Chewy Brown Butter Sugar Cookies

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These easy brown butter sugar cookies deliver rich, nutty flavor with minimal effort. They have a chewy texture with a nice, caramel-like taste that only browned butter can bring. Thanks to their no-chill dough, they also come together quickly so you can have a tasty cookie without spending hours in the kitchen.

Baked brown butter sugar cookies, sitting on a piece of white parchment paper on a cookie sheet.

Because of the delicious nutty flavor that brown butter adds to recipes, I sneak this ingredient into desserts all the time.

You'll find it in my browned butter peanut butter cookies as well as my big batch chocolate chip cookies.

If you're also cookie fanatic, here are more of my favorite cookie recipes:

Mascarpone cookies with pumpkin - These cookies taste like tiramisu, pumpkin pie, and some chewy cookies all met up for the best party. You must try them.
Pink sugar cookies - They're such a sweet color, but also they are made with freeze dried strawberries so you can enjoy this fruity flavor all year long! Perfect for baby showers and special occasions.
Chocolate chip sugar cookies - This is a great cookie to eat on its own or to dress up with buttercream for a fun take on sugar cookie decorating.
Black cocoa cookies - This is in my personal top three favorite cookie recipes here at the moment. The rich chocolate flavor is unmatched and SO good!

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No-Chill Dough for these Sugar Cookies
Why You'll Love this Recipe
📋 Key Ingredients
Best Results: Baking in Grams
Recipe Substitutions and Variations
Guide for Browning Butter
📖 Preparing and Baking Sugar Cookie Dough
💡 Pro Tip for Perfectly Rounded Cookies
❓ Recipe FAQ and Troubleshooting
Storage Instructions
More Tips for Baking
More Cookie Recipes
Chewy Brown Butter Sugar Cookies

Stack of brown butter sugar cookies, sitting on top of one another.

No-Chill Dough for these Sugar Cookies

Some cookie recipes call for resting your cookie dough before baking it for best results.

Here, though, you don’t need to chill or rest the dough ahead of baking these brown butter sugar cookies.

You can learn more about the merits of resting your dough in this post from Bon Appétit. The bottom line is that if a recipe does ask you to rest your dough, do it.

Why You'll Love this Recipe

Flavor and texture - Brown butter brings a uniquely nutty and delicious flavor to these cookies. Plus, they have chewy centers - an ideal cookie texture!
Easy steps - These cookies pack a punch but are super simple to whip up.
No-chill dough - I have no chill when it comes to waiting for cookies. So it's always a perk for me when dough balls can immediately go into the oven once they've been shaped and formed!
Simple ingredients - You likely already have in your refrigerator and pantry everything you'll need to make these cookies.
Freezes well - These cookies are easy to make weeks or even months in advance if you store them properly in an airtight container.

📋 Key Ingredients

Ingredients for brown butter sugar cookies.

The recipe card contains all the steps and ingredients, but below are a few key items that bring flavor to this recipe for brown butter sugar cookies.

Pure vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste – Vanilla adds a smooth, subtle warmth that makes the flavors sing. It plays a crucial role in enhancing the overall taste. And know the extract from your local grocery store is perfectly fine; I never taste much difference between pricier extracts and more basic ones.
Dark or light brown sugar – While many sugar cookie recipes use granulated sugar as their only form of sugar, this one uses a touch of brown sugar, too. This ingredient helps create a chewy cookie. If you prefer a deeper flavor, use dark brown sugar. I stuck with light here.
Brown butter - You'll melt and brown butter over the stovetop and see it go through several stages. After melting, it begins to foam as its water content evaporates, and the remaining milk solids start to brown, giving the butter a nutty aroma. The brown butter flavor is a deeper, more complex taste compared to melted butter.

Best Results: Baking in Grams

If you’re not already, use a kitchen scale for accuracy in baking.

While I include cups and grams in my recipe cards, weighing your ingredients and writing or following a recipe using a standard metric like grams ensures consistency.

I highly recommend investing $30 or less in a kitchen scale.

