salted nutella cookie bars

A lot of my friends on Facebook will post food pics on my wall asking:

 "can you make me these?", 

"you HAVE to make me these",

and even, "PLEASE show me how to make these?"

The latter is usually when they are desperate.

Such 'case-in-point' recently was a photo of chocolate chip cookies stuffed with Nutella then sea salted crystals on the top.

Nutella with sea salt?  Seriously indulgence.

How could I even say no to that?

I was going to make the cookies, but I wanted to find an easier way to stuff the cookies since I know the Nutella, when hot, will ooze out--we can't leave that to chance.

So why not make them into bars and the Nutella is nice and sealed inside with no chance of escaping.

Plus bars were a HUGE time saver, instead of filling each cookie.

Of course if you want to make these into cookies feel free.

But the bars were a nice change, time saver, and perfect for a last minute holiday party.

I love that the clumps on top get crunchy, kind of like crumb cake!

Make sure to read my cook notes, for the changes I did.

salted chocolate chip bars with nutella

cookie base recipe from Jacques Torres

print recipe

2 cups minus 2 TB (8 1/2 ounces) cake flour

1 2/3 cups (8 1/2 ounces) bread flour

1 1/4 ts baking soda

1 1/2 ts baking powder

1 1/2 ts coarse salt

2 1/2 sticks (1 1/4 cups) unsalted butter

1 1/4 cups (10 ounces) light brown sugar

1 cup plus 2 TB (8 ounces) granulated sugar

2 large eggs

2 ts natural vanilla extract

4 ounces of bittersweet chocolate chips

4 ounces of semi-sweet chocolate chips

¾ cup Nutella

Sea salt for sprinkling top of dough

Cook Notes:  

The chocolate chip cookie recipe is from Jacques Torres; I use this repeatedly because it truly is the very best chocolate chip cookie I’ve ever had.

In Jacques recipe he does cookies, you can do cookies if you want, I just was short on time and wanted to do bars as they would hold the Nutella much better.

Also, in Jacques original recipe, he uses 1 ¼ pounds of high quality bittersweet chocolate. I did not in this recipe, as I wanted the Nutella flavor to shine through.  I just used a small amount of chocolate chips, using a blend of bittersweet and semi sweet.  I do not recommend using milk chocolate chips in this recipe—it would be overkill sweetness. 

The whole ‘most important step’ of Jacques Torres famous cc cookie recipe is to let the cookie dough sit and marinate for at least a day or more (48 hours).  Please don’t skip this step.  I have gone as far as 96 hours and the dough was perfect.

Lastly, you all know by now I don't have a mixer so I did this recipe by hand. The dough is very tough and hard to mix, so I used my hands--great workout! But if you have a mixer, please go ahead and use it. 

Sift flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Set aside.

Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars together until very light, about 5 minutes. 

Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla. 

Reduce speed to low, add dry ingredients and mix until just combined, 5 to 10 seconds. 

Drop chocolate pieces in and incorporate them without breaking them. 

Press plastic wrap against dough and refrigerate for 24 to 36 hours. 

When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

Spray a 9 x 13 pan with non-stick spray.

Divide dough into 2 piles: 2/3 and 1/3.

Take the 2/3 dough and line the bottom of the baking pan with it, making sure to get all the corners, making sure there aren’t any holes or gaps in the dough.

Spread a layer of nutella; do not spread it to the edges!

Take the 1/3 remaining dough and in clumps, place on the top. Also make sure to take any dough and close up any gaps you see in the corners.

Don’t push the crumble down into the dough, just leave it on the top—it’s ok to have spaces in the crumble—gaps are good on the top, it will let the nutella show through and the crumbles will bake up nice & crisp.

Sprinkle the top with sea salt.

Bake until golden brown but still soft, roughly 25 – 31 minutes. 

Look for golden brown edges, non-jiggly middle.

The middle will be a bit soft, but once it completely cools it won’t be as gooey; it sets up really nice.

You really have to let this cool at least an hour before slicing.

Slice with a sharp knife.

Makes about 20-24 bars depending on how you cut them.

Congrats to the winners of the Savory Cocktails Cookbook Giveaway.

#5 Cook In/Dine Out, #12 Averie, and #24 Katherine-Ivan.

I'll be emailing you wednesday!