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This Brown Butter Snickerdoodle Recipe is next level. They’re soft and chewy, slightly tangy cookies tossed in a cinnamon sugar coating and enhanced with the nutty flavor of browned butter in every bite.
For more delicious cookies recipes, make my brown butter chocolate chip cookies and red velvet cookies!
I love traditional snickerdoodles – but this brown butter option is truly out of this world. You’ve got that classic snickerdoodle taste with the slight tang… but with the addition of brown butter?
Ooooh it’s a game changer.
It’s a soft cookie with a slightly crispy edge and the cinnamon flavor makes these perfect for the holiday season.
If you love a chewy snickerdoodle, this is going to be the perfect cookie for you!
Table of contents
Key Ingredients
(full list of ingredients can be found in the recipe card)
- Salted Butter creates that rich, nutty, caramel-like flavor and adds fat for a tender, chewy texture with crisp edges.
- Brown Sugar and White Sugar – together this combo brings moisture and chew and helps the cookies spread and crisp.
- Vanilla Extract enhances all the warm flavors and adds depth. It smooths everything out in the background.
- Cinnamon and Nutmeg deliver that signature cozy snickerdoodle flavor and that warm, nostalgic aroma.
- Cream of Tartar adds the slight tang snickerdoodles are known for and reacts with baking soda to keep the cookies soft and pillowy.
- Sour Cream adds moisture and tenderness without thinning the dough. It keeps the cookies soft and plush instead of dry.
- Eggs provide structure and binding, while the extra yolk adds extra richness and chew for those soft centers.
Substitutions and Variations
- No cream of tartar? Increase baking powder to 2 tsp and omit the baking soda.
- Add in sme maple extract, about 1 tso for a little maple flavoring.
- Some white chocolate chips mixed in really elevates this recipe!
- If you have any milk powder, add some into the butter when browning to really up the brown butter flavor. I do this with my brown butter chocolate chip cookies, too.
How To Make Brown Butter Snickerdoodle Cookies
Step 1: Brown the Butter – Add butter to a small saucepan or skillet over medium heat and cook until it melts, bubbles, and develops golden brown specks develop on the bottom of the saucepan (5–10 minutes). Remove from heat immediately and pour into a heatproof bowl. Allow the butter to come to room temperature and solidify. You can place into the refrigerator for about 45 minutes to an hour or let it sit at room temperature for about 2 hours.
Step 2: Mix together the dry Ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk together all purpose flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Set aside.
Step 3: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the room temperature brown butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar. until fluffy and lightened in color, about 3 minutes. Add eggs and egg yolk one at a time, ensuring each egg is fully incorporated prior to adding the next, then add in vanilla extract and sour cream.
Step 4: Add flour mixture to wet ingredients and mix just until a soft dough forms, about 30 seconds. Do not overmix, stop mixing once there’s no flour patches in the dough.
Step 5: Use a large cookie scoop (or tbsp measuring spoon) to scoop out 2 tbsps of the cookie dough. Roll into a ball and place the cookie dough balls onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 18 hours, ideally overnight. This deepens flavor and guarantees thick, bakery-style cookies.
Step 6: Preheat oven to 375°F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Mix cinnamon and sugar together in a small bowl. Roll each dough ball generously in the cinnamon sugar mixture to coat. Then bake for 9–10 minutes until edges are set and centers look soft and just underbaked. Let cookies cool on the sheet for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack.
Pro Baking Tips
- To brown the butter, use light-colored pan so that you can see the butter once it’s perfectly browned. You can use a dark pan but it’s difficult to see the brown specks.
- Let the butter re-solidify before mixing. If the butter is still melted, your cookies will spread thin. You want it soft like room-temp butter, not liquid.
- If you don’t have a stand mixer, use an electric hand mixer instead.
- Measure Flour by Weight (If You Can): Professional baker move – weight your ingredients with a kitchen scale! This prevents the cookies from coming out dry and or flat. If you scoop straight from the bag with a measuring cup, you’re sneaking in too much flour which will leave you with dense cookies.
Recipe FAQs
Absolutely. Scoop into dough balls, freeze solid, then store in a zip-top bag up to 2 months. Bake straight from frozen, just add 1 to 2 minutes.
Cracking happens when the dough puffs quickly in a hot oven and then settles. It’s a good thing, it means the cookies are soft inside with crisp edges.
