found on Annie’s Eats.

The nutrition information provided are only estimates based on an online nutritional calculator. I am not a certified nutritionist. Please consult a professional nutritionist or doctor for accurate information and any dietary restrictions and concerns you may have.

Did you make this recipe?I'd love to see it! Mention @KirbieCravings and tag #kirbiecravings!

 

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Recipe Rating




88 comments on “Nutella lava cookies”

  1. Hello, all your Nutella recipes are amazing ! I tried them all so far and all of them came out just like in your pictures!

    I have one question though. I have leftovers of Nutella Chunks (Nutella & unsalted butter frozen) from another recipe. Now, if i use chunks of Nutella  instead of the regular Nutella for stuffing, will they melt? 

    Thank you for all the amazing recipes!

    • I’m not sure…I don’t think they will melt as well. You could use the nutella chunks as chips for the outside of your cookie though

  2. What type of sugar is it ? X

  3. These look great I’m about to make them, thanks for the recipe!

  4. how may does this cookie yields?

  5. This is the first recipe of yours I’ve come across and I LOVED it. It DID end up being quite a sticky mess of a dough, but managed that with an extra dash of flour. But all my Nutella center dried up!

    The cookies were soft and yumm, even had some nutella flavoring, but there was no filling. What did I do wrong? Any ideas? (And yeah, it didn’t leak out for sure)

    • Hmm, it sounds like maybe not enough Nutella in the center. I recommend making the cookies smaller (so less bake time) and heaping as much Nutella as you can in the middle while still being able to seal it.

  6. These are awesome. I’ve been making them for the past three years and they’re always a hit! Thank you for the recipe!

  7. This might be a silly question, but can these Nutella recipes be done with a different chocolate hazelnut spread? (I have a Belgian spread that is also a chocolate hazelnut spread and I’d love to try these with it)

  8. Unfortunately, my batter was sticky. Nonetheless, it was a hit with my family! Most of them were gone just as they were cooling off on the rack. And surprisingly, I got more than 24 cookies – as I made them bite-size – which is even better. This recipe is definitely for those with a sweet tooth! Like me! Looove your nutella recipes.

    Fyi, you’re my go-to blogger whenever I feel like making something with nutella 😉

  9. OMG- im such a fail in the kitchen… But THESE!!!, these tured out amazing!! Just like the picture, to make it easier i froze little blobs of nutella so it wasnt as hard to put in the cookie dough- when they came out of the oven i put them in a bowl and sevred with caramel icecream- delicioussssss!!! Almost like a brownie biscuit inside. The rest my partner took to work for his nutella crazed workmates- thanks for this one!!!

    • I’m happy you were successful! Some people actually had problems with this (I think climate, altitude was a factor), so you should be really happy that yours came out right. Sounds like your kitchen skills aren’t so bad!

  10. Aargh this is torture! I’ve given up chocolate for lent(yes! I know!! Why would someone do that??) A few days ago, suffering from acute withdrawal symptoms, I stumbled upon your blog. I’ve been feasting my eyes on those awesome pictures since, fantasizing about the end of the month when I’ll finally be able to bake a gazillion of your cookies! Love your dedication to putting nutella anywhere and everywhere, you’re my hero! 🙂

  11. Wow, gonna get a job just so i can afford to buy nutella to make a few hundred batches to feed my flatmates. You may call it going overboard, i call it simply going over and above the call of duty to my favorite people

  12. Great! My dough was not sticky at all. The cookies came out looking great–and tasted even better. I got exactly 24 cookies. They were about 2 inches across (baked).

    Thanks for posting Kirbie!

    • So great you like the recipe! yeah my dough isn’t sticky when I do it, but then I think there are a lot of variables, climate, etc, which can lead some people to have slightly different consistency of dough. Glad you like it though.

  13. I love this recipe!! Everyone loves it everytime i make it! But my nutella filling doesn’t stand out like yours like a lava cookie should. Instead when i cut it in half after baking them it just blends into the cookie. What can i do to fix this problem?

    • The cookies look best when they are warm. So if you cut into them after they have cooled down, it won’t look as lava-like. Also the other key is to simply add more Nutella into the cookies. I’ve baked them quite often and I’ve gotten better at stuffing more Nutella in them each time without it popping out of the dough, but I was more conservative in my measurements because it can be tricky stuffing Nutella inside and still sealing the cookie dough. I try to spread out my dough as much as possible. Then I put the Nutella directly in the center. When you seal it up, the dough on both sides needs to be long enough to reach the top of the nutella ball, otherwise it’s really hard for it to seal property. Hope this helps.

