Nutella lovers around the world, it’s time to celebrate World Nutella Day! The brainchild of Sara Sara from Ms. Adventures in Italy and Michelle from Bleeding Espresso, World Nutella Day started in 2007 and gave fans of the delicious chocolate hazelnut concoction a chance to share their devotion in whatever form seemed fit, whether spread on toast, crepes, rice crispy treats, put it in a king cake, or just licked off a spoon (my personal favorite).
I only buy a jar of Nutella once a year as a special treat and we try to make it last for a while but almost never succeed. This year the jar of Nutella became a filling for mini chocolate whoopie pies, and though Nutella is not a traditional whoopie pie filling, we declared it awesome. I also sprinkled on some toasted chopped hazelnuts for a bit of crunch.
For the uninitiated, whoopie pies are a traditional treat with both Amish and New England histories. Original whoopie pies are chocolate cakes with cream filling and tend to be large, about 4 inches in diameter, though some bakeries make huge ones that feed several people. We make pumpkin whoopie pies in autumn, and this is actually my first time making chocolate whoopies.
The cakes can be made 3 days ahead and kept layered between sheets of wax paper in an airtight container at room temperature. The flavor and texture of the cakes is actually better one day after baking.
You can find more recipes with Nutella at the World Nutella Day website and see photos of Nutella creations in the Nutella Day Flickr photo pool.
Update: Roundup 1 posted at Ms. Adventures in Italy and Roundup 2 posted at Bleeding Espresso.
Mini Chocolate Whoopie Pies with Nutella
Equipment
- stand mixer with paddle attachment, or hand mixer and large bowl
- baking sheets, greased or lined with parchment
- #60 (small) cookie scoop (or another 2 teaspoon scoop or spoon)
- wire cooling racks
Ingredients
Cakes
- 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- ½ cup Dutch-process cocoa powder
- 1¼ teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup well-shaken buttermilk (or 2 tablespoons lemon juice + milk to equal 1 cup)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter (softened)
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 large egg
Filling
- Nutella
- ¾ cup hazelnuts (toasted, finely chopped (optional))
Preparation
Prep the Cakes
- Preheat oven to 350°F/175° C. Position racks in upper and lower thirds of the oven.
- Whisk together flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt in a bowl until combined. Stir together buttermilk and vanilla in a measuring cup.
- In the bowl of the stand mixer, beat together butter and brown sugar at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes (or 5 minutes if using hand mixer), then add egg, beating until combined well. Reduce speed to low and add ⅓ of the flour mixture. Mix and scrape down the sides of the bowl, then add ½ the buttermilk and mix until smooth. Continue with another ⅓ of the flour, then the rest of the buttermilk, and ending with the rest of the flour mixture, scraping between each addition. The final batter should be thick and smooth.
- Scoop batter onto prepared baking sheets, about 2 inches apart.
- Bake in preheated oven, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, until tops are puffed and cakes spring back when touched, 11 to 13 minutes. Remove from oven and allow the cookies to rest on the baking sheet for a couple minutes, then transfer with a metal spatula to a rack to cool completely, at least a couple hours.
Assemble
- Spread a rounded tablespoon of Nutella on flat sides of half the cakes. Sprinkle some of the chopped hazelnuts over the Nutella, then top with remaining cakes.
They look so pretty and delicious!
Cheers,
Rosa
Just when you thought whoopie pies couldnt get any better. Thank you for these! 😉
These look absolutely fabulous! I'm very impressed with your Nutella restraint. One jar a year is admirable indeed. I try not to buy Nutella either as it tends to disappear in our house. 😉 I'll have to make a gluten-free version of your beautiful Whoopie Pies one day. And, I'm bummed that I let World Nutella Day sneak up on me. I need to add that to my calendar for next year right now! I'd make an emergency run to the grocery store, but I'm not that brave given the impending "storm of the century."
Shirley
Thank you Shirley. The stores are probably crazy this morning with last minute shoppers, so staying in seems like a good idea.
this looks so delicious. happy nutella day to you.
What a great idea for Whoopie Pies! The recipe I have uses a solid vegetable oil and powdered sugar for the filling. Now that I know the secret of using Nutella, I can enjoy whoopie pies guilt-free! Thanks for sharing!
These so so yummy! I would have never thought to make chocolate whoopie pies filled with nutella! I will definetly try this out!
We made Nutella Truffles! =)
http://www.theartoftwotarts.com/?p=80
What a fantastic variation on whoopie pies.
🙂
ButterYum
It looks great. I was going to retweet this.. but there's no retweet button on the site. ( you should add one.. My followers would love it)
They look really amazing!
I just want to ask you a question... is there any way the cocoa can be replaced by chocolate? If that's the case, how much should I use? I can't find decent cocoa where I live!
Hi Eugenia. You can use unsweetened baking chocolate, about 45 g, in place of the cocoa. Make sure you reduce the butter by 1-1/2 tablespoons if using the baking chocolate rather than cocoa powder. You can get more information on baking substitutions at Joy of Baking - Ingredient Substitution.
I think this is one of my favorite nutella day recipes so far! This and Bell'alimento's chocolate nutella lava cakes.
Holy Hazelnuts! What a brilliant idea! I love your little whoopie pies. They look sooooo good!
Yummy yummy bummy best ever mini whoopie pies
I baked them yesterday... and we ate half of them today. They turned out really good... but my batter wasn't as dark (I used unsweetened baking chocolate, the cocoa on sell in my neighbourhood is awful, and light-brown sugar, maybe next time I'll use dark brown sugar) and thick as yours. I scooping the batter (with a regular tablespoon, lol) was quite messy, but everything turned out OK in the end. DK what happened, maybe I overmixed it?
I made these and they turned out so well. Thanks for the great recipe.
http://cookiesonfriday.blogspot.com/2010/02/nutella-whoopie-pies.html
Have you heard of this new book coming out Making Whoopies? Check it out. Whoopie!
Excellent recipe! I made one batch adding the hazelnuts to the cookies. Are so perfect! Thanks for sharing!