These loaded gluten free cookies are AMAZING. They are filled with Nutella, mini chocolate chips, M&Ms, and of course, gluten free pretzel bites! Stuffed Nutella cookies seem complicated, however, they can be really simple to make! I LOVE these loaded chocolate cookies because they just have delicious treats inside of them and honestly, and they look so festive. These cookies are the perfect thing to whip up for a last minute Halloween party, a quarantine movie night, or even just when you’re craving something new.
Why This Recipe is SO Easy
You may be wondering how a recipe that is this loaded with deliciousness could be so simple and easy to make, however, it’s all in the cookie dough! This recipe is not a recipe for gluten free cookie dough. While I do enjoy baking, I am in no way good enough at it to try and develop a recipe from scratch. To make these cookies, I used Gluten Free on a Shoestring’s THE BEST Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe. It worked perfectly for stuffed nutella cookies because it doesn’t spread at all and the cookies stay nice and filled with the gooey center of Nutella we all love!
You can choose your own favorite gluten free cookie dough recipe, OR pick up a premade gluten free chocolate chip cookie dough from the store. If you do that, you’ll just omit the mini chocolate chips from my recipe.
What Makes These Cookies “Loaded?”
Other than everything you need to make the cookie dough, you’ll need mini M&Ms, mini chocolate chips (omit if you are using premade chocolate chip cookie dough), Nutella, and gluten free pretzels.
The Gluten Free Pretzels-
For the gluten free pretzels that go on top of the cookies, I recommend Snyder’s brand mini twists! If you can’t find them at your local grocery store, the link is below! They’re pretty easy to find, however. I found them at my local Stop and Shop, and they are usually carried at gluten free speciality stores as well.
If you can’t find Syder’s brand, or have a different favorite gluten free pretzel, go for it! Any kind of pretzel will work for these cookies, Snyder’s is just my personal favorite.
How to Make Gluten Free Nutella-Stuffed Loaded Cookies
Before doing anything else, the night before making the cookies (or even earlier in the week) , you should make the frozen Nutella rounds. On a piece of unbleached parchment on a baking sheet, spread out Nutella in 1/2 inch circles and place in the freezer. The great thing about making Nutella discs is that once they freeze, they can be transferred into a plastic bag and stored in the freezer for as long as you’d like! We use Nutella disks for SO many culinary experiments (like Nutella stuffed pancakes) so we usually have some on hand.
For this recipe, if you don’t already have frozen Nutella rounds, you can make frozen Nutella balls by using a teaspoon scoop and making little domes of Nutella on the sheet instead of making them flat. These will also stuff nicely in the cookies.
Making The Cookies:
The next step after making the Nutella rounds or Nutella balls is making the dough from your recipe of choice, then, adding in the M&Ms and mini chocolate chips. Break up the pretzel twists and leave them to the side. They don’t get mixed into the dough, they just get added onto the top.
After the dough is made, wrap it in plastic cling wrap and chill in the freezer for 15 minutes of in the fridge for 45 minutes. Remove from the fridge, and cut the dough into 26 even pieces.
Next comes actually forming the cookies which may sound complicated so I’ve included photos to help!
JUST A NOTE- the nutella disks I showed above actually were too big for the size cookie in this recipe, so I cut them into quarters. I recommend making your Nutella disks a bit smaller than I show above.
ONE- Flatten out a section of cookie dough into a thin disk.
TWO- add the frozen Nutella ball or disk on to the top of the flattened cookie dough.
THREE- fold your dough around the Nutella into a taco shape.
FOUR- pinch all the sides together, then fold in the opposite sides to create a rounder shape. Roll between floured hands into a sphere.
STEP FIVE- flatten out the sphere into a cookie shape. The cookie dough recipe I used does not spread, so I pre-shaped my cookies into the shape I wanted.
Decorating the Cookies
My biggest tip for this recipe is that adding extra M&Ms, chocolate chips, and pretzel pieces onto the top of the cookie. This will make them visually much more attractive than they would have been without it. Here’s how I like to decorate the tops of the cookies before they go into the oven:
I start by adding pretzel pieces in a random, attractive pattern. I follow that by pressing in the mini M&Ms into the top. After that, I fill in the gaps with some mini chocolate chips!
After baking, the chocolate will be melty, and the pretzels will add an interesting taste of salty flavor to the cookie.
This cookie recipe is one of my favorite dessert recipes that I have published because although it is delicious and sounds so impressive and fancy, the cookies are very simple to make! In October 2020 I made these cookies in a huge batch for a bake sale I was running as a benefit for the Celiac Disease Foundation, and they ended up being a huge hit and sold out first!
Finally, here are my biggest tips for success with this recipe:
#1 – Keep the Nutella in the freezer when you aren’t using it. Nutella obviously isn’t the same texture and consistency as normal chocolate, so it melts VERY quickly. I recommend only taking a few discs or balls out of the freezer at a time so they don’t turn into a melted mess.
#2 – Have fun decorating! These cookies are loaded cookies, so you can add many more ingredients than just Nutella, M&Ms, and pretzels! Try playing around with adding Rolos instead of the nutella, maybe some sea salt, Heath bar pieces, etc!
#3 – Keep the cookies small. If you use too much dough, the cookies will take upwards of 30 minutes to make! At the size I made them, they baked for about 20 minutes.
Gluten Free Nutella-Stuffed Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 batch your favorite gluten free cookie dough recipe
- 10 oz mini M&Ms
- 10 oz mini chocolate chips
- 5 oz gluten free pretzels, broken up into smaller pieces
- 1/4 cup Nutella
Instructions
- Before doing anything else, make the Nutella balls. Spray a teaspoon scoop with nonstick spray and plop balls of Nutella onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Freeze overnight, then transfer into a plastic bag and store in the freezer until time to form the cookies.
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Make your cookie dough from the recipe of your choice. Once the dough is done, add the M&Ms and mini chocolate chips. Transfer the dough into cling wrap and chill in the freezer for 15 minutes or in the fridge for 45 minutes to one hour.
- After the dough has chilled, remove it from the cling wrap and cut into 24-26 equal sections. Remove a few Nutella balls from the freezer and begin to form your cookies.
- Flatten out a piece of your cookie dough into a disk and add the Nutella ball into the center. Wrap the rest of the dough around the ball and roll between floured hands into a sphere. Gently press the cookie sphere into the shape you want your cookie to be and arrange on the cookie sheet. You can set them pretty close together because they do not spread.
- Press pretzel pieces into the cookies, then add M&Ms and chocolate chips to the top of the cookies. Bake for around 15-20 minutes until perfectly golden brown.
- Remove from the oven and cool before enjoying. HAPPY COOKING!!