These hazelnut brownies are simply bursting with chocolate-hazelnut flavour. Dense, moist, and swirled with Nutella, you’re going to adore them!
- Perfect brownies with a nutty crunch
- That classic chocolate-hazelnut combo
- A creamy swirl of Nutella on top
- Sweet and satisfying
- Easy-to-make one-bowl batter
These chocolate brownies with hazelnuts are deliciously fudgy but not get-all-over-your-hands-gooey and not cakey with that perfect crackly top. Seriously, the most perfect brownie full of chocolate flavour with a chewy, fudgy texture, these are totally irresistible.
If you love these, then you’ll definitely love my Ferrero Rocher brownies too.
This recipe was first published March 31st, 2018. It has been updated with a slightly tweaked recipe (buttercream removed) and new photos and information.
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Ingredients you’ll need
Detailed quantities and instructions in the recipe card below.
- Butter: All good baked goods start with butter, right? Unsalted butter is the way to go here but if you love that slightly salted chocolate vibe, salted will work.
- Sugar: 2 types of sugar — white granulated sugar, as well as brown sugar. Both add sweetness but the brown sugar adds moisture and chewiness too.
- Dark Chocolate: I always opt for dark chocolate for this recipe. It’s more complex and flavourful than milk chocolate without adding excess sweetness.
- Eggs: Another standard baking ingredient, you’ll also need large eggs.
- Vanilla: For added warm and earthy flavour, use pure vanilla extract, not vanilla essence. A little goes a long way and the natural flavour is more than worth it.
- Flour: You just need plain flour / all purpose flour.
- Cocoa Powder: Because more chocolate flavour is never a bad thing. You can use regular unsweetened cocoa powder or Dutch processed cocoa powder here.
- Salt: To balance out all of the sweetness. I swear by adding a little salt to baked goods.
- Hazelnuts: Another key ingredient for your hazelnut brownies are, of course, hazelnuts. You can swap these for other nuts though like macadamias, cashews or pecans.
- Nutella: It’s creamy and also packed with chocolate hazelnut flavour and just a little swirl over the top of these chocolate hazelnut brownies is perfect.
How to make hazelnut brownies (step-by-step)
Detailed quantities and instructions in the recipe card below.
- Melt: Add the butter to a large saucepan over low-medium heat. When it’s melted, add both sugars and heat until partially dissolved (photo 1).
- Incorporate the chocolate: Add the finely chopped dark chocolate. Stir to melt it in just until there are no lumps remaining (photo 2) and then set it aside to cool.
- Mix the batter: Add the eggs and vanilla and whisk (photo 3). Then add in the flour, cocoa powder, and salt. Use a spatula to mix until well combined (photo 4). Gently stir in the hazelnuts.
- Add to the prepared baking pan: Pour your hazelnut brownie batter into your prepped baking dish or pan (photo 5).
- Bake: Add a few dollops of Nutella on top, then swirl with a knife. Add toasted hazelnuts on top (photo 6) and bake. Allow it to cool a bit before serving!
I used to add a hazelnut buttercream to the top of these for extra decadence. While I removed it when I updated this recipe (since it adds quite a bit more sweetness and richness), feel free to add it using the hazelnut buttercream recipe from this cake.
Toast your nuts
I buy my hazelnuts already toasted but if you can’t get those, you can do it yourself at home. Don’t skip it as it makes such a flavour difference making them more mellow and sweet.
- Toast your hazelnuts on a baking tray in an oven preheated to 180C/350F for 10 minutes. If they have skins on, you should see the skins start to crack and fall off.
- The skin is quite bitter, so if your hazelnuts have the skins on, rub them vigorously in a tea towel and the skins will come away easily.
- Let them cool before using.
Tips and tricks
- Don’t overmix the batter or you may end up with hazelnut brownies similar in texture to a chocolate cake. You want yours to be dense and moist — not cake-like!
- Chopping the hazelnuts: Hazelnuts will easily crack in half with just light pressure from a knife and in half is the perfect size for these brownies.
- Line your pan: I always recommend lining the baking pan, even if it’s non-stick, as it makes it so much easier to remove your brownies. If you can, stick to the 8×8 inch square baking pan too. Larger or smaller will alter the thickness and baking time of your choc hazelnut brownies.
- If you love a salty sweet treat, scatter over some flaky sea salt after they’ve baked.
- Room temp eggs: Make sure the eggs are at room temperature so they blend into the batter evenly.
- Grainy batter: After you add the chocolate to the butter and sugar, it may look a little grainy. Don’t worry and don’t try to stir it out. Once you add the eggs it becomes perfectly smooth and silky.
- Please weigh the flour and cocoa: Please, please, please. Just a little too much of either can turn your fudgy brownies cakey instead. If you don’t have kitchen scales, I highly recommend investing in some (they’re cheap) as you’ll always get the best results when baking. For the time being though, you can measure by fluffing up the flour in the container first, then spoon it into your cup measure. Scrape the back of a knife across the top to level it off. Never pack the flour into the cup measure as you’ll end up with far too much.
- Undercooking is better than overcooking when it comes to brownies.
- Let them cool before you try cutting them, at least to room temperature or just above.
Variations
My favourite base brownie recipe is so, so much better than box mix brownies and can be adjusted with so many different add-ins.