You can substitute baking powder, but the flavor and texture will change. Without cream of tartar, they’ll be more like cinnamon sugar cookies than true snickerdoodles.
Snickerdoodles use cream of tartar, which gives them a slightly tangy flavor and soft, chewy texture. Sugar cookies don’t have that signature tang and are usually crisper or more neutral in flavor.
Yes, that’s the signature flavor. Skipping it will completely change the taste and turn these into regular snickerdoodles instead of brown butter snickerdoodles.
More Cooke Recipes
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Brown Butter Chai Cookies
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Brown Butter Sugar Cookies
Christmas and Holiday Recipes
Biscoff Butter Cookies
Desserts
Cinnamon Cookies
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If you make this recipe, please leave a star rating on the recipe card and comment below! You can also tag @BritneyBreaksBread on Instagram and hashtag #britneybreaksbread so I can celebrate your beautiful creations!
Brown Butter Snickerdoodle Cookies
Equipment
- Stand Mixer or Hand Mixer
- Skillet or Saucepan (for browning the butter)
- Cookie Sheets
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups (280 g) Salted Butter
- 3 cups (375 g) All Purpose Flour
- 2 tsp Cream of Tartar
- 1 tsp Baking Soda
- 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
- 2 tsp Cinnamon
- 1/8 tsp Nutmeg
- 3/4 tsp Kosher Salt
- 3/4 cups (165 g) Brown Sugar
- 3/4 cup (150 g) Sugar
- 2 large (100 g) Eggs, (room temperature)
- 1 (18 g) Egg Yolk
- 1 tbsp (15 g) Sour Cream
- 1 tbsp (15 g) Vanilla Extract
Instructions
- Brown the Butter – Add butter to a small saucepan over medium heat and cook until it melts, bubbles, and develops golden brown specks develop on the bottom of the saucepan (5–10 minutes). When the butter is fully browned, you should be left with about 1 cup of butter (226g).
- Remove from heat immediately and pour into a heatproof bowl. Allow the butter to come to room temperature and solidify. You can place into the refrigerator for about 45 minutes to an hour or let it sit at room temperature for about 2 hours. 1 1/4 cups Salted Butter
- Mix together the dry Ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk together all purpose flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Set aside. 3 cups All Purpose Flour 2 tsp Cream of Tartar 1 tsp Baking Soda 1/2 tsp Baking Powder 2 tsp Cinnamon 1/8 tsp Nutmeg 3/4 tsp Kosher Salt
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the room temperature brown butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar. until fluffy and lightened in color, about 3 minutes. Add eggs and egg yolk one at a time, ensuring each egg is fully incorporated prior to adding the next, then add in vanilla extract and sour cream. 3/4 cups Brown Sugar 3/4 cup Sugar 2 large Eggs 1 Egg Yolk 1 tbsp Sour Cream 1 tbsp Vanilla Extract
- Add flour mixture to wet ingredients and mix just until a soft dough forms, about 30 seconds. Do not overmix, stop mixing once there's no flour patches in the dough.
- Use a large cookie scoop (or tbsp measuring spoon) to scoop out 2 tbsps of the cookie dough. Roll into a ball and place the cookie dough balls onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 8 hours, overnight ideally. This deepens flavor and guarantees thick, bakery-style cookies.
- Preheat oven to 375°F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Mix cinnamon and sugar together in a small bowl. Roll each dough ball generously in the cinnamon sugar mixture to coat. Then bake for 9–10 minutes until edges are set and centers look soft and just underbaked. Let cookies cool on the sheet for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack.
Notes
- No cream of tartar? Increase baking powder to 2 tsp as opposed to 1/2 tsp.
- Let the butter re-solidify before mixing. If the butter is still melted, your cookies will spread thin. You want it soft like room-temp butter, not liquid.
- If you don’t have a stand mixer, use an electric hand mixer instead.
- Measure Flour by Weight (If You Can): Professional baker move – weight your ingredients with a kitchen scale! This prevents the cookies from coming out dry and or flat. If you scoop straight from the bag with a measuring cup, you’re sneaking in too much flour which will leave you with dense cookies.
- To brown the butter, use light-colored pan so that you can see the butter once it’s perfectly browned. You can use a dark pan but it’s difficult to see the brown specks.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
