Brown butter snickerdoodle cookies are a richer, nuttier spin on the classic snickerdoodle. These homemade brown sugar snickerdoodles are packed with cinnamon and are super buttery and chewy.
This easy, no-chill recipe comes together quickly and is the perfect addition to any cookie spread or Christmas cookie swap!
Snickerdoodle cookies are a classic sugar cookie with a little bit of tang and extra flavor from the cinnamon. For me, it's the extra spice flavor that really makes it shine.
If you love cinnamon and spices in your cookies, you'll also want to try these coffee cake cookies, baklava cookies, cookie butter cookies, and chewy pumpkin cookies.
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Why You'll Love This Recipe
Brown butter - Browning butter caramelizes the milk solids and creates a rich, nutty, caramel flavor. This extra step takes these cookies to the next level and will make them stand out from any other sugar cookie and classic snickerdoodle cookie you've had!
No chill - Sometimes all you want from a cookie recipe is a simple, quick recipe so you can have cookies ready to eat in a snap. These cookies don't require any chilling, so they are easy and quick to make.
Cinnamon - You can't have a chewy snickerdoodle without the star of the show - cinnamon! The cookie dough in this recipe gets rolled in a cinnamon sugar mixture to add that delicious spiced flavor and crackly exterior.
Ingredients
- Unsalted butter. One stick plus 1 tablespoon is needed, as the water will evaporate during the browning process and ½ cup total is needed.
- All-purpose flour. Be sure to measure correctly - using a digital scale is best. If you don't measure your flour correctly, you can end up with thick cookies that don't spread.
- Cream of tartar. A staple ingredient to snickerdoodles, which helps with rise and gives that well-loved snickerdoodle tang.
- Ground cinnamon. Classic to the snickerdoodle, this is used in the cinnamon sugar the dough gets rolled into!
- Brown sugar. This is a special addition to the cookie helps to give it a soft and chewy texture.
See recipe card for full ingredients list and quantities.
Substitutions and Variations
- Use ½ cup normal softened butter (not browned) if you want to skip the extra step.
- Add 2 teaspoons of chai masala for a more complex flavor (like in these chocolate chai cookies).
- Use either dark brown sugar or light brown sugar.
- Add ½ cup of white chocolate chips or chunks for extra creaminess.
- Try adding ½ cup of cinnamon chips for extra cinnamon flavor. Hershey's brand has a good product!
Tips for Browning Butter
Read the full post on how to brown butter for a more detailed walk-through!
- Cut the butter into tablespoon pieces so they melt evenly.
- Use a light-colored frying pan (rather than a pot) to speed up the process and you can visually see the milk solids browning.
- Don't walk away during the process and stir frequently, especially towards the end.
- Use your senses! Listen for the bubbling to quiet, look for the golden brown flecks, and smell for nuttiness.
- Remove the butter from the pan before the milk solids get too dark. They will keep cooking from the residual heat for a bit.
- Scrape out ALL brown bits from the bottom of the pan - that's what holds all of the flavor!
How to Make This Recipe
Before beginning, you'll need to brown the butter and let it resolidify to room temperature. To speed up the process, pop the bowl in the fridge and stir it every few minutes until it resembles the texture of creamy peanut butter!
One: Cream together the brown butter and sugars until light and creamy.
Two: Add the egg and vanilla and beat until light and fluffy.
Three: Add the dry ingredients and mix it together with a rubber spatula until no streaks of flour remain.
Four: Scoop the cookie dough and roll into balls, then coat them completely in cinnamon sugar.
Five: Add the cookie dough balls to two baking sheets (6 on each sheet), then bake.
Six: Scoot the cookies immediately after baking, cool for a few minutes on the pan, then finish cooling on a wire rack.
Expert Tips
- Brown the butter in a pan rather than a pot so there is more surface area for the brown bits to form.
- Let the brown butter solidify to room temperature before mixing into the dough.
- Use a digital scale to measure the flour to ensure the accurate amount which results in the perfect spread of the cookies.
- Use a cookie or ice cream scoop to portion out the cookie dough for consistently sized cookies.
- Don't over bake the cookies. The centers should look underdone when you take them out of the oven.
- Right when the cookies come out of the oven, use a biscuit cutter or round cookies cutter to scoot the outside of the cookies to make them perfectly round.
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Recipe FAQs
This is likely because too much flour was added to the dough. Use a digital scale or the fluff, scoop, and level method to make sure you use the correct amount of flour in the recipe.
Yes! Freeze balls of dough for 15-30 minutes on a sheet pan first so they don't stick together, then transfer to a Ziplock bag. Freeze the dough for up to 3 months.
