Butter Cookies with Nutella Ganache

flower shaped butter cookies in a red cookie tin.

Butter Cookies with Nutella Ganache

These Butter Cookies are a classic Christmas Cookie, adding an elegant touch to your holiday cookie tray. Decadent Nutella ganache, adds contrast in both color and texture. With their crisp, buttery exterior and melt-in-your-mouth interior, these cookies are a perfect holiday treat.

You’ll need a large star piping tip, like Ateco #829, to pipe these cookies. Using a smaller tip will make piping much more difficult.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword butter cookies

Prep Time 8

Cook Time 14

Chilling time 7

Total Time 7 22

Servings Cookies

Calories 123kcal

Author Maria Doss

Equipment

Ingredients

½ cup unsalted butter (113 gms) at room temperature
¼ cup + 2 tablespoons sugar
1 large egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
⅛ teaspoon salt
1 cup + 2 tablespoons all purpose flour

Nutella ganache

¼ cup semi sweet chocolate chips
¼ cup Nutella
3 tablespoons heavy cream

Instructions

Make Cookies

Add butter and sugar into a medium bowl and beat using an electric beater until smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes.
Add the egg yolk, vanilla and salt, continue beating until thoroughly combined. Add the flour and beat to combine.
Check the dough consistency. The dough should be pipeable but not soft—this is key for butter cookies. If it’s too stiff, piping will be difficult; if it’s too soft, the cookies may spread and lose their shape. The texture largely depends on how soft your butter was.
If you’re unsure, pipe a small test using a piping bag fitted with a large open star tip. If the dough is hard to pipe, mix in 1–2 teaspoons of milk until it reaches a smooth, pipeable consistency.
Fit a large piping bag with Ateco #828 piping tip and add the cookie dough into the bag and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Hold the piping bag straight at a 90-degree angle, just above the parchment paper. Apply steady pressure to pipe a circle about 1 ½ inches in diameter, then gently release pressure and lift the bag away to create a clean finish.
Pipe the remaining dough onto the baking sheet, spacing the cookies about 1 inch apart. Dip a 1-teaspoon measuring spoon in water, shake off the excess, then gently press it into the center of each cookie to create a deep indentation. The dough will spread slightly as you press.
👉 Make the indentation deeper than you would for traditional thumbprint cookies.
Transfer the baking sheet to the fridge for a few hours (or up to overnight) to firm up the dough.
Preheat oven to 350°F and bake the cookies for 13 to 16 minutes or the edges get a golden color. Place the baking sheet on a wire rack to cool completely.

Nutella ganache

Place the chocolate chips, Nutella, and heavy cream in a medium microwave-safe bowl. Microwave in 20-second intervals, for 50 to 80 seconds, stirring well after each, until the mixture is fully melted and smooth.
Fill the indentations with ganache, bringing it right to the brim. Gently tap the baking sheet on the counter once or twice to help the ganache settle evenly. Let the cookies set for a few hours before serving.

Notes

Butter - If you're baking these butter cookies during the colder holiday months, room temperature butter may be firmer than in the warmer summer months. In this case, microwave the butter for 5 to 9 seconds to soften it. Just be sure to remove it promptly to prevent it from starting to melt. If the butter is too firm, it will be difficult to pipe.

If the cookies spread, don't panic: Make sandwich cookies instead - If the cookies spread and don’t hold their indent for the ganache, simply prepare the Nutella ganache and let it cool for 5 to 10 minutes until it thickens slightly. Then, spread a bit of ganache between two cookies to make delicious butter sandwich cookies.

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