Super soft and chewy brown sugar cookies—no mixer required!
Sometimes I like cookies with a lot going on. Chips of chocolate, swirls of peanut butter, butterscotch morsels, chunks of nuts, stuffed with caramel, and other delightful candies. Sprinkle cookies, chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter cookies, frosted cookies—the more stuff going on, the better.
But not all the time.
Sometimes I prefer a pure, simple cookie like sugar cookies without the icing. (I can’t believe I’m saying that because I love icing!) Today’s recipe highlights my favorite flavor: brown sugar. Moist, molasses-spiked brown sugar in every single bite. Soft, chewy, and kissed with cinnamon. These simple brown sugar cookies are undeniably impressive.
They’re not at all “plain.” Rather, today’s cookies are exploding with flavor.
You’re going to recognize today’s cookie recipe. It’s a spin-off recipe of my chewy chocolate chip cookies. I used a few of the same ingredient ratios and recipe techniques in today’s brown sugar cookies.
Start with melted butter. Most of the cookies I make call for creaming softened butter with the sugars. However, sometimes I prefer to use melted butter instead of creaming it. Melted butter, when paired with the correct ratio of dry ingredients, increases the chewy factor in the baked cookie. Since you are using melted butter, you don’t need a mixer for this cookie recipe!
You’re also going to use only brown sugar in this cookie recipe (except for the rolling… more on that below). 1 and 1/4 cups of dark brown sugar bring so much moisture to these baked cookies, as well as a modest molasses flavor. Light brown sugar may easily be substituted here!
In the original chocolate chunk cookie from which this recipe is adapted, I call for 1 egg and 1 egg yolk. Today, you just need 1 egg. 1 egg and less flour than the original recipe. Don’t worry, these cookies are still just as chewy! You’ll also add a touch of cinnamon to the cookie dough. The cinnamon is completely optional, but the pronounced brown sugar flavor paired with the slight kiss of cinnamon spice really takes these cookies to the next level!
Look at how thick these cookies are. To achieve their thick texture, chill the cookie dough. Also, I make sure there is enough flour to soak up the melted butter. Melted butter is greasy and unless there is enough dry ingredients to soak it all up, you’re going to have some cookie spreading sadness!
I also add a bit of cornstarch to the cookie dough. Cornstarch thickens cookie dough just as it thickens gravies, soups, and jams. It’s a miracle worker in cookie recipes, like shortbread and salted vanilla toffee cookies!
Don’t you love the brown sugar cookies’ crinkled tops? That’s achieved by slightly pressing the cookies down. After chilling the cookie dough and rolling the dough in a bit of sugar, you’ll bake them. Now, pay attention to this: Remove the cookies from the oven after 8-9 minutes, gently press down on the tops with the back of a spoon or fork, and then place them back into the oven for 1-2 more minutes. Why are you doing that? Not only so you can achieve some crinkly tops, but also because the cookies need a little help spreading during bake time. You could always just press the cookie tops down after the entire bake time, but then your cookies may just look like you carelessly smashed them down. I feel that they looked better when put back into the oven for 1-2 minutes after pressing down. I’m all about pretty cookies, ok?
I have a confession. We’re heading to a work holiday party and clearly, I can’t go empty handed. However, I made these cookies two days ago. And guess what? They are STILL just as soft on day 3 as they were on day 1. And to be completely honest, their cinnamon and brown sugar flavors are heavily pronounced today. You know a cookie recipe is a winner when its softness isn’t compromised as the days go by. I just love that about this recipe! True “soft-batch” style, just like the cookies you get at bakeries and those tempting mall kiosks.
Chewy Brown Sugar Cookies
- Prep Time: 2 hours, 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 13 minutes
- Total Time: 3 hours
- Yield: 20 cookies
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Super soft and chewy brown sugar cookies – no mixer required!
Ingredients
- 2 cups (250g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch*
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon (use 1 teaspoon if you love cinnamon)
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup (12 Tbsp; 170g) unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled*
- 1 and 1/4 cups (250g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup (67g) granulated sugar, for rolling
Instructions
- Toss together the flour, baking soda, cornstarch, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl. Set aside.
