Brown Butter Snickerdoodles Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Why is my brown butter not turning brown? ›

If the bottom of the pan is too dark you won't be able to see this color change happen. Using a heavy-bottomed pan will protect the milk solids from extreme heat. Additionally, a heavy-bottomed pan will evenly distributed the heat, heating the milks solids and butter in an even fashion.

I recommend browning no more than 230g / 1 cup/2 sticks at a time. Any more and the butter won't heat evenly. It usually takes between 8-15 minutes. Don't be tempted to turn up the heat thinking it will make the process go quicker.

Adding too much butter can cause the cookies to be flat and greasy. Adding too little butter can cause the cookies to be tough and crumbly.

With less water, you also end up with less gluten development, thus a cookie made with browned butter is softer and more tender than one made with creamed or plain melted butter.

Perfectly browned butter should be deep amber in color and have a nutty fragrance, with darker milk solids visible on the bottom.

But the process of browning butter—simple as it may seem—requires some particular vigilance. A few seconds too long on the heat and this deeply flavored butter can turn from creamy and caramelly to bitter and burnt.

Yes! The browned butter adds a delicious nutty flavor, plus the fact that the butter has been browned means that all or most of the water has been cooked out of it, and that makes for a more consistent cookie.

You can (and should!) make brown butter in advance and store it until needed. Pour brown butter into a heat-safe bowl, then after it cools to room temperature, transfer it to an airtight container. Brown butter will keep in the refrigerator for up to two weeks or in the freezer for up to three months.

During the process of browning, much of the water evaporates from the butter. So if you start out with 1 cup of butter, you'll be left with just a hair over 3/4 cup of butter. You'll lose a couple tablespoons in the process. This is the evaporating effect.

What makes cookies fluffy and not flat? ›

Room temperature butter is just the right consistency to incorporate air when it's creamed with sugar. These trapped air pockets result in risen, fluffy cookies. If the butter is any warmer, it won't incorporate enough air and your cookies will have less rise.

Using too much flour will make your cookies too cakey, so try reducing the flour amount by two tablespoons. Avoid using cake flour instead; try a mix of all-purpose flour and bread flour for a more dense and chewy texture. Using too much baking powder. According to the science geeks at Serious Eats—we love you!

Why do my cookies go flat when I take them out of the oven? If your cookies look perfect in the oven and fall flat upon taking them out, you may have used too much sugar or too little flour. Always be sure to measure carefully using a kitchen scale and be careful not to over-bake.

Just like regular butter, browned butter (also called just brown butter) improves the texture of baked goods and adds richness to savory dishes. But unlike regular butter, brown butter has a distinctive, bold flavor that otherwise can't be recreated.

The brown butter offers a subtle nutty flavor that blends perfectly with the molasses in the brown sugar to give the cookie that amazing rich slightly smoky and nutty toffee flavor. Baking your cookies at a higher temperature will cook the outside of the cookie faster before the inside cooks too much.

Brown butter adds rich nutty and caramel notes to your baked good. It truly turns up the flavor of most any recipe and is a great little trick to keep in your back pocket when you want to impress with your baking.

Browned butter adds a rich, complex flavor to any dish and, although it may sound intimidating, it's actually a very simple process. With a few quick tips, you'll soon be on your way to adding this nutty flavor and aroma to a variety of baked goods and meals in your very own kitchen.