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Chocolate Nutella Thumbprint Cookies make a delicious twist on the classic thumbprint cookie! Rich chocolate thumbprint cookies are filled with Nutella spread and topped with chopped almonds are a must-bake for chocolate and Nutella lovers.

These homemade Chocolate Nutella Thumbprint Cookies are an elevated twist on the classic thumbprint cookies. They are super chocolatey with a fudgy hazelnut spread center and chopped almonds topping. These Chocolate Nutella Thumbprint Cookies will be a perfect homemade gift for your loved ones or just an ideal indulgent snack with a glass of milk.

I absolutely love how they came out. They are easy to make, easy to eat, and filled with Nutella to give them an extra pop! Plus, everyone loves chocolate cookies and Nutella, no doubt about it. Therefore, these cookies are suitable for any time of the year.

Crisp vs Soft Cookies

There are actually two versions of the Chocolate Nutella Thumbprint Cookies recipe in my recipe. Depending on your preference, you can easily switch the texture of these cookies.

How to make crisp thumbprint cookies:

Use cake flour. Cake flour has less protein than all-purpose flour, so it does create more delicate textures. It also makes the cookies a little crumbly since it does not give as much structure as the all-purpose flour.
Use cornstarch. When added to cake and cookie recipes, cornstarch helps create a crumbly and tender dessert-like texture.
Bake for a longer time. Baking a cookie for longer will result in a crispier cookie. You will need to lower the oven temperature so that you can bake these cookies for a longer time without burning them.

How to make soft thumbprint cookies:

Use all-purpose flour. All-purpose flour is high in protein and enables more gluten formation in the dough to make the cookies soft and chewy.
Bake for a shorter time. Shorter baking time and a higher temperature make softer, thicker cookies.

Best Thumbprint Cookies Tips

Measure the flour correctly. It is so easy to over-measure flour when using cups, causing the cookies to be too hard and cracking when shaped. When measuring the flour for these cookies, make sure to spoon it into the measuring cup and level it off with the back of a knife.
The dough is too crumbly. After you add the flour to the cookie dough, it will look a little crumbly at first. This is normal. The dough will eventually come together as you continue mixing.
Don’t use your thumb. I know that these cookies are called thumbprint cookies for a reason. However, I don’t really recommend pressing the cookies down with your thumb. Whenever I press these cookies down with my thumb, the indents usually end up uneven or too big to my liking. Use a tool with a small cylindrical shape instead.

More Cookies Recipes

5 from 2 votes

Chocolate Nutella Thumbprint Cookies

Print Pin Rate

Author: Jaja Bakes

Course: Dessert, Snack

Cuisine: American

Servings: cookies

Tap or hover to scale!

Prep Time30

Cook Time20

Total Time50

Ingredients

2/3 cup (150 gr) unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup (90 gr) confectioners’ sugar
1 egg yolk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/3 cup (160 gr) cake flour
6 tbsp (45 gr) cornstarch
1/4 cup (25 gr) cocoa powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup (150 gr) Nutella spread
Chopped toasted almonds, for topping

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 340F/170°C and line baking sheets with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, combine flour, cornstarch, cocoa powder, and salt until well combined.
In a large bowl, cream together butter and confectioners sugar. Whisk in egg yolk and vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture and stir with a spatula until well incorporated.
Scoop a tablespoon of dough and roll them into balls.
Arrange the balls on the baking sheets. Then, make an indentation on the middle of each ball with a small cylindrical tool with the size of your thumbprint instead.
Bake for 15-18 minutes or until the cookies are set.
Remove from the oven and immediately use the cylindrical tool to re-indent the thumbprints, if needed. Then, carefully transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool.
Pipe or spoon each cookie with 1/2 tsp of Nutella and sprinkle chopped toasted almonds on top.

Notes

This recipe will make crisp and tender cookies with a snap. If you prefer soft cookies, substitute cake flour and cornstarch with the same amount of all-purpose flour. Then, bake the cookies at 350F/180°C for 12-15 minutes.

Make sure to measure the flour and sugar correctly if using volume measurement. The cookies will end up too crumbly or hard if you add too much flour. Use a spoon to scoop the flour into the measuring cup. Then, level the top with a knife or other straight-edged utensil.

Scoop the dough with a measuring spoon instead of a dinner spoon. Make sure to level the top of the spoon so that each ball comes out in the same-sized balls.

Although the cookies are called thumbprint cookies, I don’t recommend indenting the cookies with a thumbprint. Whenever I press the cookies with a thumbprint, they tend to be uneven or the indents are too big for my liking.