Vanilla Melting Moments Sandwich Cookies with Nutella-Cream Cheese Filling

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Vanilla Melting Moments Cookies with Nutella Filling โ€” These vanilla sandwich cookies are so soft and they literally melt in your mouth! Perfect for Christmas, Easter, and family gatherings! 

Vanilla Melting Moments Cookies with Nutella Filling โ€” These vanilla sandwich cookies are so soft and they literally melt in your mouth! Perfect for Christmas, Easter, and family gatherings! 

Perfect Christmas Sandwich Cookies 

These cookies remind me of cookies on Christmas cookie platters that I ate growing up. But those were just plain cookies. I enhanced these with Nutella. Why not?

The melting moments cookies are so soft, they literally melt in your mouth. I always wondered what it was that made this particular type of cookie have a melting-away sensation, but now I know what it is: cornstarch.

Cornstarch is a true workhorse in cookie-baking because it helps create a super soft texture and softbatch-style results. A couple teaspoons is all I’ve ever used for soft, supple, tender cookies.

close up of a filled melting moments cookie

Iโ€™ve used cornstarch in about 20 cookies recipes, including Lofthouse-Style Soft Peanut Butter Chip Sugar CookiesPumpkin Spice CookiesPeanut Butter Coconut Oil CookiesM&M’s CookiesSnickers CookiesTwix Bar CookiesCaramel Corn Chocolate Chip CookiesS’mores CookiesLofthouse Soft Sugar Sprinkles Cookies, and more.

These cookies also use cornstarch, but rather than 2 teaspoons, I used one-half cup. That’s what gives them their buttery soft, melt-away qualities.

The dough is extremely easy to make and it’s egg-free, and it’s also free from baking soda or baking powder. Although I haven’t tried the dough using vegan butter or margarine, I’ve seen recipes that call for ‘either butter or margarine’, so I think you’d be safe to keep these vegan.

overhead view of melting moments cookies with Nutella filling

These cookies are on the large size for sandwich cookies (way bigger than an Oreo), but since I never eat just 1 cookie at a time and always need at least two, I have my requisite two cookies, bundled together with a creamy, rich, Nutella-cream cheese filling.

When you pick up a cookie, they feel solid and dense in your hand, but upon biting into one, they softly crumble and melt away into a smooth, buttery haze. They’re feathery soft and tender.

The buttery cookies are a great blank canvas for the chocolate intensity of the filling. The flaky cookie crumbs, contrasted with the smooth creaminess and robustness of the slightly tangy filling, is a great texture and taste contrast.

Cornstarch. A winner every time.

two halves of a vanilla sandwich cookie

What’s in Melting Moments Cookies? 

To make the vanilla sandwich cookies and the Nutella filling, you’ll need: 

  • Unsalted butter
  • All-purpose flour
  • Cornstarch
  • Confectioners’ sugar
  • Vanilla extract
  • Nutella 
  • Cream cheese
  • Cream or milk

vanilla sandwich cookies with Nutella filling next to a glass of Nutella

How to Make Melting Moments Cookies 

Simply beat the butter, then add flour, cornstarch, confectioners’ sugar, vanilla, and mix until the dough comes together. My dough started out very dry and crumbly, but after a couple minutes, it came together perfectly, to the point it was quite soft.

I made exactly 12 cookies using my medium 2-inch cookie scoop, using about 2 tablespoons of dough per cookie.

I love small batch cookie recipes. I don’t want dozens of the same cookie, and I definitely don’t want it all at once. I’m ready for a change by cookie #10 with most recipes.

side view of Christmas sandwich cookies with Nutella filling

I made the filling by using 3/4 cup Nutella, 1/4 cup light cream cheese, confectioners’ sugar, vanilla, and a splash of cream. You’ll need to play with the cream ratio to get your frosting to combine.

I find that not all jars of Nutella are the same. Sometimes the Nutella is very dry and sometimes very gloppy and runny.

I had a dry jar this time around so needed to compensate by adding more cream that you may, and in the process made about 1 cup of filling and had some leftover. You will probably, too.

Christmas sandwich cookies with Nutella filling. a knife rests in the foreground.

Do I Have to Chill the Cookie Dough? 

Yes! Because there are no eggs or chemical leaveners, both help cookies rise and stay thicker while baking, it’s mandatory you chill the dough. Cold dough is the only thing that will prevent the cookies from spreading into flat pancakes while baking, and is a must.

How to Store Melting Moments 

Unfilled melting moments cookies will keep airtight at room temperature for up to 5 days. Unbaked cookie dough can be stored airtight in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, or frozen for up to 4 months.

Once filled, the sandwich cookies will keep airtight at room temperature for up to 5 days. I personally am comfortable storing the cookies (the filling has cream cheese) at room temperature, but if you prefer to store cookies in the fridge, thatโ€™s fine, but note the fridge will dry them out much more quickly. 

side view of a melting moments cookie with Nutella filling that's been bitten into.

Tips for Making Vanilla Sandwich Cookies

You don’t have to make sandwich cookies with this recipe, but they’re a very blank-canvas cookie, and may be a little on the boring side without a filling.