  14. i absolutely love this recipe! it became a fast favorite in my family from the moment they tried them. the cookies are so dense and full of chocolate flavor. i make them rather large and let me tell you..they weigh a TON haha. i will be baking them again soon for christmas. thanks for the great recipe!

  15. This recipe is PERFECT. I’ve used this many times exactly as written and the cookies always come out great. They’re a soft brownie-type cookie and they’re just delicious. I always get a ton of compliments and people begging for the recipe. For this reason I usually make the cookies a little smaller (approx 1tbsp batter and 1tsp nutella); I usually get about 40 cookies that way. And like other comments I totally agree that these make perfectly good chocolate chocolate chip cookies if you don’t use nutella in the middle!

    I really just wanted to write this review to thank you so much for this recipe. It’s my go-to when I want to impress people and it never fails. Can’t express enough how glad I am that I found it!! Thank you!!

    • Aw, thanks for taking the time to let me know. These type of comments really mean a lot. I love blogging, but sometimes people like to blame or say things that aren’t quite so nice, so it is nice comments like this that make it all worth it and put a smile on my face. Thank you!!

  16. I made these and they turned out really well, except the fact that I didn’t know the butter had to be a bit warmed up. The nutella wasn’t as creamy inside after it was baked, but it was still really good!

    • Actually i didn’t warm my butter up. I think when you do, the dough is harder to work with. If you add more Nutella, it should be creamier inside. If you have too little, it will dry a little during baking.

  17. I made these the other day with a friend – we ran out of Nutella so the last of the dough I just made some chocolate cookies sans Nutella. Omg, these cookies were so easy to make, and they came out fabulously. I have never been so successful making cookies before! Crispy on the outside, but the perfect texture on the inside. I love these cookies! I’m so glad I found this recipe and made them!
    I used salted butter and just reduced the extra salt I put in, and it was fine. I prefer salted butter, so it’s all I have on hand.

  18. Just a clarification – Is it salted or unsalted butter?

  19. Looks delicious! Can I make the cookie dough in advance?

  20. very good cookie, but be aware that the dough is extremely soft and sticky (aka don’t stick your hands in to mix or else washing the dough off will be a nightmare!). I had to add an addition 1/4 cup of flour to get a thicker consistency. without the nutella, dough is not extremely chocolate-ly so be generous with the nutella!

  21. Someone recommended this recipe to me but I’m not from the U.S. I couldn’t get chocolate chips so I used chopped dark chocolate instead. Wasn’t a good idea. They came out flat and boring-looking, the chocolate melted and blended with nutella and the dough 😐 Need to try once again 🙂

    • Oh yeah, definitely try to get your hand on some chocolate chips for baking because they don’t melt as easily.

  22. Just made these cookies for my grandson who would eat Nutella on stringbeans if he could. They are delicious. Had no trouble with the dough being sticky. Now I need to go deliver them before I eat them all. Good Job!!!

    • I’m so glad to hear that! I don’t have problems with the dough being sticky either. I’m not quite sure what is going wrong for people with that issue. These are one of my go-to cookie recipes when I bake for others.

  23. I’ve made these a couple times – wowza! The first time I made these I ate waaaay too many and got a massive sugar rush – beware! These make a ton of cookies, so be ready to give a bunch away. I also made these for a dinner party and people were raving as they ate them fresh from the oven. Thanks for the Nutella love!

  24. Sorry new to baking cookies. Want to try it out.
    But One cup is equal to how many gram ?

    Thank u.. (:

  25. Oh wow! Amazing, i haven’t had Nutella in so long! They were great soft the way I like them.

  26. I just made these cookies gluten free they are delicious. I used gluten free all purpose flour and a teaspoon and a bit of xanthan gum and they turned out awesome.

  27. I just made these cookies. Talk about delicious! I did add about 1/4 cup of Nutella in the batter as well as 1/2 tsp. of vanilla (I didn’t exactly measure the vanilla, just added a splash). I also refrigerated the dough until it was slightly easier to handle and not as sticky.

  28. Thanks for this recipe! My family gave it an A++ and made my coming home from university a much better reunion 🙂 I added some Christmas sprinkles… Do you think they will ship well?

