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brown butter sugar cookies stacked on a plate with a bit taken out..
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Brown Butter Sugar Cookies

Prep Time1 hour 30 minutes
Cook Time30 minutes
Total Time2 hours
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Servings: 18
Calories: 137kcal

Equipment

  • Baking Sheet
  • Parchment Paper or Silicone Baking Mat
  • Mixer

Ingredients

  • ½ cup unsalted butter cut into pieces
  • 1 cup granulated sugar plus more for rolling
  • 1 large egg
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 ¾ cup all-purpose flour (210 g) spooned and leveled
  • ½ tsp baking soda
  • ½ tsp baking powder
  • ½ tsp salt

Instructions

Make Brown Butter

  • Add the butter to a saucepan and heat over medium until the butter is melted and starts to foam up, about 2-3 minutes. While it’s foaming, gently swirl the pan to ensure even heating.
  • As the butter continues to heat, the bubbles with subside and the butter will begin to develop a golden hue and the milk solids will start to separate.
  • At this point, turn down the heat to medium low and continue cooking until the milk solids are a nice brown color and there is a distinct nutty aroma. The whole process can take less than 10 minutes, so watch the brown butter very carefully as it is easy to go from perfectly brown to burned.
  • Once the butter has browned and there is a nutty aroma, remove from heat and pout into a heat proof container, making sure to scrape all the pieces of milk solids out of the pan.
  • Let cool to at least room temperate. You can also make this ahead of time and keep the butter in the fridge until ready to make the cookies.

Brown Butter Cookies

  • Preheat the oven to 350 ℉. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat and set aside.
  • In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
  • Using a standing mixer, or hand held mixer with a large bowl, mix the cooled brown butter and granulated sugar until combined, about 1-2 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary.
  • Mix in the egg and vanilla extract until combined, scraping down sides of bowl with a spatula as needed.
  • Add flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Mix until just combined, being sure not to overmix the cookie dough.
  • Drop 1-2 tablespoon balls of cookie dough onto the prepared baking sheet, keeping them 2-3 inches apart. If desired, roll the balls of cookie dough in extra granulated sugar prior to adding to the baking sheet.
  • Bake in the pre-heated oven for 9-12 minutes until the edges start to brown. Remove from oven and immediately tap the pan on the top of the oven. This will help the cookies settle down.
  • Then, let the cookies cool on the baking tray for a 5-10 minutes. Once they’ve started to firm up move the cookies to cooling rack to finish cooling. Once cool, enjoy!

Notes

  • It can be helpful to make the brown butter is a light colored pan if possible. This can help to see when the milk solids brown.
  • Measure out the flour using the spoon and swipe method of fluffing up the ingredients and then spooning into the measure cups and swiping the excess off the top with a knife. If you dip the measuring cup directly into the flour it can pack down and you will add too much flour to the recipe.
  • Try using an ice cream scoop to get even sized cookies!
  • This recipe makes about 18-20 cookies and can be doubled for a large batch.

Nutrition

Serving: 1cookie | Calories: 137kcal | Carbohydrates: 20g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 6g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 23mg | Sodium: 100mg | Potassium: 30mg | Fiber: 0.3g | Sugar: 11g | Vitamin A: 171IU | Calcium: 10mg | Iron: 1mg