You could also add lemon zest or lemon extract, or peppermint extract, to the dough to jazz them up. If going the lemon route, a tangy lemon buttercream would be great. But I don’t love lemon as much as I love Nutella.

You’ll likely wind up with extra filling. It’ll keep in the fridge for at least 1 month. Make sure you forget about the leftovers about midnight when you, a spoon, and the jar want to become BFFs. Eating Nutella that’s doctored up with cream cheese and sugar is the best midnight snack ever.

You can also just add a smear of Nutella, peanut butter, or Cookie Butter/Biscoff and skip the step of making a filling. However, without adding the cream cheese and confectioners’ sugar, those spreads on their own won’t have as much thickness, body, and Nutella especially can be pretty runny, but they’ll work if you’re in a rush. 

Vanilla Melting Moments Cookies with Nutella Filling โ€” These vanilla sandwich cookies are so soft and they literally melt in your mouth! Perfect for Christmas, Easter, and family gatherings! 

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4.50 from 4 votes

Vanilla Melting Moments Cookies with Nutella-Cream Cheese Filling

By Averie Sunshine
These vanilla sandwich cookies are so soft and they literally melt in your mouth! Perfect for Christmas, Easter, and family gatherings!ย 
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 9 minutes
Chill Time: 3 hours
Total Time: 3 hours 24 minutes
Servings: 12
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Ingredients  

Cookies

  • ยพ cup unsalted butter, softened (1 1/2 sticks; margarine may be substituted
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • ยฝ cup cornstarch
  • ยฝ cup confectionersโ€™ sugar
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Nutella-Cream Cheese Filling (makes about 1 cup)

  • ยพ cup Nutella
  • ยผ cup cream cheese, softened (light cream cheese is okay)
  • ยฝ cup confectionersโ€™ sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • about 3 tablespoons cream or milk or as needed, adjust to desired filling consistency

Instructions 

Cookies:

  • To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or large bowl and electric hand mixer), beat the butter on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
  • Stop, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add the remaining cookie ingredients. Mix on low speed until incorporated, about 2 to 3 minutes. Dough will progress from very crumbly and sandy, to soft and combined. After dough has combined; donโ€™t overmix.ย Dough will be soft, and on the sticky and tacky side.
  • Using a medium 2-inchย cookie scoop, form 2-tablespoon mounds (I made 12). Place mounds on a large plate, flatten slightly with the tines of fork to create a criss-cross pattern (or use your palm or a flat drinking glass bottom if you donโ€™t want a pattern). Cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 3 hours, or up to 5 days, before baking. Do not bake with warm dough because cookies will spread and bake thinner and flatter (there are no leaveners or eggs to help them stay thicker; youโ€™re relying on chilled dough).
  • Preheat oven to 350F, line baking sheets with aย Silpatย or spray with cooking spray. Place mounds on baking sheet, spaced at least 2 inches apart (I bake 8 cookies per sheet).
  • Bake for about 9 minutes, or until edges have set and tops are just beginning to set, even if slightly undercooked, pale and glossy in the center. They should not beย โ€˜brownedโ€™ and should stay a pale white/cream shade.ย Do not overbake because cookies will firm up as they cool.
  • Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet ย for about 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooking.
  • Nutella-Cream Cheese Filling:ย 
  • To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or large bowl and electric hand mixer), combine first four ingredients (through vanilla), and beat on medium-high speed to incorporate.
  • With the mixer running, slowly add the cream 1 tablespoon at a time, until filling combines and desired consistency is achieved. Note that Nutella seems to vary and some jars are dry and some are very runny; this significantly effects how much cream to add.
  • Spread a generous 2+ tablespoons of filling on 6 cooled cookies, and match them up with the 6 unfrosted halves, and join together to create sandwiches.

Notes

Storage: Unfilled cookies will keep airtight at room temperature for up to 5 days. Unbaked cookie dough can be stored airtight in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, or frozen for up to 4 months, so consider baking only as many cookies as desired and save the remaining dough to be baked in the future when desired.
Youโ€™ll likely have leftover filling. It will keep airtight in the refrigerator for up to 1 month. Eat with a spoon or use for a future baking project.
Once frosted, sandwich cookiesย will keep airtight at room temperature for up to 5 days. I personally am comfortable storing the cookies at room temp, but if you prefer to store cookies in the fridge, thatโ€™s fine, but note the fridge will dry them out much more quickly.

Nutrition

Serving: 1

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

More Cookie Exchange Recipes:

ALL OF MY CHRISTMAS RECIPES! 

Buttery Sugar Wafer Sandwich Cookies โ€” These sugary wafter cookies are buttery, delicate, and literally melt-in-your-mouth. Theyโ€™re sandwiched with vanilla buttercream frosting.

Buttery Sugar Wafer Sandwich Cookies averiecooks.com

M&M’s Chocolate Chip Cookies โ€” If youโ€™re looking for a new M&Mโ€™s cookie recipe, this is THE ONE! Soft, buttery, and irresistible M&Mโ€™s Christmas cookies!

