Brown Butter Cookies
Super chewy brown butter cookies made with toasted milk powder for a stronger nutty flavor and optional warm seasonal spices for a seasonal cookie bake.
These were going to be just brown butter cookies – think of a sugar cookie but made with browned butter. I made them back in fall ‘22 and loved the texture and the shape and everything… except I could taste the egg a little too much. So I remade them again this year a few times and finally decided what we needed was our fall favorite: spices!
This is a simple recipe, once you brown the butter everything just gets whisked together then needs a lengthy chill in the fridge. Then, scoop the dough, roll it in some spiced sugar and bake. They make the chewiest texture and have an almost toffee like flavor from the browned butter and additional toasted milk solids. The spices just sort of round everything out and make them a perfect seasonal cookie.
Recipe Ingredients
Butter: european style butter with a butterfat percentage of about 83%. Unsalted preferably, but if using salted just halve the added amount.
Milk Powder: non-fat milk powder, usually you’ll find it in the baking aisle.
Spices: ground cinnamon is a must I think but the rest is up to you. Cardamom, ginger, nutmeg, etc.
Salt: fine sea salt.
Vanilla: pure vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste.
Brown sugar: light or dark.
Granulated sugar: fine granulated sugar.
Sour cream: Full fat, this helps replace some of the moisture lost in the browning process.
Egg & yolk: a whole large egg and an egg yolk from a large egg.
Leavening: baking soda and baking powder. One will help the cookies spread, the other will help them puff a bit.
Flour: all purpose flour of a protein content that’s around 11%. A lower protein content will cause the cookies to spread more and be thinner and flatter.
How to make Brown Butter Cookies
Brown the butter & milk powder (over medium low heat)
The milk powder will disperse into the butter as it melts
Both the milk powder and milk solids from the butter will begin to brown as you cook the butter:
Once you see a layer of toasty brown ‘bits’ at the bottom of the pan, it’s done
Transfer the butter (immediately after it’s browned) to a bowl then add the spices, this will bring out their flavor
Whisk in the sugars for about 30 seconds, then add the egg and sour cream
Whisk until the mix starts to emulsify (you won’t see the butter separated):
Fold in the dry ingredients:
Cover the dough and chill it:
When it’s time to bake, scoop the dough into 2 tablespoons per cookie and & coat each dough ball in cinnamon sugar:
Bake until the edges are slightly golden
Making the dough ahead of time
The dough for these brown butter cookies needs to chill for a minimum of 2-3 hours but it can also be chilled overnight. You do get different results; when I do an overnight chill the cookies turn out much chewier. With just a few hours the cookies are softer.
If you want to make the cookie dough well ahead of time, make it, chill it either for a couple of hours or overnight and then scoop them onto a parchment lined tray. Freeze the tray for about 15-20 minutes, until all the cookies are solid. Then transfer them to a gallon freezer ziplock bag for longer storage.
When it’s time to bake, either bake for 15-20 minutes at 325 F or bring the cookies to room temperature then bake as directed in the recipe below.
Brown Butter Cookie Recipe
Brown Butter Cookies
Ingredients
- 150g or 2/3 cup butter european style*, unsalted
- 2 tablespoons milk powder non-fat milk powder
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon plus ½ teaspoon each ginger, cardamom and or nutmeg (use a mix of spices you like) (optional)
- ½ tsp fine sea salt
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 200g or 1 cup brown sugar light or dark
- 67g or ⅓ cup fine granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon sour cream full fat or greek yogurt
- 1 large egg plus 1 yolk from one large egg
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- 250g or 2 cups all purpose flour if using cup measurement, use a spoon to shake the flour over the measuring cup until full, then level it carefully
Method
- Brown the butter and milk powder together, once completely browned transfer to a heatproof bowl. Add the salt, cinnamon and vanilla and stir.
- Let cool for 5 minutes, then add the two sugars. Whisk very well, for a full minute.
- Add the whole egg, the yolk and the sour cream then whisk very well.
- Sift in the dry ingredients and stir until combined. Cover with plastic wrap to seal and chill in the fridge for at least 4 hours, or overnight.
- Stir together ¼ cup fine granulated sugar and 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon.
- Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Scoop the cookies with a disher into 1.5 tablespoons apiece. Roll the cookies in teh cinnamon sugar. Leave space between each cookie so they can spread, about an inch all around.
- Bake for about 11 minutes, until the cookies are turning slightly golden on the edges.
- Let cool on pan briefly, then enjoy!
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
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Thank you Sam! I kept stirring/whisking and it eventually calmed down and everything browned appropriately.
Delicious recipe! If I can just keep my son from eating the dough……
Oh boy I did something wrong – I’m in the midst of browning the butter (which I’ve done a million times !). Everything was fine until I added the powdered milk. The milk solids in the butter, which were happily hanging out on the bottom of the pan waiting to brown, suddenly adhered to the dried milk and it’s now a big fluffy marshmallow consistency. It’s all suspended in the liquid.
Is this supposed to happen?
Hi Karen! Likely this happened because you added the milk powder once the butter was too hot and the solids were separating. It should go in with the butter when the butter has just started to melt. There are photos above as a reference. Those milk solids, the added ones in the powder and the ones already in the butter (that will come out as you brown it) do tend to clump together but can be stirred apart.
Would these work as a cut-out cookie. Sprinkled either spiced sugar instead of rolled?
Not as a cut out as they spread and rise and won’t hold shape.
I got nervous because my cookies did not spread, but they were incredible. A new favorite recipe!
I made these cookies plus three other bakes and these flew out the break-room the fastest. The brown butter gives this simple cookie such an elevated, delicious flavor. I highly recommend you head straight to the kitchen to bake these!