Brown Butter Oatmeal Cookies
There are a lot of oatmeal cookie recipes out there. But this one sets itself apart by being low maintenance, flexible, and chock full of brown butter. They're the perfect cookie to make on a weeknight, just so you have them laying around if you (like me, most days) need a bite sized midnight snack, or something to feed a visiting friend. Personally, I like my oatmeal cookies sans distractions (ahem chocolate chips, raisins, or nuts). However, you can absolutely add a cup of any these things to this recipe - I won't tell.
Brown Butter Oatmeal Cookies
Yield: 4 dozen cookies
Ingredients
Oatmeal Cookies
- Unsalted Butter: 1 cup (2 sticks)
- Brown Sugar (Packed): 1 cup
- Granulated Sugar: 1 cup
- Eggs: 2
- Vanilla Extract: 1 1/2 teaspoons
- Flour: 1 1/2 cups
- Oats: 2 cups
- Baking Soda: 1 1/2 teaspoons
- Cinnamon: 1 teaspoon
- Nutmeg: 1/4 teaspoon
- Salt: 1/4 teaspoon
Icing
- Powdered Sugar: 1 1/2 cups
- Vanilla Extract: 1 teaspoon
- Milk: 3 tablespoons
The How To (Oatmeal Cookies):
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a Silpat.
Brown your butter! Heat a medium skillet over medium heat. Add 1 cup butter and heat until brown and nutty, whisking often. Watch it carefully, and remove from heat as soon as it reaches a deep caramel color. Set aside to cool for 5 minutes.
In a medium sized bowl, whisk the flour, oats, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt until combined. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter and sugars together until smooth (about two minutes). Beat in the eggs, one at a time , until fully combined. Beat in vanilla extract. Add the dry ingredients all at once, mix until just combined. Chill the dough for an hour in the fridge.
Drop heaping tablespoons of dough onto the prepared baking sheet, two inches apart. Bake at 350 degrees F for 10-12 minutes, until edges of cookies are golden and centers are set. Remove the cookies from the oven. Let them cool slightly on the baking sheet, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely before icing.
The How To (Icing):
In a small bowl, whisk together powdered sugar, vanilla, and milk. Spoon on to the cooled cookies and spread out slightly (you'll use about two teaspoons per cookie).
A Few Notes:
- Watch your brown butter carefully! It can turn from scrumptious butterscotch-like deliciousness to burned in 3 seconds flat.
- If you're in a hurry, you can skip chilling the dough. However, your cookies will likely be less thick & chewy.
- You can add in a cup of raisins after the dry ingredients if you'd like to transform these into more traditional oatmeal raisin cookies. Also, a handful of pecans is always a good idea.
Pairs Well With:
