3-ingredient Nutella cookies
Easy Nutella cookies made with just 3 ingredients, quick to bake and perfect for a fast homemade treat.
Looking for a quick bake you can pull together with pantry staples? These 3-ingredient Nutella cookies — known in Italy as nutellotti — are exactly that: hazelnut spread, one egg and flour are all it takes to get a tray of soft, indulgent cookies ready in under 30 minutes.
The recipe works because it is genuinely simple. No stand mixer, no special equipment — just a bowl, a spoon and a baking tray. The result is a cookie that tastes properly homemade, with a soft centre that sets it apart from anything you would buy at a shop.
The most important thing to get right is the baking time. Pull them out while the edges are just set and the centre still looks a little underdone; they will firm up as they cool and land at exactly the right texture — soft inside, slightly firmer at the edge.
They tick three practical boxes: they are inexpensive, easy to make ahead, and they freeze well once baked, so you can double the batch and keep half in the freezer for whenever a craving hits. A spoonful of spread dropped into the indent or a dusting of icing sugar can dress them up, but they hold their own in their simplest form too.
Ready to get started? Here is the full nutellotti recipe.
Steps
- Preheat the oven to 175°C (350°F) in conventional mode and line a baking tray with parchment paper.
- Place the hazelnut spread in a large bowl, add the egg and mix with a fork or spatula until you get a smooth, uniform mixture.
- Add the flour a little at a time, stirring between each addition, until the dough is soft but firm enough to be shaped by hand without sticking.
- Scoop portions of about 15 g each and roll them between your palms into even-sized balls — this ensures they all bake at the same rate.
- Arrange the balls on the tray leaving at least 3 cm between them, then gently press the centre of each one with your thumb or the handle of a spoon, without flattening them completely.
- Bake on the middle rack for 12 minutes: the edges should be just set, but the centre should still look slightly soft — that is perfectly fine, as it will firm up while cooling.
- Remove from the oven and let the cookies cool directly on the tray for at least 10 minutes; they are very delicate when hot and will crumble if moved too soon.
- Transfer to a wire rack only once they are stable, then store in an airtight tin to keep them soft.
Helpful tips
For an extra touch, add half a teaspoon of hazelnut spread into the indent right after baking — the residual heat will warm it gently.
If the dough feels too sticky, refrigerate it for 15 minutes before shaping: it will be much easier to handle.
The cookies stay soft for 3–4 days in a closed tin. You can also freeze them once baked: just leave them at room temperature for 20 minutes to thaw.
A light dusting of icing sugar just before serving is a nice finish, but they are equally good as they are.
Average nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 124 kcal
- Carbohydrates
- 13.0 g
- Sugars
- 9.0 g
- Protein
- 2.0 g
- Fat
- 7.0 g
- Saturated fat
- 2.0 g
- Fiber
- 0.8 g
- Sodium
- 40 mg
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