Hazelnut Sea Salt Bars
Hazelnut Sea Salt Bars are everything rich and decadent that you want a cookie bar to be! An original base cookie dough sandwiched with thick creamy nutella and topped off with flakey sea salt, it’s ridiculously simple to make but tastes extravagant.
Nutella Bars Recipe
I’ll let you in on a little secret – this is the same base recipe as my popular Biscoff Bars! But the soft, golden, brown sugar-forward cookie dough was too good to pigeon hole in one cookie bars recipe. The partnership of buttery cookie dough encasing velvety rich nutella in these Nutella bars is so natural that it absolutely had to be created, and I won’t apologize for it. The flakey sea salt garnish on top finishes these bars, cutting the richness slightly and adding a little extra oomph that cannot be forgotten.
Ingredients in Hazelnut Sea Salt Bars
You can find step-by-step instructions and exact quantities in the recipe at the bottom of the post.
- Salted butter – I prefer salted butter in my bakes. If that is not your preference, you can use unsalted butter instead! You will just want to add an extra pinch of salt to the dough.
- Brown sugar
- Granulated sugar
- Egg
- Vanilla
- All-purpose flour
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Nutella – Nutella is a chocolate hazelnut spread. You can use the name brand or the store brand, both will work great!
- Flakey sea salt – I suppose this is technically optional, but it adds so much to the cookie bar. I would not skip it!
How to Make Nutella Cookie Bars
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Spray a 9×13 pan with non-stick spray and set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer or with an electric hand mixer, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until light in color and fluffy in texture.
- Scrape the sides and add in the egg and vanilla. Mix until well combined.
- Next, you will add the flour, baking soda, and salt. Mix until a soft dough forms.
- Once a soft dough has formed, press half of the dough into the bottom of the prepared pan. I like to do this with an offset spatula.
- Now, spread the Nutella onto the top of the cookie dough in the pan.
- Crumble and press the remaining cookie dough onto the top of the Nutella layer.
- Sprinkle the top with flakey sea salt.
- Bake at 350°F (180°C) for 15-17 minutes. The edges should begin to turn brown but the entire top shouldn’t.
- Allow the bars to cool completely before cutting and serving. Enjoy!
How to store Nutella Bars
Allow the Nutella Bars to cool completely and store in an airtight container on the counter for 3-5 days! These cookie bars will freeze really well and can be stored in a resealable freezer bag for up to 3 months.
Rich & Decadent Cookie Bars
Hazelnut Sea Salt Bars
Ingredients
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Spray a 9×13 pan with non-stick spray and set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer or with an electric hand mixer, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until light in color and fluffy in texture.1 cup (167g) salted butter, softened, 1 cup (246g) brown sugar, 1/2 cup (115g) granulated sugar
- Scrape the sides and add in the egg and vanilla. Mix until well combined.1 egg, 1 tsp vanilla
- Next, you will add the flour, baking soda, and salt. Mix until a soft dough forms.2 1/4 cups (342g) all-purpose flour, 1 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp salt
- Once a soft dough has formed, press half of the dough into the bottom of the prepared pan.
- Now, spread the Nutella onto the top of the cookie dough in the pan.1 (13 oz jar) nutella
- Crumble and press the remaining cookie dough onto the top of the Nutella layer.
- Sprinkle the top with flakey sea salt.flakey sea salt
- Bake at 350°F (180°C) for 15-17 minutes. The edges should begin to turn brown but the entire top shouldn’t.
- Allow the bars to cool completely before cutting and serving. Enjoy!
These bar are great. I’m always a fan of salty chocolate treats. The only thing that I might do differently next time is to sprinkle the flakey sea salt on the bars AFTER they come out of the oven since the salt dissolved quite a bit into the bars. You can taste the salt but not see the flakes. The best thing about this recipe is that I only needed to buy one ingredient (Nutella). Everything else was already on hand.