Thanksgiving has come and gone and that means one thing: it’s time to start baking cookies! I love baking cookies every day of the year, but especially during the holiday season. I always make my staple Christmas cookies: Soft Gingersnaps with White Chocolate Chunks, Red Velvet Cheesecake Cookies, Chocolate Mint Chip Cookies, and Lace Cookies. But I always like to try a few new cookie recipes every season, too. I was looking for a festive holiday cookie recipe on Tasty Kitchen and stumbled upon Monique’s recipe for Brown Butter Snickerdoodle Cookies. My search was over. I had to make these cookies. 

Snickerdoodles are a classic holiday cookie, but these are made with brown butter. Brown butter takes butter, an already glorious ingredient, to a new level of gloriousness. If you haven’t tried brown butter, don’t wait any longer—make these Brown Butter Snickerdoodles. 

To make the cookies, you will need: flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, cinnamon, salt, butter, brown sugar, sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, and Greek yogurt. 

Whisk together the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, cinnamon, and salt in a bowl and set aside.

Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. (Tip: Don’t use a dark pan, which will make it more difficult to gauge the color of the butter as it browns.) Once the butter starts melting, it will begin to foam.

Make sure you whisk the butter as it foams. 

After a few minutes, the butter will begin to brown on the bottom of the saucepan. Keep whisking! When the butter begins to brown and give off a nutty aroma, remove the pan from heat. (The butter in the photo above still has more browning to do.)

See that rich brown color? That’s the color you’re looking for. Immediately transfer the butter to a bowl to prevent burning. Let the brown butter cool for a few minutes.

Pour the butter into a mixing bowl (or the bowl of your stand mixer). Add the sugar and mix well.

Add in the egg and egg yolk.

Next, add the vanilla. 

Add in the Greek yogurt. 

Mix until combined. 

Reduce the mixer speed to low and slowly add the dry ingredients, just until combined.

Place the dough in the refrigerator and chill for at least 30 minutes. 

Preheat the oven to 350ºF and prepare the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Measure about 2 tablespoons of the chilled dough and roll into balls. Roll the balls in the cinnamon-sugar mixture.

Place the coated dough balls on a cookie sheet, 2 inches apart. 

Bake the cookies for 8-11 minutes or until the edges start turning golden brown. They will look slightly underdone in the middle, but don’t worry—they’ll continue to cook once out of the oven. 

Cool the cookies on the sheets for at least 2 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

The brown butter makes these snickerdoodles extra extra special. I am in love. The cookies are soft, chewy, and have a slight nutty flavor thanks to the brown butter. The cinnamon and sugar makes the cookies pretty and gives them the perfect amount of sweetness. If you are looking for a new holiday cookie to try this year, make these. Your family, friends, and neighbors will love them. And if you don’t want to share, I won’t tell. They didn’t make it out of our house either.

Thanks Monique for a fabulous recipe! I am going to make these cookies every year. Make sure you visit Monique’s blog, Ambitious Kitchen, for other tasty recipes. 

Printable Recipe

Brown Butter Snickerdoodle Cookies

by Monique of Ambitious Kitchen on October 14, 2012 in Cookies, Desserts October 14, 2012 CookiesDesserts

See post on Monique of Ambitious Kitchen’s site!

4.89 Mitt(s) 9 Rating(s)

Prep Time: 40 mins

Cook Time: 10 mins

Difficulty: Easy

Servings: 20

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Description

These aren’t your average snickerdoodle. They are a million times better.

Ingredients

• FOR THE COOKIES:
• 2-½ cups All-purpose Flour
• 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
• 2 teaspoons Cream Of Tartar
• ½ teaspoons Cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoons Salt
• 2 sticks Unsalted Butter
• 1-¼ cup Dark Brown Sugar
• ½ cups Granulated Sugar
• 1  Egg
• 1  Egg Yolk
• 1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract
• 1 Tablespoon Plain Greek Yogurt
• FOR THE ROLLING MIXTURE:
• ¼ cups Granulated Sugar
• 2 teaspoons Cinnamon

Preparation Instructions

For the cookies:
Whisk together the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, cinnamon, and salt in a bowl and set aside. NOTE: Make sure your baking soda and cream of tartar are fresh!

Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. The butter will begin to foam. Make sure you whisk consistently during this process. After a couple of minutes, the butter will begin to brown on the bottom of the saucepan; 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 bowl to prevent burning. Set aside to cool for a few minutes.

With an electric mixer, mix the butter and sugars until thoroughly blended. Beat in the egg, yolk, vanilla, and yogurt until combined. Add the dry ingredients slowly and beat on low speed just until combined.

Chill your dough in the refrigerator (important!) until the dough is cold about 30-60 minutes, or place in freezer for about 20 minutes if you are super eager, although I cannot promise the same results if you do this. Fridge is always best! If you desire a puffier cookie, keep the dough in the fridge overnight.

Preheat the oven to 350ºF.

Once dough is chilled, measure about 2 tablespoons of dough and roll into balls. Meanwhile, mix the rolling mixture ingredients in a bowl. Roll balls in the cinnamon-sugar rolling mixture. Place dough balls on cookie sheet, 2 inches apart. If you desire a thinner cookie, flatten the tops of the cookies a tiny bit (very tiny) with your hand.

Bake the cookies 8-11 minutes or until the edges of the cookies begin to turn golden brown. They will look a bit underdone in the middle but will continue to cook once out of the oven. Bake longer if you like crispier cookies. Cool the cookies on the sheets at least 2 minutes. Remove the cooled cookies from the baking sheets after a few minutes and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

 
 
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Maria and her husband Josh (who she affectionately refers to as her “dough boy”) blog at Two Peas and Their Pod. They’ve been featured on Saveur, Eatocracy, Gourmet Live, Glamour, and the Los Angeles Times, to name just a few. They’d also just recently added a little pea to their pod. We’re so glad to have them here!