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Brown Sugar Cookies
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I think I’m in love. With a cookie.
It may not be the most handsome cookie around, but the taste makes up for what it’s lacking in looks. Imagine: chewy on the inside, crispy on the outside, and a rich and caramely flavor in every bite. My coworkers are going to love me (and their sugar high) tomorrow.
Perhaps someone well versed in the science of baking can tell me what the browned butter does to the cookie. Aside from the obvious, adding amazing flavor. And also, why is the salt added with the brown sugar rather than with the rest of the dry ingredients?
Just a note: My butter took around six minutes to brown, so don’t worry if three minutes go by and you’re wondering if you screwed up; you didn’t.
Photos of the process here.
Ingredients
14 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 3/4 sticks)
1/4 cup granulated sugar (about 1 3/4 ounces)
2 cups packed dark brown sugar (14 ounces)
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour plus 2 tablespoons (about 10 1/2 ounces)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Preparation
Heat 10 tablespoons of the butter in a pan over medium-high heat until melted. Continue to cook the butter until it is browned a dark golden color and smells nutty, about 1 to 3 minutes. Transfer the browned butter to a bowl and stir the rest of the butter into the hot butter until it melts- let this rest for 15 min.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a baking dish, mix granulated sugar and a ¼ cup of the brown sugar until combined well; set this mixture aside to roll dough balls in.
Mix flour, baking soda, and baking powder in a bowl. Add 1 ¾ cup brown sugar and salt to cooled butter and mix until there are no lumps. Add egg, yolk, and vanilla to butter mixture and mix well, then add flour and mix until just combined.
Roll dough into balls about 1 ½ inches in diameter, and roll balls in brown sugar and white sugar mixture. Place balls about 2 inches apart on parchment lined baking sheets.
Bake sheets one at a time until cookies are puffy and lightly browned, about 12- 14 minutes. (It says the cookies will look slightly raw between some of the cracks and seem underdone, but be careful not to over bake.) Cool on sheet for about 5 minutes and then transfer to a rack to cool.
Recipe from Cook’s Illustrated via South in Your Mouth.
Comments
42 Responses to “Brown Sugar Cookies”
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The molasses in brown sugar makes it very hygroscopic, meaning it attracts water molecules well. Hence the chewiness of things baked with brown sugar.
I don’t know of any reason why the salt would be added to the sugar instead of to the dry ingredients as a whole. I would love to know if there is a reason for it!
If you are interested in more of the science of baking, check out On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen by Harold McGee. I’m not sure if I picked up this brown sugar fact from the book or from a food science class. (I had to buy the book for my two food science classes, but never actually had to open it. I ended up reading it for fun!)
I was talking about brown sugar, oops! As for browned butter, it has undergone Maillard reactions, which is the browning of sugars and proteins (sometimes known when they are bonded as glycoproteins). Maillard reactions are responsible for the tastiness of browned meat, browned butter, etc. Caramelization only occurs in sugars. If you hadn’t had browned the butter previously, the Maillard reaction would have been much less a part of the cookie. So, in essence, I would say you’re right. The browned butter just adds flavor.
I made them as soon as I could!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/klara/3227330781/
yum, those look great. I love the flavor of brown sugar and the richness it gives cookies
Those look great! I’ll have to make them once all of my cupcakes are gone!
So simple and so delicious! Browned butter makes the world a better place. That’s a fact!
i’m planning to make cookies tonight and i was trying to think of something to make along with my standby of chocolate chip oatmeal and i think this is perfect.
can’t wait to try it! thanks!
What’s not to love? The best part is those ingredients are nearly always on hand – you know – for late night cookie emergencies.
Let me know what you think of them after you bake!
And Lisa, yes that is true, and dangerous!
I made these last night and they are great! They are very rich though…I was wondering if perhaps next time I should add a little bit more salt to counteract all the butter/sugar richness? A nice cold glass of milk certainly did the trick last night though.
Kerri,
I was thinking of sprinkling them with sea salt rather than rolling them in the sugar mixture. What do you think?
Okay, well I’m glad I’m not the only one that loved these cookies!! So yummy and rich!
Hilary, I twas thinking about that too. But I thought that might be too “out there” for my husband and co-workers, who were the recipients of these goodies. Maybe next time I’ll try a few with the salt and see what happens. Definitely sea salt, you are right…for the crunch factor.
I must admit I stumbled up on this recipe when I was having a spoonful of brown sugar mixed with a little kosher salt. Hello PMS! So sue me! As I was enjoying the sweet-salty combo, I was thinking of ways to present such a delicious concoction in some sort of legitimate cookie/dessert form. I wondered if there was such a thing as a brown sugar cooke, and voila! There was your site, handily provided by Google. Thanks for the recipe. Next time I will follow my instincts and give the salt a try. Unless you try it first for me and follow up back here!
Mmmm throw one at the screen! I’ll try to catch it in my mouth! ;P
Those look fabulous.
These are fabulous! I crushed up some artisan pyramid sea salt in my mortar and pistil and sprinkled it over the top… I think it was the perfect little punch. Your photos and recipes are amazing.
Everybody in my house LOVED these cookies (including my little girls who usually prefer things with chocolate). My daughter said they are the best cookies I ever made! Thanks for the recipe.
