Easy Brown Butter Sugar Cookies • Bites by Bianca

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These brown butter sugar cookies are soft, chewy, and full of nutty brown butter flavor! This is a recipe you’ll want to make again and again—trust me. 🙂

Brown butter espresso cookies on a wire rack; top cookie has a bite taken out of it.

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🍪 Why You’ll Love This Recipe

It’s flavorful, simple, and straightforward. You can make it one bowl with a whisk and a rubber spatula—no need for fancy equipment like a stand mixer.
Rich & oh-so delicious! Because of the brown butter, the cookies have a hint of toasty + caramel flavors.
The cookies are adorable 🐻. I made them into little bears with just a few extra ingredients. But don’t worry, if you don’t have the time, these cookies will taste exactly the same without the bear design!

Looking for more easy cookie recipes? Try out my double chocolate shortbread, ube sugar cookies, or pumpkin snickerdoodles!

Ingredients

To make these brown butter sugar cookies, you’ll need the following ingredients:

The unsalted butter will be cooked in a saucepan until all the milk solids turn golden brown and toasty, aka brown butter! For even richer brown butter flavor, I recommend adding milk powder to the unsalted butter as it cooks. This adds more toasted milk solids, amplifying the nuttiness. Totally optional, but well worth it.
Espresso powder complements the brown butter, giving the cookies an additional depth of flavor! If you prefer not to use espresso powder due to the caffeine, you can omit it.
A mix of both brown and granulated sugars make these cookies soft and chewy. You can opt for light brown sugar or dark brown sugar, either work great in this recipe.
The cookie dough balls are rolled into extra granulated sugar before baking, which adds a sweet, crisp texture.
Immediately after baking, the cookies are topped with flaky sea salt. This adds the perfect amount of saltiness and balances out the flavors.

Milk and white chocolate wafers and red food coloring.

To decorate the cookies into bears, I used white and milk/dark chocolate melting wafers. Alternatively, you can use chocolate chips or candy melts.

For the full list of ingredients and measurements, see the recipe card below.

💡 Baking Tips

Weigh your ingredients! One of my favorite kitchen tools is a kitchen scale because it is more accurate than measuring my volume. If you use cups, spoon the flour in gently, then level it with a knife or spatula.
Do not over mix the cookie dough. Excess mixing develops gluten and results in tougher, denser cookies.

How to make brown butter sugar cookies

Pouring brown butter, toasted milk powder, and espresso powder into a glass mixing bowl.

Step 1: Add your unsalted butter and milk powder into a saucepan. Brown the butter on medium-low heat until nice and toasty, then transfer to heat-safe bowl to fully cool. Stir in espresso powder. (Full brown butter tutorial here)

Brown butter with sugars in mixing bowl.

Step 2: Mix in your brown and granulated sugars.

Wet ingredients mixed together, resulting in a silky smooth batter.

Step 3: Add in your egg and vanilla. Mix until smooth.

Step 4: Dump in all of the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Fold together using a silicone spatula until no dry spots remain.

Lined baking sheet with cookie dough balls ready to be baked; one cookie has two smaller dough balls on its sides to bake into a bear cookie.

Step 5: Use a cookie scoop (2-3 tablespoon capacity) to gather dough, then roll into granulated sugar. Place cookie dough balls on lined baking sheet about 3 inches apart. To make bear ears, take about 1 teaspoon of dough, split it into 2, and roll them in sugar. Place them on the top left and right sides of the cookie dough ball.

Decorating bear cookie face with melted chocolates.

Step 6: Bake at 350°F/177°C for 9-11 minutes or until the edges are set. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on sheet for at least 5 minutes, then transfer to write rack. Use melted chocolates to add bear faces.

For full instructions, see the recipe card below.

Crinkly brown butter sugar cookies on a wire rackik.

“These are my favorite cookies. Ever.” – My mom ❤️

What is brown butter?

Brown butter is made by cooking butter until it becomes nutty, toasty, and caramelized. It has a very distinct flavor in comparison to regular butter—richer with a taste similar to a light toffee. It can replace plain butter in both savory and sweet dishes, elevating any dish.

And the best part? It only takes about 5 minutes to make.

Do I need milk powder for these brown butter sugar cookies?

Milk powder intensifies the brown butter flavor. It really makes a difference!

However, if you do not have milk powder on hand, you can omit it.

Do I need espresso powder for these brown butter sugar cookies?

Espresso powder can be omitted, but it really does add to the depth of nutty flavor to the cookies.

Storage

Room Temperature: Store the brown butter sugar cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
Freezing Instructions:
- For already baked and fully cooled cookies, store in a freezer-safe container for up to 3 months.
- For raw cookie dough, line a tray or plate with parchment or wax paper. Arrange cookie dough balls in a single layer and freeze for about 1 hour. Once frozen, transfer them to an airtight container and freeze for up to 3 months. Bake as usual, adding 2-3 extra minutes.