- In a medium size bowl, whisk the melted butter and brown sugar together until no brown sugar lumps remain. Whisk in the egg. Finally, whisk in the vanilla. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix together with a large spoon or rubber spatula. The dough will be very soft, yet thick. Cover the dough and chill for 2 hours, or up to 3 days. Chilling is mandatory.
- Take the dough out of the refrigerator and allow to slightly soften at room temperature for 10 minutes if you had it chilling for more than 2 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 325°F (163°C). Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside.
- Pour the granulated sugar into a bowl. Take 2 scant Tablespoons of dough and roll into a ball, then roll into the sugar. Place 3 inches apart on the baking sheets.
- Bake for 8-9 minutes. Remove from the oven and gently press the top of the cookie down with the back of a utensil or even use your fingers. You’re trying to obtain a crinkly top. Place back into the oven for 2-4 more minutes. The total time these cookies are in the the oven is 10-13 minutes. The cookies will be puffy and still appear very soft in the middle. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the baking sheet for ten minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. They will continue to cook in the center on the baking sheet after being removed from the oven.
- Â Cookies will stay fresh covered at room temperature for 1 week.
Notes
- Make Ahead Instructions: You can make the cookie dough and chill it in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Baked cookies freeze well for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and bring to room temperature, if desired, before serving. Unbaked cookie dough balls (before rolling in sugar) will freeze well for up to 3 months. Let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes, pre-heat the oven, then roll in granulated sugar. Bake as directed. Read my tips and tricks on how to freeze cookie dough.
- Butter: Simply melt the butter in the microwave. Let it cool down for about 5-10 minutes before mixing with the other ingredients. Don’t want to cook that egg with the hot butter!
- Cornstarch: Cornstarch helps promise a softer, thicker cookie. I highly recommend it. I use it in my chocolate chip cookies and shortbread cookies, too. Feel free to leave it out if needed.
- Be sure to check out my top 5 cookie baking tips AND these are my 10 must-have cookie baking tools.
Boring, one-dimensional. These cookies are super-sweet, period. They also spread too much.
Best cookies ever omg
The first time I made these I didn’t let them sit on the cookie sheet for a full 10min before transferring to a wire rack because I only have 2 cookie sheets and had a second round to get in the oven. The first bunch out of the oven were definitely underbaked but the second group had more time on the cookie sheet and firmed up quite a bit. Delicious both ways! Right now I’m trying to be patient and let them sit before I pop in the second round. I love these cookies so much I will definitely make them again, but next time I’m going to brown the butter for even more flavor!
Tossed in choc chips and loved the result!
Thanks for sharing this recipe.
Stumbled upon your recipe and let me tell you, FANTASTIC! I portioned the dough out using an ice cream scoop and froze them for future use, the dough held up so well! In my batch I mixed in milk chocolate chips and dried cranberries, absolutely delish!
These are amazing! I’ve made them three times and even my healthy-eating husband asks for them! They’re sooo good! I add more salt and randomly scoop out some of the sugar and they’re delish.
These were a huge hit. Next time going to try to add amaretto (and probably a tad more flour to accommodate addition of liquid). Also made an “adult” version and the recreational users in the group quite enjoyed – they stayed moist and delish!
I have made this recipe twice now because they are so good! I didn’t have lots of time to put them in the fridge this time but I did leave them in there for ten minutes so that they could at least cool down a little. The cookies came out good just a little more spread out than the last time I made them. I 100% recommend my whole family(even my dog) enjoyed these cookies.
This recipe was easy and very yummy
It was 8pm and I didn’t have any butter… it’s the quarantine and I was extremely bored so I just subbed it for coconut oil and hoped for the best. I also added an extra teaspoon of vanilla and some semi sweet chocolate chips. Other than that I followed the recipe to a T. These were a HIT! My family and friends loved these. my new go to. Im going grocery shopping tomorrow and def getting butter to see the difference. I’m excited to try the chocolate chip recipe here too
Just made this with my girlfriend for mother’s day! They’re absolutely delicious. I love the contrast of the crunchy exterior and soft interior.
My mum loves it so much as well. We don’t often bake in this house but we gave it a shot since your recipe looked simple and yummy.
