Nutella Hazelnut Cookie Bars

We are huge fans of  Nutella here, as you can see from these trifles, but for whatever reason we consume it mostly on toast. I am on a journey to change this because nutella makes for an amazing addition to desserts!

These cookie bars are an immediate result of this sudden desire to incorporate more hazelnut and chocolatey goodness into our lives. The base of the cookie bars is a delicious brown-sugar based cookie, studded with finely chopped hazelnuts. Once the base is baked and cooled, it’s frosted with copious amounts of nutella, and garnished with toasted hazelnuts. All that’s left to do after that is allow the nutella to harden a bit in the refrigerator, and then you’re on your way to chocolate and hazelnut paradise 😇

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Nutella Hazelnut Cookie Bars

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword Baking, Bars, Cookies, Hazelnuts, Nutella, Nuts

Servings 24 Bars

Ingredients

Cookie Bar Base

• 1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 large egg
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• ¼ cup hazelnuts, toasted, peeled, and finely chopped
• ½ teaspoon salt

Frosting

• 1 cup Nutella (chocolate hazelnut spread)
• ¼ cup hazelnuts, toasted, peeled, and roughly chopped

Instructions

Prepare Cookie Bar Base

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF and set aside a greased 9x13-inch baking pan.
2. In a large bowl, combine butter, brown sugar, vanilla, and egg. Whip on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add all-purpose flour, hazelnuts, and salt and mix on low speed until thoroughly combined.
3. Transfer dough to prepared pan, and press it evenly along the bottom. Bake until the top is golden brown, about 18 to 20 minutes. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack and cool for 15 minutes.

Frosting/Garnish

1. Spread Nutella evenly over the top of the cookie bars and sprinkle with chopped hazelnuts. Refrigerate the bars until the Nutella has set, about an hour, then slice into bars.

Recipe adapted from Food.com.