This recipe for brown sugar cookies are soft and chewy with a rich caramel flavor and crackly tops. With a buttery taste, they will be your new favorite sugar cookie!
Soft and Chewy Brown Sugar Cookies
Soft brown sugar cookies are just as amazing as my traditional easy Valentine’s Day cookies made with white sugar, and some might say they’re even better!
Soft, moist, and chewy cookies with a slightly crispy edge, brown butter and sweet molasses flavor are simple and addictive! They are similar to my chipless chocolate chip cookies, but with only brown sugar!
If you love classic cookie recipes, add gingersnap cookies and butter cookies to your list and for new favorites try these Biscoff cookies or chocolate chip caramel cookies!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Easy to make. This brown sugar version of soft sugar cookies comes together in 20 minutes in one bowl for easy cleanup! They don’t even need icing.
- Perfect texture. These soft, moist cookies will melt-in-your mouth. The cracked surface comes from rising during baking and collapsing after and we love that!
Brown Sugar Cookie Recipe Ingredients
Find the full printable recipe with specific measurements below.
- Unsalted butter: Soften butter to room temperature 30 minutes before prepping dough. It needs to be soft enough to cream, but you’re also going to use half of it to melt into brown butter.
- Brown sugar: You can use light brown sugar or dark brown sugar, it’s up to you. I like to mix both of them sometimes! The darker brown sugar will result in darker cookies with a slightly stronger molasses flavor.
- Large egg plus large egg yolk: The extra egg yolks gives the cookies that fabulous chewy consistency.
- Vanilla extract: The flavoring of pure vanilla extract complements the brown butter and brown sugar nicely giving the entire brown sugar cookie a delicious warm comforting flavor.
- All-purpose flour: I prefer unbleached.
- Baking soda: A rising agent that helps the cookies to rise before collapsing.
- Fine sea salt: Brings out the flavor of the brown sugar sugar cookies.
How to Make Brown Sugar Cookies
In a small light colored saucepan, melt half of the butter over medium heat, swirling it every once in a while. Once the butter turns an amber color and has a nutty aroma, transfer it to a bowl (including the brown milk solids) and cool.
In a large mixing bowl, add melted brown butter, remaining softened butter, and brown sugar. Beat with an electric mixer on medium-high speed for a few minutes until smooth and creamy.
Mix in the egg, extra yolk and vanilla then continue mixing for another minute. Add flour, salt, and baking soda then mix again scraping sides of the bowl as you go. Chill dough for 30 minutes in the fridge.
Using a cookie scoop, scoop out cookie dough and place onto a prepared parchment-lined baking sheet, leaving 2 inches in between each cookie. Bake at 350°F oven for 10 minutes until the edges are golden and center is still soft.
Cookie Tips and Variations
- For a crystallized sugar coating, roll dough balls in granulated white sugar before baking. You can also coat them in cinnamon sugar.
- For a holiday flare, add a pinch of cinnamon and drizzle with white chocolate and maybe some sprinkles. Then present them with traditional Christmas sugar cookies for a fun variety!
- Glaze. Add a maple glaze like I do in these maple sugar cookies!
- Nutty: Press a halved pecan on top before baking, everyone always loves my butter pecan cookies!
- Add some warm fall flavor by taking a page out of the ginger molasses cookies recipe and adding some ground ginger.
- Allow cookies to cool for a few minutes before moving them to a wire rack. They’re quite soft just out of the oven, so moving too early could cause them to fall apart.
- If you prefer a thicker cookie, add up to 1/4 cup more flour and chill the dough for at least 1 hour.
- Line the baking sheets with parchment paper or a silicone mat. These cookies spread quite a bit, and the lining will help to avoid overspreading.
More cookie recipes we love include chocolate crinkle cookies, this chocolate chip cookie recipe and snickerdoodle cookies!
More Soft Cookie Recipes You’ll Love
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Brown Sugar Cookies
Video
Ingredients
- 1 cup (2 sticks; 226 grams) unsalted butter , at room temperature, divided
- 1 ¾ cups (375 grams) light or dark brown sugar (I like to do a mix of both if I have them)
- 1 large egg
- 1 large egg yolk
- 2 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 ½ cups (350 grams) all-purpose flour , plus more if needed
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon fine sea salt
Instructions
- Make brown butter. In a small pan, melt 1/2 cup butter over medium-heat. Cook 3 to 5 minutes, swirling the pan every so often, until the butter browns (when it turns an amber golden color and has a nutty aroma, it’s done). Transfer to a bowl to cool 5 minutes.
- Line baking sheets. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line 2 baking sheets with a baking mat or parchment paper.
- Combine cookie dough and chill. In a large bowl, mix the melted brown butter, remaining 1/2 cup butter, and 1 3/4 cups brown sugar with an electric mixer on medium-high speed 3 minutes, or until smooth and creamy. Mix in 1 large egg, 1 egg yolk and 2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla for an additional minute. Add 2 1/2 cups flour, 3/4 teaspoon salt, and 1 teaspoon baking soda and mix until well combined. If dough seems too soft, add an 1 to 2 Tablespoons flour. Chill dough at least 30 minutes.
- Bake. Scoop cookie dough onto the baking sheet, about 2 inches apart. Bake 10 minutes, or until the edges are just golden brown and the center is still soft.
- Cool. Remove from oven and let cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet, or until the centers are set, before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition provided is an estimate. It will vary based on specific ingredients used.
Did you make this recipe? Don’t forget to give it a star rating below!
Recipe FAQs
Brown sugar does a couple of things. One, it provides a different flavor than traditional white sugar because of the molasses it contains. And two, it traps moisture so it helps keep the texture of the brown sugar cookies soft and chewy.
You don’t! I do recommend it because the nutty flavor element is next level, but you can, by all means, skip the process and use regular melted butter along with the softened butter.
These don’t need to be kept in the fridge. They’ll stay fresh at room temperature as long as they’re kept in an airtight container so they don’t dry out.
Certainly! I suggest even doubling the batch and freezing one of them for later on. They’ll keep frozen for up to 3 months. Then you can thaw as many as you’d like at room temperature before serving them again.
The secret is to add cornstarch to your brown sugar cookie dough! I’ve never felt the need to do this, but if you try it with yours, let me know what you think.
Jamielyn Nye is the founder and recipe creator at I Heart Naptime. She is the author of the I Heart Naptime Cookbook and shares easy family-friendly recipes and desserts for every occasion.
I made these today, and I think I messed it up… The directions say to only cook for 10 minutes, but mine did not look anywhere near done after 10 minutes. So I kept cooking them and they never got crackly on top. They were very tasty right out of the oven but later after they cooled they were very hard. I only cooked about a quarter of the dough, so I’ll try only cooking for 10 minutes this time and hope they turn out better.
Hi Catherine, yes 10 minutes is best remember cookies will continue to bake as they rest. For crackly tops remember to chill the dough before baking.
These were absolutely amazing. And they all baked evenly and perfect – they almost looked fake!
Ha, too funny! So glad the cookies turned out so perfect and with amazing taste too :)
I only have egg whites! Do you think the recipe will still turn out?
No the yolk is needed for moisture and fat, if you use only egg whites the cookies with dry and cakey.