You know the whole sweet/salty combination that all of America has now learned to love? Well I like to think I was on the forefront of this craze, circa 2004, thanks to my best friend in college. Potato chips in ice cream? Don’t mind if I do. 
Fast-forward to a few years ago, I was out for ice cream one summer night ordering my usual vanilla waffle cone with rainbow sprinkles, wishing I had a salt shaker nearby, and it dawned on me – the salt sprinkle! This is my path to fame and fortune, so keep your lips sealed, please… Salt sprinkles will look just like regular sprinkles but some of them will be salt instead of sugar (about a 5:1 sugar-to-salt ratio). People love salt & sweet (and if they don’t, I think they’re just in denial). People will love the salt sprinkle!
Somewhere between that thought and today, I got lost in regular life things like joining the real world, but after making these nutella cookies, my passion for patenting the salt sprinkle is back in full force!
When I first told my sister I’d be needing to think of a bajillion cookie recipes for 17 days of cookies, she kept repeating “nutella nutella nutella” like a broken record. I’m pretty sure she must have stock in the brand. I’m also pretty sure I could just gave her 5 jars of Nutella and sturdy spoon for Christmas and she’d be a happy camper.
Honestly, I haven’t eaten much Nutella in my lifetime (I know, I need to start living more), so I decided to keep things simple by not adding much else to the cookies. Except those gosh darn amazing salt sprinkles… which instantly make this cookie irresistible. 
Sea salt boosts the flavors of these soft, chewy chocolate hazelnut flavored cookies. Makes 4 dozen Prep time: 30 minutes Cook time: 10-12 minutes per cookie sheet (~3 cookie sheets) Heat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Stir the sprinkles/sugar and salt in a shallow dish; set aside. In a large mixing bowl, beat the Nutella, butter and sugar with an electric mixer on high speed until fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat until mixed. In the same bowl, add the baking powder and salt and beat until mixed. Add the flour, 1/2 cup at at time, and beat on medium speed until mixed well. Roll the dough into 1 1/4 inch balls, then roll each ball in the sprinkle/salt mixture to coat completely. Place two inches apart on prepared cookie sheets. Bake 10-12 minutes. Allow to cool 2 minutes before removing from cookie sheets and setting onto wire racks to cool completely.
{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }
Nutella is my weakness!
I love Nutella! Its ver versatile for cooking! Going ti give this a try!
I can not type today! Lol…must be the “lack” of a decent cookie! This should say, “I love Nutella. Its very versatile for baking and cooking! Going to try this!
Haha… I was actually able to decode the first comment quite easily
Thank you!
You had me at Nutella…but now I’m doubly intrigued because I’ve never heard of sea salt sprinkles- but they sound amazing. And these cookies look delicious!
Salt with cookies is brilliant enough, but mixing it in with the sprinkles is really cool.
Right?! Does that mean you’ll be my first salt sprinkle customer when I start jarring them? Ha
I am just loving all of these cookie recipes! And I’m always in awe of your creativity
I think I’m going to try to make these for a holiday party!
Yes, make them! They’re soo good – nice and chewy and the sprinkles give them a crunch on the outside.
You are a genius.
These are so festive – they look filling and quite tasty.
Gorgeous cookies.
LOL I have something in common with your sister; I’d be pretty thrilled to receive jars of nutella and a spoon for Christmas, hehe! These cookies are awesome!!
I must have done something horribly wrong with these. They turned out like little nutella rocks. They didn’t flatten out while baking to look like your pictures but stayed in balls.
Also the dough was very dry – 1 cup of Nutella and two tsbp of butter? Also, the recipe in the about says (1 hr for chilling) but I don’t see that again in the breakdown… Oh well! Your pictures are lovely!
Hi Jessica – I’m sorry your cookies didn’t turn out well! Yes, you have the ingredients right, so I’m not sure why they would have turned out like that. I’m curious, was the dough soft, or fairly dry? Oh, and you don’t need to chill the dough before baking (that’s what I get for copy/pasting pieces of recipes!).
I just came across your Nutella Brownie recipe on Pinterest, and after perusing your site, I have a list of new recipes to try! I have three little girls who LOVE Nutella, so I can’t wait to whip these up!
The Nutella brownies are one of my favorites, and so simple! I hope you and your girls love ‘em!
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