Also, we don’t even have an actual oven. We cooked them in small batches in the microwave oven and they made the house smell pleasant (+:
Followed the recipe exactly and my cookies turned out very flat! Taste great and soft but not fluffy at all. Any fixes to this?
Absolutely love this recipe! First time doing them they have come out lovely, i didnt have the corn flour but just added slightly more flour. Would HIGHLY recommend making these. Me and my kids destroyed them all in 1 sitting and it made exactly 20 identical cookies.
Delicious! I didn’t have corn starch so I subbed 3 extra tablespoons of flour. Turned out great
Great cookies. Followed it to the T. another thing i would change is adding a bit more flour. I spooned and leveled, but my cookies turned out flat while cooling on the pan. Or maybe add more baking soda? Very soft and chewy, but not as thick as I’d like!
Normally when I try a new-to-me recipe, I find things that I need to change. Often it is just the time in the oven and maybe tweak the amount of an ingredient or two. But this recipe is perfect in every way. This will be a go to for me in the future.
I loved this recipe!
I’m not a great baker and this wsimple to follow. The cookies are perfect! So delicious
Terrific! I’m going to add cinnamon to the “rolling” sugar next time – shades of snickerdoodles!
What a fun recipe! Makes good size sugar cookie! Great afternoon foodie project. Love the addition of cinnamon for a warmth.
Super easy and delicious. That said I didn’t have any corn starch and no other starches to use besides flour and I did not want to add more flour so I made them with out it. Tasted great but the next day they were hard as a rock! Was this because of the missing corn starch?
Hi Cory, The role of the cornstarch is to keep the cookies nice and soft, so that is likely the culprit!
This is my favorite cookie recipe. I also added some chopped up candied ginger along with some fresh ginger, and that was a wonderful addition.
I also found (on accident) that if you want to skip chilling, use softened, not melted butter. They won’t be as chewy but they’re still delicious.
These cookies are INCREDIBLE! What makes them so chewy?? I would love to duplicate the texture in other cookie recipes, like a chocolate chip cookie. Is it the oven temp? The melted butter? I’m dying to know!
Hi Bailey! Here is this recipe as chocolate chip cookies. The egg yolk, extra brown sugar, and melted butter are KEY!
Hi Sally!
Looking for something new to send to soldiers (overseas) and college students (in the USA). Do you think these would travel well and stay fresh to their destination? I do have a Food Saver to vacuum seal.
Thanks so much!
Hi Pam! These brown sugar cookies would be GREAT for shipping since there’s no icing or chocolate.
I love this recipe so much! I immediately became a favorite of all my friends. I’ve definitely made over 10 times at this point. Thank you!!
I love brown sugar, so much more flavor than white. My 3rd time making these now. I subbed cardamom for the cinnamon since I didn’t have any on hand. The dough tastes amazing!
These were delicious!
The perfect “comfort cookie”.
Thank you
I added chopped candied ginger to these cookies. Oh my goodness. Just a little spice and tons of flavor. Your ratios are spot on. Thank you for sharing this recipe.
How do you think these would do as part of a mini ice cream sandwich? Thinking bake, cool completely and then fill with softened ice cream, wrap in wax and freeze.
I think these would be delicious, Rachel!
Made these cookies for my class, everyone loved them.
I bought maple extract instead! Much cheaper than buying maple syrup out here(a big enough bottle to bother with is over $20, and I trust Mccormick’s extracts WAY more than I trust fake maple syrup lol)
I made them super small, and sandwiched them with maple buttercream! Excited to share them for my town’s Maplefest this weekend
A winner as always! I made these tonight and they came out absolutely perfectly. I browned my butter and the dough came out a little crumbly, but someone else recommended adding an extra tbsp of butter to account for what evaporates when browning, so I’m sure that was the issue. I still found that the cookies did okay when I rolled them a bit in my hands to soften them! I ended up rolling them into balls, covering in sugar, and then refrigerating for 10 minutes before putting them in the oven.
Mine baked for 9 minutes, were then cross-hatched with a fork, and went back in for another 3 minutes. They came out absolutely soft and heavenly! And SO much more flavorful and satisfying than a regular sugar cookie!