Hazelnut Chocolate Lava Cookies

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Author: Delphine Fortin
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!

Ingredients

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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

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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.