Brown Butter Snickerdoodle Cookies

Elevate a classic cozy cookie by adding brown butter to the mix! These brown butter snickerdoodle cookies have the traditional snickerdoodle texture with perfectly crisp edges and soft and fluffy centers but with an elevated flavor. The cinnamon and brown butter brings on an added layer of warm and toasty flavor and the best part is: no chilling needed! You can make the cookie dough ahead of time or bake right away.

what makes these snickerdoodles so good?

Is it weird that I tested and photographed this recipe in the middle of July? Probably. But that just goes to show you how insanely delicious these cookies are. They're turn-your-oven-on-in-the-middle-of-a-heatwave good.

If you love classic snickerdoodle cookies, just WAIT until you try them with brown butter. It's all the same delicious flavor of the classic version - with warm and spicy cinnamon and a slight tang from the cream of tartar - but the brown butter adds a subtle depth of flavor that instantly takes these cookies to a whole other level.

These cookies also have all the perfect textures you'd expect out of any great snickerdoodle. The edges are crisp and melt in your mouth while the centers bake up light, fluffy, and airy with just the right amount of chewiness. They have a little hint of fudginess that almost makes it feel like you're biting into a blondie.

But the best part about these cookies may have to be how quick and easy they are to make. The most time consuming part is browning the butter, but otherwise, all that's involved in making these cookies is dropping ingredients together and mixing. The dough also doesn't require any chilling - which means they're ready that much quicker.

should you chill this cookie dough?

I already mentioned that this cookie dough doesn't need to be chilled before baking. But they still are great for make ahead cookies if you do decide to chill them.

Baking the cookie dough right away results in a thinner cookie that spreads more easily. The pictures in this post show you how thick you can expect the un-chilled cookies to be. You can alternatively make the cookies up to 3 days in advance and keep them in the fridge until you're ready to bake them off.

You'll notice that the cookies will bake up fluffier and thicker if you made the dough ahead of time. As the dough sits, the flour will absorb the excess liquid and the butter will harden back up. You can bake the cookie dough cold, but they will be extra thick (because of the solidified butter) or allow them to come back up to room temperature beforehand - but they will still be slightly thicker because of the excess liquid being absorbed by the flour.

It all just depends on what you're craving, the amount of time you have to spare, and how patient you're feeling! There's really no wrong choice. Each scenario will give you a darn good cookie.

how to make brown butter snickerdoodle cookies

This recipe starts with the brown butter. I go into a bit more detail on how to brown butter in this post if you're interested! But here's a quick breakdown:

1. Cut your butter into tablespoon sized portions (this just helps it melt more evenly).
2. Add to a skillet and heat on your stove until browned. The process is really that simple. The only things to keep in mind when browning the butter are: stir regularly (to prevent burning on the bottom) and don't walk away (because it can very quickly go from perfectly browned to burnt).
3. Finally, pour the browned butter into a heat safe bowl. This needs to be done as soon as the butter is browned. The residual heat from the pan can continue to burn / brown the butter.
4. Cool before using. You can't use the butter while it's hot or it'll cause the cookies to overspread! Cool for at least 15 minutes before using or until it reaches room temperature (but is still liquid).

Once the brown butter is no longer hot, the rest of the cookie dough can be prepped. After browning the butter, the rest of the recipe comes together very easily and quickly.

First, the cooled butter is mixed into the sugars just to moisten them. They're not going to cream together very smoothly and the mixture will remain grainy. After roughly combining the butter and sugars, the egg and vanilla are whisked in followed by all of the dry ingredients. The cookie dough is then ready to scoop!

This recipe will make about 9 larger cookies or 12 medium sized ones. After scooping the cookie dough into smaller portions, they're tossed in cinnamon sugar to give them that classic snickerdoodle sparkly exterior and then baked.

tips

• browning butter: stir regularly and don't walk away from it. It's not difficult to make but it can smell fear lol. The whole process will take around 5 minutes. It'll look like nothing really eventful is happening at first but the butter will brown suddenly - so keep watch!
• cool butter before using: I can't stress this enough - hot butter will lead to overspread cookies! It should be room temperature but still fluid.
• measuring flour: always always always measure flour either by weight or by spooning and leveling it into a measuring cup. When measuring with cups, don't try scooping the flour directly into the cup - this can pack in more weight of flour and make the cookies dry! Instead, lightly spoon the flour into your measuring cup then use a flat utensil to level off any excess.
• cream of tartar: don't skip it! It's really the key to getting that textbook snickerdoodle texture. If you don't have any available, you can replace it with 1 teaspoon vinegar or lemon juice. Cream of tartar is acidic and reacts with the baking soda to help the cookies spread. Vinegar or lemon juice make a good replacement for that acidity.

cookie storage and make ahead

Keep the baked cookies stored in an airtight container or plastic bag. These will keep for up to 1 week at room temperature. If you want to bake the cookies later, you can make the dough up to 3 days in advance and keep it in the fridge until you're ready to bake.

You can also freeze this cookie dough. To do this, scoop portions of dough onto a parchment lined baking sheet and freeze until solid. Transfer the frozen cookie balls to an airtight freezer container or plastic bag and seal well. Keep in the freezer for up to 2 months.

You can bake the frozen cookie dough as is (just tag an extra 2-4 minutes to the bake time) or let it defrost in the fridge the night before you want to bake it.

check out these other recipes!

• Brown Butter Maple Blondies
• Brown Butter Maple Crumb Cake
• Tiramisu Cookies
• Cinnamon Roll Cookies
• No Bake Cinnamon Roll Cheesecakes
• Brown Butter Cinnamon Rolls

Lastly, if you made this or any of my recipes, be sure to leave a comment and review below! I love hearing your thoughts! Also tag me on Instagram @eatsdelightfulblog so I can see what you're making.

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Enjoy!

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