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The best ever Chewy Brown Sugar Maple Cookies. Homemade brown sugar cookies, made with browned butter, sweet maple, and a secret ingredient that really makes these cookies better than the rest. These cookies are generously glazed with a sweet, thick, and creamy maple frosting that melts in your mouth. There’s really nothing not to love! Perfect for autumn, Halloween night, and any other day in between.
We’re ending the week with cookies…yes, always a good idea! And these are extra, extra special treats.
I know it’s hard to beat a classic chocolate chip cookie, especially my mom’s, but these cookies give all others a run for their money. They’re different, but not so different that you don’t want to give them a try. Think soft in the center, with perfect edges, and just the right amount of sweetness – all thanks to a mix of maple and brown sugar.
We LOVE these cookies and I’ve been excited to share them for well over a week! They are Pinterest worthy!
The details
Originally I set out to make a fairly basic brown sugar cookie. But as I was writing the recipe I started to wonder, how could I make them better? And how could I make them with a slight twist that would make each cookie even more perfect for the autumn season?
Of course, brown butter came into play, because every dessert is made better with a little brown butter.
Then I wondered about maybe adding some pumpkin, but then I stopped myself. We can save the pumpkin desserts for October…what about apple butter? I wasn’t sure how apple butter in cookies would work. But I’m here to tell you all that it’s insanely delicious and actually the secret to these cookies. Promise, you don’t taste the apple.
My goal with these cookies was to create a maple cookie. Not only with amazing flavor, but also with a texture closer to my mom’s chocolate chip cookies. It took some playing around with the recipe, but I finally landed on a cookie that’s chewy and so DELICIOUS!
Brown the butter
First things first, brown about three-fourths of the butter, but leave the other fourth at room temp. This gives you the flavor of browned butter but leaves you with a cookie that has great texture too.
When the butter is browned, let it chill a bit before mixing up the sugar cookie dough. The rest goes really quickly.
Make the cookies
Take the reserved brown butter and beat it together with dark brown sugar and maple. Add the apple butter and some vanilla. Mix, mix, mix, then simply stir in the dry ingredients.
For the apple butter, I used my homemade maple apple butter. This is one of my favorite things to keep in the fridge all fall long. You can use my homemade apple butter or pick some up at Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, your local market, or via Amazon. I will say that the homemade recipe works a little better for the cookies, but either is great! Just make sure your apple butter is spiced for best flavor.
Bake the cookies, and smell the wonderful scents as they bake. It’s better than your favorite fall candle, trust me.
While the cookies bake, make the glaze.
This creamy frosting is everything. It’s what makes these cookies really melt in your mouth. It’s beyond delicious, and easy to make. Just butter, maple syrup, powdered sugar, and salt. Simple, yet delicious.
Drizzle the glaze over each cookie, then eat these warm and gooey. Or let them cool and store them. They’re great either way!
Make these tonight, make them this weekend, or maybe even for Halloween. And then, maybe even again for Thanksgiving. Just be sure to make them soon. Trust me, after the first bite you’ll be making batch after batch. These cookies are delectable, just perfectly set on the edges, but soft and gooey in the center with just the right amount of chew.
Looking for fall cookie recipes? Here are a few ideas:
Glazed Brown Sugar Maple Cookies
Pumpkin Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Milk Chocolate Stuffed Jack-O’-Lantern Cookies
Lastly, if you make these Chewy Brown Sugar Maple Cookies be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!