Yes, cream of tartar is a crucial ingredient in traditional snickerdoodles and this brown butter version. It adds the classic tang of a snickerdoodle, so I don't suggest making them without it.
Yes. Just use ½ cup of softened butter in place of the brown butter. This will result in a classic cookie and won't have the nutty aroma and browned bits in this version, but it will still have tangy flavor and chewy texture.
Storage
Store the baked brown butter snickerdoodle cookies in a closed container for 2-3 days.
If you don't want to make all 12 cookies, you can scoop and roll the dough, then freeze them on a cookie sheet for about 30 minutes. Then, transfer to a zip top bag to store in the freezer for two months.
To bake from frozen, place the dough on a parchment lined cookie sheet for 5 minutes, then roll in some cinnamon sugar. Bake at 350℉/177℃ for 12-15 minutes.
What to Know When Cooking with The Cozy Plum
- All recipes are created with Diamond Crystal kosher salt, the least salty variety of kosher salt. If using Morton's, you'll need to cut the amount of salt in half as it's 2x as salty. This will be the same for sea salt. Please do not use table salt.
- Switch between Cups vs Metric using the toggle on the recipe card. Baking by weight using a digital scale will always produce the most accurate results.
- Scale the recipe using the '1X' '2X' '3X' buttons on the recipe card. Note that this does not make an adjustment for baking times, only quantities.
Did you make this recipe? Share it with us! Tag @thecozyplum on Instagram & Facebook and leave a star rating ⭐️ below!
📖Recipe
Brown Butter Snickerdoodle Cookies
Equipment
- Stand mixer with paddle attachment, or handheld mixer
- Cookie sheets
- 1.5-inch cookie scoop
Ingredients
- ½ cup +1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1 ⅔ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup light brown sugar
- 1 large egg room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla paste or extract
Cinnamon Sugar for Rolling
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
Instructions
- In a medium frying pan or saucepan over medium heat, brown the butter, stirring every 15 seconds so the milk solids don’t stick to the bottom of the pan.½ cup +1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- Pour the butter into a bowl and allow it to cool and solidify. The butter will turn opaque and the brown bits will settle to the bottom. If you want to speed up this process, place it in the fridge or freezer and stir it every 5 minutes until it solidifies, but is still soft. You want a spoon to effortlessly scoop through the butter.
- Once the butter is ready to go, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt in a bowl and set aside.1 ⅔ cup all-purpose flour, ½ teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon cream of tartar, ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or with a handheld mixer) cream together the brown butter and sugars on medium speed for about two minutes until fluffy, then scrape down the sides.½ cup granulated sugar, ¼ cup light brown sugar
- Add the egg and vanilla and mix until combined, then scrape down the sides again.1 large egg, 1 teaspoon vanilla paste or extract
- Add the dry ingredients and mix on low speed until just combined. Use a rubber spatula to finish mixing the dough and incorporate any remaining bits of flour.
- Preheat the oven to 350℉/177℃, and line two large cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- Mix together the sugar and cinnamon in a bowl.¼ cup granulated sugar, 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- Using a 1.5-inch cookie scoop, roll the dough into balls in between your hands, then coat completely in the cinnamon sugar mixture.
- Add 6 dough balls to each prepared sheet pan.
- Bake for 9-11 minutes until set on the edges but still look underdone in the center. Use a round item slightly larger than the cookie to gently move it around the cookie to make it nice and round.
- Allow the snickerdoodles to cool for 1-2 minutes on the pan, then carefully transfer to a wire rack to cool.
Shelby
These are freaking perfect. Everything you want in a snickerdoodle. I didn’t have cinnamon chips but these were the ultimate classic snickerdoodle. Pillowy soft, not too sweet, crispy edge cookie. I made some cream cheese frosting to go on top because I love a frosted cookie and it was great.
Callan Wenner
Yay!! Omg I love the cream cheese frosting addition I'm gonna have to try this!
Sidney
I had to edit the recipe a tiny bit (my roommate is allergic to milk to all non dairy for us!) and I made homemade cinnamon chips but damnnnnn these cookies are freaking amazing!
The Cozy Plum
Homemade cinnamon chips!? I must know this secret. So awesome, and thank you for trying! So happy you enjoyed them 🙂
Aubrey
These were fantastic! Everything they were promised to be - a slightly crisp exterior but a tender interior. The cinnamon chips were on point, found them at Target!
The Cozy Plum
So happy you were able to find the cinnamon chips! Glad you enjoyed them 🙂