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.
- 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.
I made these today and they turned out perfectly! The entire family loved them. Definitely cookies that I will be making again!
I made these along with the chocolate chunk cookies and they both turned out perfect just like the pictures! So soft and chewy (especially a day after) I chilled overnight and baked for 15 minutes exactly as they were still raw inside at lower times. I did bake more the next day and they didn’t turn out quite the same…wondering where I went wrong. Could be the chill time. However these will be my go to cookie recipes!
I followed the recipe to a T and my cookies came out flat. How can I fix that problem, these cookies r sooo good, but I want them to look like the picture?
Hi Monique! Here are my 10 guaranteed tips to help prevent cookies from over-spreading. 🙂
I was super excited to try these, I love brown sugar anything! But sadly they didn’t turn out for me. It was, dare I say, a hot mess! The dough looked more like cake batter, it was super loose. And while it did firm up in the fridge a bit, it still didn’t look quite right. They fell flat and spread in the oven. The edges crisped ok, but the middles were so soft and wouldn’t firm up. They taste good, but they’re not firm at all so I kept the crumbled and broken bits and my husband has been nibbling on them. I have no idea what went wrong.
Hi Sally! These cookies are amazing! I have a question… I’ve made these about 10 times now (every weekend) and they’ve always come out perfectly except for this last time. The only thing that was different was the brand of brown sugar I used. I normally use a brand that’s the texture of organic cane sugar but this last time the brand I used was very fine. My cookies were flat and a different texture. Could the type of brown sugar I used be the issue? Thank you for all your amazing recipes!!
Hi Candis! A finer sugar means a thinner cookie dough– which means extra spread! That is so interesting that the sugar was the only variable. I recommend sticking to your regular brown sugar.
I made these cookies, with baking powder instead of soda and I dropped them instead of chilling and rolling. THESE WERE THE BEST COOKIES I EVER MADE MYSELF. Chewy, sweet and flavorful.
I made these last week and browned the butter, adding an extra tablespoon to make up for the amount that evaporated. Such great flavor! And they indeed stayed soft and chewy for days.
These were delicious. I added just a little less than quarter cup of flour and a bit of baking powder, Great texture and best of all no creaming. Thank you so much for this recipe
First time following a recipe on this website and followed the instructions completely but cookies did not turn out as expected lol. I checked the ingredients again and I followed the grams recipe but when I double checked and looked at the cups recipe (2 cups of flour and 1+1/4 brown sugar), I can see that more flour is used than sugar rather than the same amount it said in grams (250g of both).
Would advise you change this as I followed the measurements in grams and they definitely do not look like the picture. They flattened out, look very dark brown and take way longer to cook. They taste very sweet (probably due to the extra sugar) and it’s hard to tell if they are really cooked or not.
I would love to try this recipe again with the correct measurements as everyone seems to have had a great time baking them.
Hi Anne! Sugar weighs more than flour, so the gram measurements will be different per cup. I’m sorry that the cookies spread too much. I would try adding a little more flour if you ever decide trying to make them again.
I browned the butter first, and oh-my-god, the cookies were DELICIOUS! Browning the butter makes them taste exactly like a “starbucks toffeedoodle” cookie. Next time I might throw in some Skor toffee bits.
I just made these without chilling, and they turned out perfectly! I used whole wheat flour and light brown sugar, and I used a heaping teaspoon of cinnamon, but otherwise followed the recipe and these puffed up nicely, had crinkled tops, and were absolutely delicious!
Baked these cookies for the first time today, absolutely loved them the cinnamon idea was amazing! Just wanted to say how much myself and my family enjoyed your cookie recipe!
This is one of my top 5 cookie recipes of all times. It is so simple, but the flavor and chewy consistency are so, so good. When I make them I add 2 Tbsp. of turbinado sugar into the dough. This gives each cookie a nice little crunch. They freeze beautifully.
these are my favorite cookies i make them all the time and it is something kids can help with!
sooooo good thanks!!!! <3 what would happen if i put mint extract instead of vanilla extract
Hi Sally! I wanted to make your soft-baked white chocolate molasses cookies, but molasses aren’t being sold in my country. Is it possible to add the white chocolate chips in this recipe and have the same “effect”? 🙂
Won’t taste quite the same, but will be delicious nonetheless! Go ahead and add 1 cup of white chips here.
This is my favorite recipe! However we moved to a new house and I can’t get these cookies to come out. They completely flatten out once removed from the oven and look greasy. Please help! I love these cookies.
Hi Sally, I made these cookies yesterday and it turned out great! Thanks for the recipe!
These have quickly become our family favorite! I always end up baking them a few extra minutes because I like them with a bit more chew and crispness. Last time I made them, I used 1 cup brown sugar and 1/4 cup granulated sugar which firmed them up a drop more and turned the oven up to 350 halfway through baking. They turned out perfect – same awesome taste with a slightly different texture!
I made two batches of these this weekend. Both came out of the oven looking thick and delicious but shrank to flatter than a pancake as they cooled. The first batch, I chilled for 2 hours. The second batch I chilled for 16 hours, hoping that would solve the flatness problem but it didn’t. The dough was absolutely delicious! The cookies were too, but I couldn’t get past the flatness. Not sure where I went wrong – I followed the recipe exactly, none of my ingredients were expired, etc.
These were the best brown sugar cookies we have ever had. They’re quick and easy to put together. I followed the recipe (almost] exactly but did make a few minor changes… Since we don’t like cinnamon and it’s optional, we left it out. We also used light brown sugar instead of the dark because that’s all I had.
I’ve made them twice in 24 hours, that’s how good these are. Thank you sharing your wonderful recipe and thank you for creating an easy cleanup recipe. Love love love!
I made these today and they came out perfect!!! Great recipe, I’m a huge cinnamon fan so I substituted the granulated sugar for cinnamon sugar and they turned out amazing!!!
I made these for a dinner party, and they were gone before we even started to eat dinner! They were amazing! And so easy to do!
BEST COOKIES I HAVE EVER HAD!!!!! These were amazing and I am definitely sharing them with all of my coworkers tomorrow!
Do you really mean 2 tablespoons of mixture per cookie? I did one and even they were huge?
Yep! These are large, thick cookies.