These brown butter sugar cookies take the ever-so-popular sugar cookie to the next level.
Brown Butter Sugar Cookies
Browning the butter for this recipe gives the flavor a delicious nutty flavor. You do this by melting the butter on the stovetop and by stirring until the butter breaks down into little brown specks.
After the brown specks form, immediately remove them from heat to prevent the butter from burning. It takes roughly eight minutes to melt the butter, allow it to get foamy, and for the brown bits to form.
Once the brown bits have formed, pour the browned butter into a heatproof bowl and allow it to cool. This can take quite a while, even in the refrigerator.
A much quicker way is to allow it to chill in the freezer. You will want your brown butter to be in a softened state for making these cookies so no need to allow the butter to return to solid form.
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A Delicious Sugar Cookie
This cookie is moist, soft, chewy, and has the familiar tasty flavors of cinnamon sugar. After these cookies come out of the oven, flatten them out by using the back of a spoon.
I like to sprinkle additional cinnamon sugar on the cookies to give them a little more color and a little more flavor. After they have cooled on the cookie sheet for a few minutes, move to a cooling rack to prevent the underside of the sugar cookies from over baking.
Alternatively, to have a more rustic look to your cookies, flatten them out after rolling them into sugar and before baking. This allows the cookies to form unique cracks and offset the classic cookie shape.

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Gift of Cookies
These brown butter sugar cookies are perfect for gifts because they're so easy to make them the same shape and size. They stack well and if you make the balls small enough, you can easily get about 40 cookies out of the batch!
The flavors in this cookie are also perfect for Thanksgiving and Christmas. It's a cookie everyone is sure to enjoy!
To keep these cookies soft before serving or sharing, place a small slice of bread in the container with the cookies to keep them soft.
Remove the slice of bread before giving or sharing - it's a great tip to keep any cookies soft!

📖 Recipe
Brown Butter Sugar Cookies
Equipment
Ingredients
- ⅔ cup butter (browned - see recipe)
- ⅔ cup shortening
- 1 ¾ cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 ¾ cups all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ⅓ cup sugar for cinnamon sugar mixture
- ¼ cup cinnamon for cinnamon sugar mixture
Instructions
Brown Butter
- Heat skillet over medium heat and melt butter.
- Stir occasionally and allow butter to start to foam.
- Keep stirring until little bits of brown start to develop in skillet. Roughly 8 minutes (adjust accordingly)
- Stir and remove from heat immediately and pour into heat proof bowl.
- Cover and place in refrigerator and allow for butter to turn back into solid state. Roughly 45 minutes to an hour. Just enough to make the butter solidify but still workable.
Brown Butter Cookies
- Preheat oven to 350°F
- Mix butter and shortening together in large bowl.
- Add one egg at a time and blend well.
- Add in vanilla.
- Pour in sugar, baking powder, and salt.
- Slowly add in flour making sure to blend well.
- Roll dough into a ball shape.
- Roll balls of dough into the cinnamon sugar mixture and place on ungreased cookie sheet.
- Bake for about 10 minutes or until bottom of cookies are golden brown.
- After removing from oven, take back of spoon and lightly push down on center of cookies to help flatten them.
- If desired, sprinkle cinnamon sugar on top of cookie.
Nutrition
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Dana is an experienced recipe creator who crafts easy and delicious recipes for all levels of home cooks.
Her recipes range from classic comfort foods to healthy and nutritious meals, and she is always on the lookout for new and exciting ways to bring flavor and variety to the table.
Gloria says
OMG I just did a recipe this weekend that involved brown butter. It was the first time I made them. WOW that brown butter makes a HUGE difference in taste. All the more addictive...just what I need.
Gloria says
OMG I just did a recipe this weekend that involved brown butter. It was the first time I made them. WOW that brown butter makes a HUGE difference in taste. All the more addictive...just what I need.
Tatiana says
The addition of cinnamon sugar makes this cookies my kids favorite- they love chewy and soft treats!
Anna Hettick says
You certainly know how to up the sugar cookie game!! Brown butter?!?! Yes please! I'll bet that gives the cookies a perfect flavor!!
Tatiana says
The addition of cinnamon sugar makes this cookies my kids favorite- they love chewy and soft treats!
Anna Hettick says
You certainly know how to up the sugar cookie game!! Brown butter?!?! Yes please! I'll bet that gives the cookies a perfect flavor!!
lauren says
I’ve heard how amazing brown butter is but I haven’t tried making it yet. This is the perfect reason to start I think! These cookies looks delicious and perfect to bring to our post-christmas celebration.
lauren says
I’ve heard how amazing brown butter is but I haven’t tried making it yet. This is the perfect reason to start I think! These cookies looks delicious and perfect to bring to our post-christmas celebration.
Sam | Ahead of Thyme says
Wow these cookies look so yummy! This is perfect for the holidays. Pinned!
Amy says
Wow these look incredible! The brown butter will make these cookies Devine! They almost look like snickerdoodles! Yum! I am going to try these for my holiday baking!
Lesloe says
Browned butter is so overlooked in baking, it gives such an amazing flavor!
Amy says
Wow these look incredible! The brown butter will make these cookies Devine! They almost look like snickerdoodles! Yum! I am going to try these for my holiday baking!
Jagruti Dhanecha says
These chewy cookies sound so delicious, the brown butter adds that unique taste. Simply irresistible!
Jagruti Dhanecha says
These chewy cookies sound so delicious, the brown butter adds that unique taste. Simply irresistible!