Can I tell you a little dream I’ve had lately? I got it into my head a few weeks ago to open a farm stand. You’ve probably seen them popping up if you live in a small town: self-service stands where you can buy produce, honey, sourdough, etc. I’m not a sourdough baker (yet, I restarted my starter this past week so wish me luck), but I do love baking everything else: rustic Dutch oven bread, cookies, cinnamon rolls, you name it.
I’ve toyed with the idea of selling holiday cookie boxes the last few years—mainly at the request of my husband’s coworkers—and I’m looking for a bit of a productive hobby. Something I’ve never done before and that gets me off the internet a bit.
That is all to say: I’ve been testing recipes the last few weeks and wanted to share one that I’ve perfected.
These brown butter snickerdoodles are everything you love about the classic snickerdoodle: sweet, cinnamon-y and soft. The addition of brown butter gives them a more caramel flavor.
Ingredients:
Dry ingredients
2 ½ cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon salt
Wet ingredients
1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks)
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
½ cup granulated sugar
1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk
1 teaspoons vanilla extract
For rolling mixture: ¼ cup sugar and 2 teaspoons cinnamon
Instructions
First, brown your butter: add butter to a large saucepan and place over medium heat. The butter will begin to crackle, and then eventually foam. Make sure you whisk constantly during this process. After a couple of minutes, the butter will begin to brown and turn a nice golden amber color on the bottom of the saucepan and the foam will dissipate. Continue to whisk and remove from heat as soon as the butter begins to brown and give off a nutty aroma. Immediately transfer the butter to a medium bowl to prevent burning. Set aside to cool for 5-10 minutes or until cool enough to touch. I personally pop it in the fridge to speed up this process.
Once brown butter is cool, add all of it to the bowl of an electric mixer, along with the dark brown sugar and granulated sugar. Mix on medium speed for about 1 minute.
Next, add in the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla and beat on medium speed until well combined, smooth and creamy; about 1-2 minutes.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, and salt in a bowl. Slowly the dry ingredients to the bowl of the electric mixer and beat on medium-low speed just until combined.
Cover dough with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for 2-3 hours or up to overnight. When I first made these, I did not chill the dough and the results weren’t my favorite; the texture was off. You can also put in the freezer for 30-45 minutes, but I promise you don’t want to skip this step.
Once ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Let your dough sit at room temp for about 10 minutes, then begin rolling into balls—about 2 tablespoons of dough for each one. But if you’d like bigger cookies, go for it.
Once all your dough is formed into balls, mix 1/4 cup sugar and the 2 teaspoons cinnamon in a bowl. Roll dough balls in cinnamon-sugar mixture, then place on cookie sheet, 2 inches apart.
Bake the cookies 8-12 minutes or until the edges of the cookies begin to turn golden brown. I found that closer to 11 minutes was the perfect temp for my oven. They will look a bit underdone in the middle, but will continue to cook once out of the oven.
Let the cookies cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet, then move to a wire rack. This recipe makes approximately 24 cookies.
Let me know if you try this recipe! My son was a big fan—but he loves snickerdoodles anyway—and I loved them as well.