Brown Butter Cookies
Brown Butter Cookies Recipe also known as toffee cookies is the best sugar cookie made with chocolate chunks. Learn how to make butter cookies with a toffee taste that’s made with browned butter and sugar
Brown Butter Cookies is a perfect tea time snack to munch on. They’ve got a caramel like taste as its made with butter that is browned. This recipe is easy and yields a batch of crunchy biscuits that are full of flavor
What is Brown Butter?
Brown butter is like regular butter with a caramelized feel to it. Brown butter is way delicious than regular butter. It has a toffee flavor with a nutty aroma. Making cookies with brown butter, is like giving a regular butter cookie a nutty caramelized taste
How to make brown butter for cookies?
It’s as simple as it sounds. The butter need to be melted on medium heat, stirring it constantly until golden brown
It’s essential to be careful while cooking butter, if done on high flame there are tendencies of the butter being burnt and not browned. So go slow
Steps to Brown butter at home
- Cut cubes of regular butter and place it in a wide pan or vessel of your choice. It’s best to use white or light colored pans on the inside and it helps you notice if the butter has darkened in color. If the pan is dark colored on the inside, its difficult to judge the color of the butter. You may just end up with black instead of brown butter
- Place the pan on medium heat and stir constantly. Once the butter is completely melted increase the heat just a little bit (medium flame)
- You will hear a sizzling sound with froth formed on top of the butter. Let it continue cooking as u stir. Once you notice the butter is golden brown take it off the flame and pour it in a heatproof bowl
- You may notice some brown milk solids at the base of the vessel. Dont’t throw it out cos that’s where the flavor lies
- Let the butter come to room temperature before combining it with other ingredients
How long does it take to make brown butter?
It depends on the quantity of butter your browning
Typically, 100 to 150 grams of butter takes 4-5 mins to brown on slow to medium flame. It may take longer when done with bigger quantites of butter
Also try our
Tips to make the best brown butter cookies
Add the cornstarch
It ensures the cookie has a crunchy texture after baking. Do not skip it as it soaks in the extra moisture in the dough making the cookie crisp, also maintaining its shape
Using brown sugar
You can use regular white sugar but brown sugar adds more caramelized feels to it. Brown sugar is not as sweet as white sugar. It’s also brown in color, so it helps to maintain that beautilful golden brown cookie color
Chill the dough
Chilling the dough before using is essential. I like to do this for most of my cookie recipes. It solidifies the butter, making it easier to scoop and place on the tray and also helps in getting fuller cookies and not flat thin cookies after baking. So chilling the cookie dough before baking is a must !!
Use room temperature brown butter
Make sure the butter is not warm while you mix the remaining ingredients along. It will tamper with the texture and consistency of the overall cookie dough and then ofcourse the cookie after baking. Thus, cool the butter completely before using, even if its a litte solid, its fine but it shouldn’t be warm
Do not use an electric hand beater
It’s best to do this using dough hooks or simply a regular hand whisk & spatula. Using beater blades, beats the overall batter too much, making it runny and super soft in texture. We need a cookie dough and not cookie batter, using a hand whisk to beat the basic ingredients like butter, sugar and eggs work. But do not beat the flour into it. Fold in the flour using a spatula.
If using a stand mixer, the dough hooks do the job well
Ingredients to make Brown butter cookies
Brown butter
This is not what you buy readymade but is what you do with regular butter at home. Remember the tips I’ve shared above. Like I say, we need brown butter and not black, so go slow and be gentle
Sugar
You may use brown or white sugar. Both work well. Brown sugar adds the right flavor to these cookies so that’s my go-to option for this recipe. Feel free to use a combination of brown and white sugar too
Eggs
Eggs add taste and texture, thus essential in the recipe. For egg-free options, use a flaxseed egg by combining flaxseed powder and warm water together
Vanilla essence
Known to cover the whiff from the eggs. Just a little does its job
Cornstarch
It’s essential to add along with the flour. Its what makes the cookies crisp and maintains its solid texture after baking
Baking powder & Baking soda
Use both, cos their both essential. Do not go overboard, it may change the taste and texture of the cookie. Adding too much baking soda leaves a salty after taste, so go slow with it
All-purpose flour
All-purpose flour is best for cookie recipes. Nothing fancy needed
Chocolate chunks or chocolate chip cookies
Chocolate chips or chocolate chunks are essential to take these cookies to another level. So now you have toffee like cookies with a rich chocolate flavor in it
Recipe Card
Ingredients
- 120 grams salted butter, room temperature 1/2 cup
- 110 grams brown sugar 1/2 cup
- 1 Egg
- ½ tsp vanilla essence
- 2 tsps cornstarch
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- 190 grams All purpose flour 1 1/2 cup
- 100 grams Dark chocolate, roughly chopped
Instructions
To make the brown butter
- Add cubes of butter to a wide pan. Melt on slow flame. It's best to use a white or light colored pan, it helps to notice the color of the butter as it changes
- Once the butter has melted, increase the heat a little. You will notice a frothy texture on top of the butter. Keep stirring until the butter turns golden brown in color. Once done, switch off the gas and pour the butter in a heat proof bowl and let it come to room temperature
To make the cookie dough
- In a bowl, combine the all-purpose flour along with the cornstarch, baking powder and baking soda. Mix well. Toss the chopped chocolate chunks in the flour mixture and set this aside
- In another bowl, add the room temperature brown butter and brown sugar. Whisk well. Once well combined add the egg to it. Continue whisking until the mixture turns creamy. Add the vanilla essence and continue whisking
- Lastly, add the flour mixture to it and mix well using a spatula to form a dough. Cover this cookie dough with cling wrap and let it refrigerator for 2 hours
- Then, using an icecream scooper, scoop the cookie mixture onto the palm of your hand and form a ball. Place these cookie balls on a tray lined with parchment paper and bake at 180 degrees C for 20 to 25 mins or until golden brown on th bottom of the cookie. Let it cool for 10 mins once baked, this will yield a crispy biscuit-like texture
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Nutrition Information
The nutrition information and metric conversion are calculated automatically. I cannot guarantee its accuracy. If this data is important to you please verify with your trusted nutrition calculator. Thank you
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