Softbatch Funfetti Sugar Cookies โ€” These funfetti cookies are essentially sugar cookies from scratch that have been loaded with sprinkles. They have that nostalgic boxed cake flavor but are 100% homemade! 

Softbatch Funfetti Sugar Cookies (from scratch not a mix) - Recipe at averiecooks.com

Chocolate Peanut Butter Stacks โ€” If you need a ridiculously easy, no-bake dessert for a party, holiday cookie exchange, or just have a spur of the moment craving for chocolate and peanut butter, these Ritz cookies are perfect!

Softbatch No-Roll Holiday Sprinkles Cookies โ€” These tender, buttery holiday cookies use a no-roll dough with the sprinkles baked right in so you donโ€™t even have to decorate them!

Sugar Doodle Vanilla Cookies โ€” Part soft sugar cookie, part chewy snickerdoodle, with tons of rich vanilla flavor! The best vanilla cookies youโ€™ll ever make! 

Santaโ€™s Kitchen Sink Cookies โ€” Santa and everyone else wonโ€™t be able to resist these AMAZING cookies loaded with everything but the kitchen sink!! EASY, festive, salty-sweet treats with a FUN ingredients list!!

Santa's Kitchen Sink Cookies - Santa and everyone else won't be able to resist these AMAZING cookies loaded with everything but the kitchen sink!! EASY, festive, salty-sweet treats with a FUN ingredients list!!

4.50 from 4 votes (3 ratings without comment)

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Comments

  1. Omigosh these look amazing! I’m a bit worried about the leftover filling though because I’ll definitely be that person who finds herself at the fridge at 2 in the morning with a spoon and a growling stomach.

  2. OH! I bet these would be awesome with your Honey Roasted Butterscotch White Chocolate Peanut Butter ! Pinned

  3. I have never heard of these cookies! Wow, I have been missing out every Christmas. I mean, these look so incredibly soft and perfect. They really look like they would melt in your mouth! And then you went above and beyond with the nutella cream cheese filling! I am going to go out and say that this is one perfect Christmas cookie! I am adding it to my holiday cookie list! It’s a big list but I hope to at least make a few this year!

  4. yes ma’am I will most definitely take a dozen of these.
    I LOVE meltaway-like cookies.
    Next time you make these try using lime or lemon. Oh so good. But with a different filling of course. LOL

    1. Mentioned the lemon part in the post yes, that it’s something I’d like to try – but that I like Nutella better. LOL :)

  5. I love the ease of these cookies! No egg? I’m so in love! Okay, cornstarch is going in my next batch of cookies, which I want to bake now. See, you derail me. I wasn’t planning on baking again for a few days. I don’t know why I say that – it never works.

    1. I know you’re a big pudding cookie girl and what’s pudding mix? Cornstarch. There you go :) Now you can save $$ and not bother with it anymore (well okay it also adds some sugar and flavor but I digress). You will LOVE adding a couple tsp of CS to your fave choc chip cookie recipe or really any recipe you want to turn out Softbatch-style. Thanks for pinning!

      And I am still thinking about your PB caramel corn. Girl. I have been fantasizing about it all day! LOL

  6. The most cornstarch I’ve used in cookies is a tablespoon, I can imagine what a whole half cup would do to cookies! Those look so soft and tender, I can just imagine them melting in my mouth! I love that the filling is a cream cheese frosting instead of a buttercream too.

    1. With cookies that were this ‘blank canvas’, the cream cheese really gave some depth that just a plain buttercream couldn’t. Well, that, coupled with 3/4 cup of Nutella :)

  7. The recipe for these cookies is so unique. They look delicious! I want one even though I just ate a giant cookie for dessert.

  8. Found this recipe earlier this afternoon and had to make it. I added lemon zest as I love lemon cookies, but rather than a lemon buttercream, I made a blueberry jam that was quite lovely w/the lemon melt away cookies. Thanks so much for sharing your recipe!

    1. Oh I bet your blueberry jam with the lemon and the melt-away texture was heavenly! Your cookies sound wonderful!

  9. Cornstarch is amazing! I never realized how it can change the texture of cookies until I started baking with it, but it is a life saver! And thank God for Nutella!

  10. I love sandwich cookies…and that filling looks too good for words! I think I could just take a little bowl of that and dip them in it. I’ve never made cookies with that amount of cornstarch but they look pretty incredible (as do all your cookies)! This must be a situation where if some is good, more is better. Oh–regarding Cirque–yes, Skylar would love it!

    1. some is good, more is better = THAT is for sure the case here! :)

      And Cirque, yeah, I’ve seen at least 10 of their shows. About 5 in Vegas and then one at Disney, another 2 came thru San Diego, and I think she’s to the age where we could bring her. Have to figure out the travel & entertainment budget. Her tuition each month is more than I paid to go to a private college. And I am not kidding. She’s 6. Paula…it’s unreal! :)

  11. Yum! These sound amazing. I’ve never tried a melting moments cookie before, and have never added cornstarch to cookies. You have me sold though, I’m going to have to give it a try.

  12. I love how versatile these cookies can be with different extracts and fillings! I can’t wait for these cookies to melt in my mouth!!