Brown Butter Cookie Company Recipe

Name: Brown Butter Cookie Company Recipe
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 25 min
Ingredients: brown butter (made from 3/4 cup unsalted butter); ½ cup light brown sugar (packed); 1 teaspoon vanilla extract; 1 ⅓ cups all-purpose flour; 1 teaspoon baking soda; flaky salt (for sprinkling)

4.80 from 30 votes

61 Comments

Oct 16, 2022

(updated Mar 15, 2024)

by Kimberlee Ho

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Our lives were forever changed when we visited Brown Butter Cookie Company along the central coast of California in a town called Cayucos. This Brown Butter Cookie Company Recipe makes thick, buttery cookies with a nutty flavor and the perfect amount of sea salt on top. This copycat recipe is a huge crowd-pleaser!

Leaning and stacked brown butter cookies.

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Why you’ll love this recipe

These cookies are little bits of heaven! The first time me and my family bit into a cookie, we were in love with the unique and wonderful flavor profile of these cookies. The intensity of the nutty flavor of the brown butter mixed with the sea salt on top is unmatched. These cookies are super thick and dense with a crumbly, but definitely not dry, melt-in-your-mouth texture.

Here are just a few of the many reasons why you'll love this recipe:

This is a very simple cookie recipe that produces incredible cookies
Browned butter, need I say more? The nutty aroma is reason enough to make this recipe. The depth of flavor this magical ingredient adds to these cookies is simply incredible
There are very few ingredients in this amazing recipe, it comes together quickly, no chill time required and no stand mixer or handheld electric mixer required

Flaky sea salt in a small bowl next to brown butter cookies

Ingredients & substitutions for brown butter cookies

This recipe requires only simple ingredients. The ingredients are listed on the back of each package of cookies purchased from the Brown Butter Cookie Company.

So to make this copycat recipe, it was just a matter of figuring out the proper proportions and method. Through lots of trial and error, this recipe emerged as the closest match to the cookies you can purchase.

Here's what you'll need:

Brown butter: browning butter adds the most delicious nuttiness to this recipe! It takes just a few minutes to prepare, too.
Brown sugar: I recommend using light brown sugar in this recipe. Dark brown sugar adds a layer of caramel flavor that competes with the brown butter in this recipe. Do not substitute with white sugar (granulated sugar). White sugar and brown sugar act very differently in cooke recipes. Brown sugar maintains moisture and softness while granulated sugar creates a crispy cookie. Additionally, white sugar is not used in the original recipe.
Vanilla extract
All-purpose flour: be sure to measure your flour correctly by spooning the flour into the measuring cup without packing it down at all. Sweep the top of the measuring cup with a butter knife to level it off. This cookie will not hold together if there's too much flour in the cookie dough.
Baking soda
Flaky salt: this is sprinkled on top just before baking. Flaky salt is different than coarse salt. Try looking for Fleur De Sel or Flaky sea salt such as Maldon.

Ingredients shown to make brown butter cookies

How to make Brown Butter Sea Salt Cookies

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 325ºF. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

Step 2

Prepare the brown butter. I recommend using a light colored skillet for this. It will be much easier to tell when the butter has browned (aka, the milk solids have dropped to the bottom of the pan and browned).

Butter beginning to brown in a skillet. — Browned butter

Step 3

Add the brown sugar and vanilla to the bowl with the brown butter, mixing to combine

Step 4

Add the dry ingredients (flour and baking soda) to the butter mixture and stir just until combined. The mixture will resemble wet sand.

Note: If your cookie dough is not coming together and seems very dry, try adding a drop more vanilla to the dough, adding more until it comes together.

Brown butter cookie dough in a glass mixing bowl. — Cookie dough mixture

Step 5

Using a small cookie scoop, scoop out cookie dough and roll between your palms to form a smooth ball. Place dough balls onto the prepared baking sheets. Sprinkle the top of cookies with flaky salt

Step 6

Bake for 10 minutes or until lightly golden brown, rotating the tray halfway through. Allow the cookies to cool for 10 minutes on the baking sheet before transferring to a cooling rack.

Optional: use the flat bottom of a drinking glass or measuring cup to press down gently on the top of the hot cookies. Sometimes the cookies retain their ball shape while baking, so this helps create more of a cookies shape.

Brown butter cookie dough laid out on parchment paper on a baking sheet. — Scoop cookie dough, roll into balls and sprinkle with salt

Baked brown butter cookies on parchment paper. — Bake 10 minutes or until golden brown

Pro tips

As much as it may be tempting to take a shortcut and skip browning the butter, I would not recommend substituting melted butter for the brown butter in this recipe. It'll change the flavor profile of the cookies completely. Also, when butter is browned, a bit of the moisture evaporates, decreasing the volume of the butter. Melted butter has up to 25% more volume than browned butter, which can change the proportion of ingredients in the cookie dough. This changes the outcome of the baked cookie
Store cooled cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days
Freeze in a single layer on a cookie sheet then place in a freezer-safe bag and store up to 3 months. Defrost at room temperature

Love brown butter? Use it in my Brown Butter Blondies and my Salted Brown Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies.

Brown butter cookies with flaky sea salt laying on parchment paper.

Like this recipe? Follow me on Pinterest for lots more recipes just like this one! And don’t forget to pin this recipe for later by clicking on one of the images below the recipe. Or, click on any of the images in this post to save to Pinterest.

FAQs

How do you brown butter without burning?

Have you ever wondered can you overcook brown butter? The answer is yes! Butter can go from perfectly browned with a pleasant, nutty aroma to black and burnt in the blink of an eye. Learn more about how to properly make Brown Butter for all your baking recipes.

How do you know when brown butter is done?

When butter is browning, it goes through a few stages. First it melts, then it sizzles and pops then it foams. Once it settles down and stops making noise, you should see amber-colored, golden brown bits at the bottom. You can also smell a delightful nutty aroma. This is how you know the butter is done browning. Learn more here!

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