Malted Nutella Chocolate Chip Cookies

Hi hi! Just popping in to share the recipe for these Small Batch Malted Nutella Chocolate Chip Cookies. I worked on a whole bunch of small batch chocolate chip cookies before we left NYC, and I'm slowly drip feeding them onto the site!

These Nutella Chocolate Chip Cookies are a mixture of these Malted Milk Chocolate Chip Cookies and these Nutella Chocolate Chip Cookies. They are super simple and don't need a mixer.

How to make Small Batch Chocolate Chip Cookies

These are super easy to make. It does take a teeny bit more time to wait for the Nutella chips to freeze and then chill down the cookie dough, but I promise you that it is worth the wait!

Make the nutella chips. These are just nutella piped out onto some parchment and frozen.
Mix together the cookie batter. This is a no mixer chocolate chip cookie recipe - I just use a whisk, bowl, and a spatula for folding in the chocolate and nutella. It's super simple - melted butter, sugar and egg get whipped together, then dry goes in.
Add the chopped chocolate and nutella chips and mix to combine.
Scoop out your dough and give it a chill for at least 30 minutes. You can take this up to a day if you want, or just freeze any excess dough if you aren't baking them all at once.
Bake off your cookies! That's it! Super, super simple.

Nutella Chunks for Cookies

For this Nutella Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe, I found that the best way to get nutella into the cookie dough was to make nutella chips. By freezing the nutella first, you are able to delay the melting of the nutella, which keeps it slightly separate from the rest of the cookie. I also held a few back to add on the tops of the cookies, which got pretty melty but was very delicious.

The nutella pairs perfectly with the malted milk chocolate chip cookie - these are a jacked up version of regular cookies and I am very here for it. To make the nutella chunks all you do is pop it into a piping bag and pipe blobs onto a parchment lined baking sheet. You then freeze the sheet so the nutella freezes and you get perfect chunks of nutella for your cookies.

If you don't have a piping bag you can use a ziploc bag or you can also just spoon chunks of Nutella onto the pan. I like to loosen the chunks from the paper and then pop it back into the oven to reduce time out of the freezer and to help keep them intact when you add them into the cookies.

The nutella might melt slightly when you are scooping out the dough etc - this is totally fine!

corner close up shot chocolate chip cookies

Baking with Malted Milk Powder

This recipe uses Malted Milk Powder. This article recently came out on food52 about it which is a great read on the history etc! I love malted milk powder for the complexity that it brings to baking. It adds an almost savoury taste to things, and is particularly good paired with chocolate. I have also been recently adding it to streusel (like in this pie), and it's just amazing.

The great thing about malted milk powder is that it is a flavour enhancer but doesn't affect the texture of the cookie. So if you don't have any on hand - just leave it out!

Tips for Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies

There are a few tips that I use every time for perfect chocolate chip cookies. These tips can be applied to every cookie recipe. They are completely optional (aside from using a scale of course!) but make a big difference if you're looking for perfect chocolate chip cookies!

Chop your chocolate. Chopped chocolate gives you pockets of chocolate and perfect chocolate shards distributed throughout the cookie. I prefer chopped chocolate over chocolate chips in cookies forever. Chocolate also melts much better than chips. It's the best ever.
Use a cookie scoop. You can weigh out your cookie dough balls if you don't have a cookie scoop, but they are a great investment. They help to get the dough all relatively the same size and make things super quick and easy. I use this one.
Add chocolate puddles. To get puddles on the top of cookies, press the dough into a disc and press additional chocolate on the top, then squish it back up into a ball of dough. This encases all the chocolate inside and as it bakes you get perfect puddles.
Scoot your cookies. We all know this one - to scoot your cookies, take a cookie cutter slightly larger than the cookie, and when the cookies are hot out of the oven, scoot them into shape. This rounds them off super nicely. Optional but so good!

Why Preheat your oven for so long?

You will notice in the recipe I get you to preheat your oven 10 minutes into the dough chilling process. I always give my oven at least 20 minutes to preheat. Often the oven thermostat will let you know it is at temperature, but the whole oven won't be that hot. Using an oven thermometer really helps here, along with giving the oven sufficient time to preheat.

This is particularly important for things like cookies which have a relatively short bake time. If the oven isn't the right temperature this can affect the outcome of the cookies. Same with how it is important to check if a recipe specifies convection bake or regular bake. Convection is typically hotter, which will cause cookies to spread a lot more. If you are finding you are having cookie spreading issues - check your oven temperature.

FAQ for Nutella Chocolate Chip Cookies

What tools and equipment do you use?

You can see a full list of all the tools I use here

What can I use if I don't have malted milk?

You can just leave it out!

Can you get Malted Milk Powder in Australia / New Zealand?

I haven't tried to source it in NZ yet so I'm not 100% sure on this. I know you can use Horlick's, but also know that Horlick's has added sugar, so just keep that in mind.

Do I have to use Nutella?

If you want to use another hazelnut spread, then go ahead! Just use it as you would the Nutella. If you don't want to use the Nutella and just have regular malted milk chocolate chip cookies, just replace it with 120g chopped chocolate.

Can I freeze the cookie dough?

Yes! Just pop it into the freezer on the pan once you have scooped it, then freeze until solid. Then transfer to an airtight container or bag and store in the freezer. You can bake straight from frozen.

What can I use instead of espresso powder?

Fine instant coffee works or you can just leave it out!

corner close up image nutella chocolate chip cookies

For more recipes using Malted Milk, check out:

Made this recipe and love it?

If you made this recipe then I would LOVE for you to leave me a review below to let me know how you liked it! Also, please make sure to tag me on Instagram if you make it!

A note on salt and oven temperature

It is important to note the type of salt that is called for in a recipe. I use Diamond Crystal salt throughout my recipes - if you use a different sort of kosher salt or regular table salt you will need to adjust accordingly as some salt is 'saltier' than others. Morton's salt is twice as salty, so you will need half the quantity. Same goes for a regular table salt. I am working to get gram measurements throughout my recipes for salt but still getting there.

All oven temperatures are conventional unless otherwise stated. If you are baking on fan / convection, you will need to adjust the temperature. An oven thermometer is a great investment to ensure that your oven is the correct temperature.

Using the double / triple function in the recipe card

You will notice that there is a '1X' '2X' '3X' button in my recipe card. This can be used for doubling or tripling a recipe. However, please note that this only doubles the ingredient quantities in the ingredients list and NOT in the method. If there are quantities or pan sizes in the method of the recipe (for example weigh out 150g brown butter), you will need to scale this number manually. It will also not change the baking time in the recipe so you will need to adjust this yourself too. It is always a good idea to read through a recipe fully before doubling it just to check this. If you would like to scale this recipe or convert for another pan size, use my calculator!

Tools and equipment

For a list of my go-to tools and equipment, I have a post you can refer to here.

Why is this recipe in grams?

I post my recipes in grams as it is the most accurate way to bake. Cups are not only inaccurate but they vary in volume worldwide. There is no way for me to provide one cup measure that works for everyone. However, posting in weight fixes this issue. If you would like the recipe in cups you are welcome to convert it yourself via google, but please do not ask me to do it for you as I am not comfortable providing a recipe using a method that I have not tested. Baking with a scale is easy, accurate, and also makes cleanup super simple. Here is the scale that I use if you would like a recommendation! Here's to accurate baking!

Recipe For Malted Nutella Chocolate Chip Cookies