Brown Sugar Cookies…
Three and a half months in the desert had me craving some time in the kitchen, and I’ve made good use of all our new appliances this week. This recipe comes from Cook’s Illustrated, via Nosh With Me: 7/8……
I will have to give them a 10. WOW I don’t think I have ever made a better cookie. I don’t even think I have ever had a better cookie. OMG the best awesome chewy crispy toffee like flavor. GREAT!! My whole family enjoyed them coming back for more saying OMG these are awesome.. Thank you for the recipe.
I finally got to make these cookies and I tried to make a double batch as I always do and I forgot to double the eggs! Totally flat but very delicious. I did it again the following week the RIGHT way and they are awesome. Definitely watch out when cooking them as they will overcook in 30 seconds.
I just made these cookies and the cookie dough turned out more like batter than dough. It’s a warm day, maybe should have let the butter get cooler after browning before proceeding. anyway they taste great, but very flat. i could not roll them in sugar, though. it was just too hard to work with, so i just spooned the batter on the sheet and baked at 365.
Is there anything else i can do besides using parchment paper?
This exact recipe was made today on PBS’s America’s Test Kitchen. It was determined by the baker and tester that these were the best tasting cookie ever!
Their dough came out was firm enough to be manageable. Perhaps Jeff’s thinner batter may have been the results of using a larger sized egg?
@Jeff – Perhaps you used larger sized eggs? This same recipe was demonstrated today on OPB – America’s Test Kitchen. Theirs came out as a manageable dough.
i made these cookies. They are wonderful! But, they turned out soft and fluffy. I followed everything. they are not flat or crispy. What did i do wrong? Please help someone!
@shannon – Mine weren’t flat and crispy either. They were chewy with a slight crisp on the outside…
I made these cookies and they didn’t look anything like the photo you have up. There were more cake like and fluffy.
My husband and I were in dire need of satisfying our sweet tooth… these were so amazing! It wasn’t just a cookie but a gourmet delight! Thank you so very much!!
[...] to get it to a browned stage provides that decadent, nutty, caramelized flavor. Recipe from Nosh With Me was a close match but I wasn’t brave enough to utilize my Grey Sea Salt. There’s [...]
just made them after i saw the recipe and had just enough butter to make them.
They turned out SO good. Mine were like the picture.. but the ‘dough’ was more like batter. I added a little more flour till it got thicker, then used rounded tablespoons and dropped in sugar mixture (because i still couldn’t roll it was too soft) Thanks! will definitely make again!
Wow, these are incredible! Now I’m curious to find out what difference browning some of the butter in another cookie recipe would make.
I wonder if the folks who are getting a batter instead of a dough are browning the butter long enough? I did mine the way I would to make ghee — you wait until just after it’s stopped bubbling when the solids start to brown. As I understand it, the bubbling is caused by the water in the butter boiling away into steam. On my stove that took about 10 minutes, especially since I was tentative with the heat. Maybe if you don’t boil the water out, you get a wetter batter?
Or maybe it’s the weather or something. Anyway, I can’t wait to make these for the folks at home!
i have been waiting for the right time and tonight was it. my son and i made these cookies and he declared them “the best cookies ever.” oh…and he’s 8 years old.
i’m with all the people who thought a little salt on top would be rockin’ good….but the glass of milk was perfect with them.
mm….i’m wondering if they’ll survive until tomorrow. i think i might eat them all before bed.
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This is in my top 5 cookies of all time. No one in my family can resist them, and always want the recipe.
Each time I make them, however, the dough is a bit too wet. I’ve found that putting the final dough in the fridge for 30 minutes makes all the difference.
john
Thank you so much for that awesome recipe! My wife made those cookies several times already and she just now needed the recipe again. I think I’ll be getting some cookies shortly.
This recipe is so good! Browning the butter gives the cookies this amazing depth of flavor.
I added some sliced almonds to a batch I made, and also a little almond extract, and that gave them a whole new twist.
I bet adding any type of nut would give them some crunch, and would only add to their deliciousness
@Lisa – OMG! That is SOO True!! I’m having a late night cookie emergency RIGHT NOW and these are PERFECT. Made them and they are ABSOLUTELY DEE LISH!!! (and the dough is to die for as well! Was wishing I could drop dough balls into some vanilla ice cream!) hahha.
Thank you for this recipe…it’s going in THE Files!
=)
Yum…Yum…Yum! This is a great recipe! I made the cookies tonight and they were a smash with my family….and the Browned butter makes even more fantastic! Hooray for Brown Sugar Cookies!!!!
Just made these (subbing light brown for dark brown, because I didn’t have any dark brown) and they came out perfect! The brown butter gave it a nice toffee flavor that really surprised me when I tasted the dough. I measured the ingredients by weight and had no trouble, so the issues with wetness/fluffiness/cakiness might be artifacts of volumetric measurement.
I forgot the salt which i hope didn’t make a huge difference in the taste. But i think the cookies are okay not to sweet but moist and good
this recipe is from cooks illustrated.
http://www.cooksillustrated.com/recipes/detail.asp?docid=8173
Jillian that is correct, and it says that in the post.