Brown Butter Muscovado Snickerdoodles

I dreamt about these Brown Butter Muscovado Snickerdoodles for weeks. It plagued my every waking minute. Ever since I made those gluten-free chocolate chip cookies that were unbelievably delicious. We couldn’t stop eating them and no one seemed to care or notice that they were gluten free.

I decided those cookies were so exquisite because they were laced with brown butter. And that got me thinking about snickerdoodles. Butter and sugar are the two predominate flavors in a snickerdoodle. Then comes cinnamon with a vengeance, not to be ignored or overlooked. What would happen if we played with this flavor trio? Where would the snickerdoodle take us?

So there I was laying on the couch, staring off into the distance, watching my chickens and musing about brown butter snickerdoodles. Yes, I knew I needed to try this. But then I couldn’t help in thinking there could be more. What else could we alter just so, to update a classic but not make it unrecognizable? Knowing the recipe wasn’t complete, I didn’t bother getting up. I continued staring out into the backyard. I wondered if my chickens could sense being watched??

And then it hit me. Sugar! I have loads of muscovado sugar from a project I worked on prior to Christmas. Muscovado is a very moist cane sugar that has strong toffee and molasses notes to it. These flavors come from the fact that it is actually an unrefined sugar that has never had the molasses taken out. It has a wet, sand-like texture and is so fun to cook and bake with. Brown butter with toffee and molasses notes…yes, now we’re getting somewhere.

My final dilemma was what to roll brown butter muscovado snickerdoodles in. I grabbed a blanket and thought a quick nap might help my brain work out this last detail. I could have stuck with the gold standard of cinnamon and sugar. But then cardamom was calling my name off in the distance. It was an annoying, somewhat seductive voice that was keeping sleep at bay.

Alas, I got up, jotted down some recipe notes and next thing you know I was browning butter and mixing spices. When I finally heeded the siren’s call and mixed in one teaspoon of cardamom with the cinnamon and sugar, I uttered the best two words you can say while baking or cooking: holy shit. It was perfect.

My dad is a complete and utter purist. Traditionalist? If it ain’t broke, why fix it is his mantra. And he loved these. To the point that I was told he spit on them so that no one else would eat them. I didn’t ask for clarification or proof. I just took the compliment and went on with my day. My nephew said they were the best cookies he ever had. And even though my pants are getting exceedingly tight, I decided I would get fat just for these cookies. Our relationship is already that tight.

Brown Butter Muscovado Cookie Tips

• Make sure your balls are roughly the same size (this makes me giggle), about 1 1/2 tablespoons each. Roll them between the palm of your hands (gently) to get a nice, spherical shape.
• Roll the dough, coat in your cinnamon-cardamom-sugar goodness and then pop your cookie sheet in the freezer. Don’t skip this step…they really need the chill to keep their shape while baking.
• Don’t ignore the praise I throw on bread flour when it comes to cookie making. It’s magical. Additionally, I haven’t tested this with other flour or combinations…so proceed with caution. I will update this page when I do.
• Don’t make all of your cookies at once. Once you freeze the balls, throw them in a resealable, freezer plastic bag and eat fresh cookies every night. It’s a game changer.

Let’s bake some bomb-ass muscovado snickerdoodles.

The Baker’s Guide to Measuring Flour

One of the biggest (and most common) mistakes in baking is how we measure flour. If you find yourself without a scale, see my top tips on how to properly measure flour for the perfect amount every time!

More Yummy Cookie Fun

Grab My Favorite Cookies Tips for Perfect Cookies, make these Crinkly, Fudgy Brownie Cookies (they’re so good!) or try my favorite, small-batch (one bowl! no rest!) Mega Vanilla Chocolate Chip Cookies!!

Brown Butter Muscovado Snickerdoodles

These brown butter muscoavdo snickerdoodles are BONKERS DELICIOUS! They are soft, chewy, plush and pillow like. The brown butter and muscovado take these to the next level by drawing out all of those warm toffee and caramel flavors. Feel free to sub regular brown sugar in place of the muscovado. Enjoy!

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Course: Dessert

Cuisine: Cookies

Keyword: Brown Butter, Muscovado, Cookies, Snickerdoodles

Servings: 24 Cookies

Author: Rebecca Firth

Ingredients

For the Cookies

• 8 tablespoons (113 g) unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup (168 g) sunflower seed oil
• 3/4 cup (165 g) dark muscovado sugar, (packed)
• 3/4 cup (150 g) granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon (13 g) real vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs, (room temperature)
• 2 teaspoons (6 g) cream of tartar
• 1 teaspoon (5 g) baking soda
• 1 teaspoon (6 g) fine sea salt
• 1 3/4 cup (237 g) bread flour (how to measure flour)
• 1 cup (135 g) all-purpose flour (how to measure flour)

To Roll The Cookies

• ¼ cup (50 g) granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon cardamom

Instructions

For the Cookies

• Let’s brown our butter first. Put one stick of butter in a small sauce pan and melt over medium heat. Once melted, crank up the heat to medium high. Stand by, stirring and watching. This isn’t the time to go and put your dry ingredients together. Watch yer butter. Small golden bits will start to settle on the bottom of the pan. Once this happens, take it off the heat and pour into a large bowl to cool a bit.
• Add the sunflower seed oil, muscovado sugar, granulated sugar, vanilla and eggs to the browned butter once it has slightly cooled. Whisk together until thoroughly blended. It will be thick and sludge like. Break up any large chunks of the muscovado. Add in the cream of tartar, baking soda and salt and give it a couple of good whisks to distribute evenly throughout the dough.
• Sprinkle the bread flour and all-purpose flour over the dough and use a spatula to fold into the dough. Mix until barely blended and you still see streaks of flour. Cover with plastic wrap and stash in the fridge for 30 to 60 minutes.
• Preheat your oven to 350 F (177 C). Line several baking sheets with parchment paper.

To Roll the Cookies

• In a small bowl, mix together 1/4 cup granulated sugar, 1 teaspoon cinnamon and 1 teaspoon of cardamom for your cookie coating.
• Take the dough out of the fridge and roll about 1 1/2 tablespoons of dough, between your palms, into a nice ball.
• Give the dough ball a generous coating of the sugar-spice mixture and set on the cookie sheet. Make sure there are about 2 inches between each dough ball, allowing space for spreading whilst baking. Place the baking sheet with the coated dough balls in the freezer for 15 to 30 minutes.
• Bake the cookies in the center of the oven for 11-12 minutes. I strongly urge you to cook one sheet of cookies at a time. If you really want to bake two sheets together, I suggest that you rotate the sheets top to bottom and front to back mid-way through the baking time. Let them cool on the cookie sheet for 10 minutes and then let the cookies finish cooling on a cooling rack.

Thanks for baking with me! Please rate + comment this recipe and tag me on social @displacedhousewife #displacedhousewife so I can see your beautiful treats! xo