Brown Butter Oatmeal Cookies
Ultra chewy oatmeal cookies made with brown butter and toasted oats, dipped in a brown butter glaze.
This brown butter oatmeal recipe has been in the works since September ‘24 as it was being tested alongside these oat flour oatmeal cookies. Honestly it was great in the very first tests but had other things on the agenda so I set it aside (tbh a little part of me though – this would be a good one for a book, if I ever write one but eh, life is short and I want you to have this!).
Recipe Origins
I began re-testing earlier this year and found that a more prolonged chill, or an uncovered chill (two things I wanted to try so I’d be able to give you a perfect recipe), made the cookies spread less/dome more and more dry. So we’ll stick with baking as soon as the dough is firm.
If you’ve made those oat flour cookies you’ll see lots of similarities: whole egg, toasted oats, and old fashioned oats – lots of ‘em. I’ve even rolled these in oats for an optional coating. The big differences: this one uses all purpose flour, the butter is BROWNED, and they are glazed =)
Recipe Ingredients
Butter: unsalted. Cold is fine.
Brown Sugar: light or dark. Avoid raw sugar which doesn’t have the same moisture level.
Sugar: fine granulated.
Salt: fine sea salt. If using table salt, halve the amount.
Cinnamon: ground, optional but recommended.
Vanilla: pure extract.
Baking soda: to leaven the cookie (make it spread).
Egg: one large egg. I haven’t tried it but past experiments have shown me that in a recipe like this a flax egg could work well as a substitute (1 tablespoon ground flaxmeal mixed with 2 tablespoons water, left to thicken for a few minutes).
Flour: all purpose. If opting to make these gluten free use a 1 to 1 gluten free flour swap.
Oats: old fashioned rolled oats. How oats are cut/ground makes a difference in how they interact with the liquid in a recipe so it’s best to stick with what has been tested already.
For the glaze
Powdered sugar: made with tapioca starch.
Milk or heavy cream: full fat or low fat. You’ll need as much as it takes to make the glaze thin.
How to make Brown Butter Glazed Oatmeal Cookies
Prep
First brown the butter: set it in a light colored frying pan over medium heat. Cook until there are bits at the bottom of the pan that have turned a toasty brown. More detailed info on browning butter can be found here.
Once the butter is browned, immediately transfer it to a bowl. Take out a tablespoon of butter to set aside for the glaze.
Add the cinnamon, vanilla and salt while the butter is hot. Whisk in the sugar:
Set this mix in the microwave for just 30 seconds to melt it, then whisk again:
Let cool.
Toast the oats: set the oats in a large frying pan and set it over medium heat. Stir, tossing to ensure they are all heating evenly – until fragrant. Set aside to cool. This brings more of that oaty flavor to the cookies but you don’t have to do it.
Make the dough
Crack in the egg and whisk very, very well.
Add the flour and switch to a rubber spatula to stir. Stir in the toasted oats.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap to seal and let sit at room temperature for two hours, this is to let the flour hydrate and the butter to cool down.
When ready to bake, line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Grease the pans first so that the parchment stays stuck to the pan. Preheat the oven to 350 F convection setting.
Bake
Scoop the cookie dough onto the pan in mounds of about 2 tablespoons of dough per cookie. Leave enough space between them as the cookies will spread.
Optional: toss the cookies in some oats before baking – to make them pretty 😉 You might not want to do this if you are glazing as the glaze will cover it but it does add a little extra oatyness which is nice.
Bake until golden on the edges, about 12 minutes. Let cool on the pan.
The cookies should be completely cool before glazing.
Whisk all the ingredients for the glaze together (if the butter has gotten too hard, briefly warm it to melt). Dip the cookies face first into the glaze then place them face up to set.
Recipe for Brown Butter Glazed Oatmeal Cookies
Glazed Brown Butter Oatmeal Cookies
Ingredients
Brown Butter Oatmeal Cookie
- 140g butter unsalted
- 100g or ½ cup light or dark brown sugar
- 80gor ⅓ cup fine granulated sugar
- ½ tsp fine sea salt
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 1 large egg
- 130g or 1 cup all purpose flour high protein
- 110g or 1 cup old fashioned rolled oats not quick cooking
Brown Butter Glaze
- 1 tablespoon brown butter bits from above
- 95 or ¾ cup powdered sugar
- Dash vanilla
- Pinch fine sea salt
- 2-3 tablespoons milk
Method
- Brown the butter, set into a bowl to make the cookie dough. Remove 1 tablespoon of browned butter and reserve for the glaze.
- Toast the oats: set the oats in a large frying pan over medium low heat. When the oats are hot they will become fragrant, move them around the pan a bit just to ensure they are all heated evenly. Set aside to cool.
- Add the salt, vanilla and cinnamon. Whisk well to combine.
- Add the sugar to the bowl with the butter and whisk well then let cool for about 5 minutes. Whisk in the egg for at least a full 60 seconds. Add the flour and stir to combine. Stir in the oats.
- Cover the bowl and leave it at room temperature for 2 hours or in the fridge for 1.
- Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line two greased baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Scoop the cookie dough onto the prepared pan in portions of 2 tablespoons each. Optional: dip the cookies head first into a bowl of rolled oats, this adds a little extra oatyness to the cookie.
- Bake the cookies for about 12 minutes, until golden on the edges.
- Let cool completely before making the glaze.
- To make the glaze: the butter will probably have turned creamy, warm it for 5 seconds to re-melt it. Add a splash of vanilla, a pinch of salt and ¾ cups powdered sugar and 1-2 tablespoons of milk or heavy cream. Whisk until pourable, but thick (add more powdered sugar if it’s too thin, add more milk or cream if it’s too thick). Dip the completely cooled cookies face down in the glaze.
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