- Replace the hazelnuts with walnuts, pecans, almonds, or your favourite nut variety.
- Add more flavour or a twist to your hazelnut brownies with extra vanilla, orange zest, or a dash of cinnamon, and a touch of nutmeg.
- Add a frosting for even more decadence. Try this chocolate fudge frosting or this smooth-as-silk Swiss meringue buttercream.
FAQs
Many recipes call for you to use milk instead of water. Mine doesn’t require either — I find that the combination of butter, two sugars, and dark chocolate (in addition to the other ingredients) gives me dense and moist hazelnut brownies every time.
It’s all about the flour ratio. Fudgy brownies contain less flour and more butter and chocolate. Cakey brownies use more flour. I only use 95 grams (¾ cup) of flour in my brownies with hazelnuts, so they come out perfectly fudgy.
Adding nuts adds a pop of texture and crunch to chocolate brownies, and I also love the added earthy taste. You can also add a splash of espresso which actually intensifies the chocolate flavour! Finally, I use real chocolate mixed into the batter which adds more chocolate flavour than using cocoa powder alone.
Yield and storage
This recipe for chocolate hazelnut brownies yields 16 x 2-inch brownies or 9 larger ones.
You should store them in an airtight container. They’ll keep for 4-5 days at room temperature, and if you store them in the fridge, they’ll last for about a week. You can enjoy them at room temperature, cold, or even heated up. I pop mine in the microwave for about 20-30 seconds, and they’re perfect!
These hazelnut brownies can also be frozen for up to 3 months.
Now, go make yourself a batch of chocolate hazelnut brownies and serve them straight up or as an extra decadent dessert with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or dollop whipped cream.
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Hazelnut Brownies
Ingredients
- 115 g unsalted butter (1 stick / ½ cup / 4oz)
- ¾ cup white granulated sugar (150g / 5.3oz)
- ½ cup packed brown sugar (100g / 3.5oz)
- 115 g dark chocolate (45-60% cocoa), finely chopped (4oz)
- 3 large eggs, room temp
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 95 g plain flour (all purpose flour) (¾ cup / 3.4oz)
- 25 g unsweetened cocoa powder (¼ cup / 0.9oz)
- ½ teaspoon table salt
- ¾ cup toasted hazelnuts, chopped in half (95g / 3.4oz)
- ¼ cup Nutella (or other chocolate hazelnut spread)
For best results, always weigh ingredients where a weight is provided
Equipment
- Ballon whisk & silicone spatula
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180C (160C fan) / 350F. Grease and line an 8×8 inch square baking tin with baking paper.
- In a large saucepan, melt the butter over low-medium heat.
- Add both sugars and stir over the heat for 5 minutes until the sugar is partially dissolved.
- Take the pan off the heat and stir in the finely chopped chocolate, just until there are no lumps left. It may look grainy but don’t worry, it’s fine.
- Set aside for 10 minutes to cool a little.
- Add eggs and vanilla to the chocolate butter mixutre and whisk in until fully combined and smooth.
- Sift in flour, cocoa and salt. Swap to a spatula and stir until combined.
- Now gently stir in all but a handful of the hazelnuts.
- Pour the batter into your prepared pan. Dollop the Nutella over the top and swirl it around with a knife. Scatter over reserved hazelnuts.
- Bake for around 40 minutes until skewer or toothpick comes out with moist crumbs attached. Don't overbake them.
- Leave brownie in pan to cool for 10 minutes, then use the baking paper to lift it out and transfer to a wire cooling rack. Wait until it’s room temperature or just above to slice.
- Please take a moment to leave a comment & rating. It's appreciated and so helpful.
Notes
- For best results you should always weigh ingredients like flour and sugar. Kitchen scales are relatively cheap but if you can’t weigh the ingredients, use the spoon and level method (don’t scoop).
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8 Comments on “Hazelnut Brownies”
These were super simple to make and very yummy. The only thing I will do differently next time is roast the hazelnuts a little longer before adding them to the brownie mixture.
So happy you love them, Jodie. Thanks so much for dropping back to leave a review.
I had most ingredients already in my fridge/pantry so a quick trip to Woolworths for hazelnuts & I was in heaven. Next time I will reduce the sugars as I did find them quite sweet, but really, really good
I’m so happy you love them, Jenny. Just keep in mind the texture may change slightly depending on how much sugar you remove.
Hey, these look amazing and I can’t wait to try them! I bake a lot around Christmas and send gift boxes to friends, family and neighbours, but this usually involves two or three days of exhaustive baking all in one go! This year I’m trying to make some recipes in advance and freeze them, so the workload is a little more spread out. Do you know if this recipe would freeze well? I know some doughs can be kept frozen for weeks, and some baked goods can be frozen, too. If these brownies can be frozen after cooking, I assume they would be best frozen before adding the frosting? Thanks!
Hello Eleanor. I totally understand those few days of exhaustive baking. Yes, you can freeze these, even with the buttercream 🙂
Decadent chocolate brownies with hazelnuts? Infeed, this would be already enough to get my attention. Instead you opted for the hazelnut buttercream which makes these brownies sound even more fantastic. What can I say? I’m sold!
Thanks so much Ben 🙂