    • I think they should ship well. I haven’t actually tried it but they stay fresh a few days so it should be fine to ship. Glad your family enjoyed them!

  29. Just finishing up a batch to take into my college algebra class tomorrow for a mini-Thanksgiving celebration, and I had to sneak a taste of one of them. So good! I had to make them smaller so I would have enough for my entire class, and I managed to get 31 out of the dough. I will definitely be making these in the future, maybe even again this week (after all, Thanksgiving is just a few short days away).

  30. These look so yummy! I saw these and I wanted to make some, but sadly my mom is allergic to nuts so no Nutella. I substituted the Nutella for caramel, and the cookies turned out scrumptious! I highly recommend trying the caramel version!! I can’t wait to try them with Nutella with friends!

  31. I love this recipe so much… Everyone I’ve made it for has fallen in love with it………and me. Hehehehe 🙂

    Though I did have the same sticky dough problem, I realized the reason was because my flour is “White Lily” which is a lot lighter than others. So I ended using more this time to get it to work. Hopefully it helps out some people if they were using White Lily as well. 🙂

  32. I had a problem with the mix being super sticky too – I should have thought to refrigerate them, but what I did was put a tablespoon of the mix down, then the nutella, pulled the corners up and then added the second tablespoon on top and kindof molded it together to hold the nutella in. They’re baking right now, and I am crazy excited to eat them – thanks for the recipe! Oh, and my dough made about 22 cookies.

    • Thanks for sharing how you did it. And for the amount of cookies you got! I think I made mine bigger because I never got that many. I hope you like yours!

  33. anyone know about how many cookies the recipe makes? thanks!

  34. I just made these tonight…AMAZING! Pretty messy and my cookie dough came out a little…a lot….sticky (added a little extra flour) and I definitely wasn’t a pro at molding them but they came out amazing regardless..I’ll pass it on to my friends! Thanks for sharing 😀

    • Glad it worked for you. I’ve heard of a few people who had problems with the dough being too sticky but I haven’t had any issues. I’m not sure what is causing some people to have a more sticky dough.

  35. Dude, these are just EPICALSAUCE ON A SPOON WITH WIN SPRINKLES. OMG.

    …Basically they’re awesome. :3
    Thankies so much for sharing the recipe~. >w<

    -Lucy, England.

  36. I found it very difficult to form the balls. 🙁 they were very very sticky and gooey.. and just as difficult to put the nutella in the middle. My cookies are still in the oven, will let you know if they turned out OK..

    • I’ve never had difficulty with the dough. You might want to try adding a little more flour or stick the dough in the fridge to firm it up before making them.

  37. This just in: the cookie dough may need to be refrigerated before forming into balls. Evidently it’s too hot in my kitchen – the dough straight out of the mixer is sticky and gooey.

    • Hmm, I haven’t had any problems working with the dough without refrigeration. Perhaps it is because of the warm weather.

      • It’s about 82 degrees in my house right now, so I’m pretty positive that was the issue. I’ll update again when I actually get them made 😉

  38. I’m planing on making these cookies for a party. Roughly how many cookies does this recipe make?

    • You know it’s been a little while so I don’t remember exactly how many, but it was about a dozen cookies I think.

  39. I made one awhile ago but I couldnt get it to look as nice as yours and the nutella keeps on leaking while baking, nontheless, my kids went crazy over them, thank you for this recipe.

    • I would recommend that you make sure you put the nutella in the center of the cookie and make sure all the sides of the cookie are sealed before baking, so no nutella leaks out. You may have too much nutella or not enough dough. Glad you kids like them though!

  40. made these yesterday afternoon and got raving reviews from not only my fiance, but co workers at work Monday morning! Thank you for sharing this delicious recipe!

  41. Mmm these are good! I used peanut butter chips instead of chocolate chips and they worked perfectly! I would say not to skimp on the nutella, it’s ok to make the cookies very flat in your hand!!

  42. Are the cookies soft or crunchy? I prefer soft and chewy cookies, amd a Nutella filling sounds yummy. I tried your Nutella chocolate chip cookies recently, and they were delicious. I overlooked the melted butter part, but I had taken it out of the fridge very early to soften.

  43. Nutella is my weakness! I’ll have to make these soon.

  44. OH! My boyfriend and I bought our first Nutella jar the other day and hmm…it flipped our world upside down! So now all I think about is what baked goodies I can make with Nutella. These are definitely on the list!