Recipe Substitutions and Variations

Sanding sugar - While delicious as is, these cookies would also look pretty topped with a white sanding sugar. They also have a little more texture this way. To do this, once you've formed your cookie dough balls, roll them in sanding sugar. They'll bake up like my pink sugar cookies.
Cookie sandwiches - If you like, you could also use these brown butter cookies for cookie sandwiches. A thin layer of my chai buttercream or almond frosting would be tasty between two cookies.

Guide for Browning Butter

Brown butter is a key ingredient here. It gives a rich flavor to these chewy sugar cookies, and the browning process is actually really simple!

To get perfectly browned butter:

Start Melting: Add your butter to a saucepan and melt over medium heat. Stir occasionally.

How brown butter will look once foamy on top.

Watch for Foaming: The butter will foam and then start to brown. The process takes 8-12 minutes. You’ll know it’s ready when the butter turns golden and starts to emit a nutty smell. Remove from heat before it burns.

Scrape the Brown Bits: Make sure to scrape all the brown bits from the bottom of the pan or pat. They add flavor and color to your cookies!

After browning butter, preheat your oven to 350°F and dive into the recipe.

Cream Butter and Sugars: In a large bowl with a hand mixer or the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, cream the browned butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla extract together on medium speed for 3-4 minutes.

Start Adding Dry Ingredients and Eggs: Stop the electric mixer and add salt, baking powder, baking soda, half of the eggs, and half of the flour. Mix for about 45 seconds on medium speed.

Finish Making Dough: Scrape the sides of the bowl to incorporate all ingredients before adding the remaining egg and flour. Beat dough again for around 30 seconds until it comes together.

Cookie dough balls for brown butter sugar cookies, sitting on a baking sheet.

Shape the Dough: Use a cookie scoop to portion the dough into balls about ⅔ the size of a golf ball. Place them on an ungreased aluminum baking sheet (no parchment paper or silicone mat needed), about 2 inches apart.

Brown butter sugar cookies cooling on a wire rack.

Bake: Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F for 13-14 minutes. The cookies are done when they're just beginning to form slightly crispy edges and are a light golden brown.

Let cookies rest on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.

💡 Pro Tip for Perfectly Rounded Cookies

As soon as cookies exit the oven, use a cookie cutter or even the open side of a glass that's slightly bigger than the cookies to gently slide them into a more circular shape.

❓ Recipe FAQ and Troubleshooting

How do you keep cookies from spreading?

Cookies can spread too much on a cookie sheet if the dough is too moist, without enough dry ingredients to hold it together. It can also spread due to an excessive amount of baking soda.

If you follow the steps in this recipe, though, you won’t have that issue.

In general, adding a bit of baking powder or flour to a cookie’s dough can help prevent them from spreading as much.

Should you refrigerate this cookie dough before baking it?

If a recipe calls for a chilled sugar cookie or cookie dough balls, meaning you need to refrigerate the dough before baking it, do it!

That step is not part of this recipe, though.

Overhead view of around a dozen baked brown butter sugar cookies.

Storage Instructions

Room temperature - These cookies will stay fresh at room temperature (around 70°F) for roughly 3-4 days. Keep them sealed in an airtight container between servings.

Freezing - They also freeze well for up to three months in an airtight container. I place wax or parchment paper between the layers as I stack them. They’ll still be good after about 3 months in the freezer.

To enjoy, let come to room temperature before serving.

You may also gently warm them for a few seconds on low heat in the microwave.

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More Tips for Baking

Overhead view of around a dozen brown butter sugar cookies.

Below are some general tips to keep in mind when making this brown butter sugar cookie recipe and any recipe, really:

Periodically check the freshness of your leavening agents. Mix a pinch of baking powder with hot water to see if it reacts. For baking soda, you can mix a pinch of it with a few drops of something acidic, like vinegar or lemon juice. If your leavening agents have no reaction (i.e. you see no fizzing or bubbling), it means they also won’t help your ingredients rise during the baking process.
Before diving into the recipe, clear your workspace and set out all your ingredients in front of you. This will make it less likely that you’ll forget to leave something important out of your mixing bowl!