Brown Butter Chewy Maple Brown Sugar Cookies
Servings: 24 cookies
Calories Per Serving: 243 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Watch the How-To Reel
Ingredients
- 2 sticks (1 cup) salted butter, at room temperature
- 1 cup dark brown sugar
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 1/4 cup apple butter
- 1 egg, at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
Maple Glaze
- 4 tablespoons salted butter
- 1/3 cup maple syrup
- 1/2 – 3/4 cup powdered sugar
- flaky sea salt
Instructions
- 1. Add 1 1/2 sticks (12 tablespoons) butter to a small saucepan set over medium heat, cooking until the butter begins to brown, about 3-4 minutes. Remove from the heat and transfer to a heatproof bowl. Stick in the freezer to chill, 10-15 minutes, but no longer.2. Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.3. In a large mixing bowl, beat together the remaining 1/2 stick butter, the cooled browned butter, and the brown sugar until combined. Beat in the maple syrup, apple butter, egg, and vanilla, beating until creamy. Add the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Fold in chocolate chips and pecans.4. Roll the dough into rounded tablespoon size balls and place 3 inches apart on the prepared baking sheet.5. Transfer to the oven and bake for 8 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and tap the baking sheet on the counter 2 times to flatten them down. Return to the oven and bake another 1-2 minutes or until the cookies are just beginning to set on the edges, but still doughy in the center. Remove from the oven and tap the baking sheet on the counter 1-2 times to flatten them down again. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet. They will continue to cook slightly as they sit on the baking sheet. 6. Meanwhile, make the glaze. Melt together the butter and maple syrup in a small pot over medium heat. Remove from the heat and whisk in the powdered sugar, and a pinch of salt.Eat warm (highly recommended), or let cool and store in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
Notes
If you’re Cookie Dough is Dry: reduce the flour to 2 1/4 cups and add 1-2 tablespoons additional maple syrup
This post was originally published on September 17, 2021
Is there a way to make these without apple butter?
Honestly, did not make it glazed step! People eating them right out of the oven. The browned butter is key. Will never make plain old chocolate chips again.
Haha love to hear that! So glad you enjoyed this recipe. xTieghan
So chewy and so much flavor. Delish!
Hello! Thanks so much for trying out this recipe, I’m so happy you enjoyed it! xTieghan
Just made these cookies and they are delicious. The cookies tasted good without the glaze; however, the maple glaze really did elevate the cookies to a new level.
Hi Kari! Thank you so much for trying out this recipe, I am delighted to hear that it was enjoyed! xTieghan
I know you mentioned these could be dry but mine are the opposite! They are super fluffy and not at all solid no matter how long they’re cooked 🙁 lots of liquid ingredients, I’d love to make again with more flour.
Delicious! I only had light brown sugar so my cookies turned out lighter than yours. Thanks to the pan banging technique they did flatten even though I’m not at a high altitude (in Boston). Already ate a cookie hot off the pan and sooooo good! Going to add the glaze in a little while once they cool a bit. Made some with, and some without the choc. chips, and used a cookie scoop to make the balls (I can see why some people say it’s hard to roll out- but cookie scoop worked perfectly). Thanks for another great recipe! Also made the brie/cheddar/beer soup today, superb!
Hey Jacqueline,
Happy Sunday!! I am delighted to hear that this recipe was enjoyed, I truly appreciate you giving it a try! xTieghan
These are awesome! To everyone saying the dough doesn’t roll: I added a tad more flour to make it just a teeny bit thicker, but you really don’t need it to be that dough-y to roll. You just get your hands a little messier than usual, do your best to shape into a ball, pat it down if you want, and believe me it is worth it! (the wetter dough is what makes these chewy!) I also removed the chocolate chips because i wanted the fall-like flavors to shine, and did half of the batch without the pecans because my husband doesn’t like nuts. Both versions were great!
Hey Sarah,
Happy Sunday!! I am delighted to hear that this recipe was enjoyed, I truly appreciate you giving it a try! xTieghan
I almost didn’t make these cuz of the comments but I decided to say EFF it cuz they look and sound so good and they are, indeed, incredible. Yes, the batter seems a little more cakey than usual cookie doughs that I’m used to, but I just trusted the recipe (didn’t refrigerate dough like some ppl) I just plopped them on with a spoon and baked exactly as directed and they turned out perfectly and they are absolutely delicious. The only thing I changed was instead of 1 cup chocolate chips I did a mix of caramel chips from Trader Joe’s (1/2 cup) and white chocolate chips(1/2 cup) and then for the hell of it I threw in some dried cranberries cuz I love a LOADED cookie lol. Anyway these are incredible, glaze and all. Thank you for the recipe I will absolutely make these again and again.
Hey Margot,
Happy Sunday!! I am delighted to hear that this recipe was enjoyed, I truly appreciate you giving it a try! xTieghan
I want to make a clarification for Tieghan. If you are not in Colorado and at high altitude, your cookies will not look like hers or be flat like hers. Due to the high altitude, baked goods don’t rise as well, all cookies are flat out there. And in this recipe she mixes a rising agent and an acid (apple butter) which creates carbon dioxide and gives a bigger rise. Her cookies won’t get that, but at lower altitudes you will. My dough was a bit sticky, still rollable, but I still spooned it out. You really need to whip the wet ingredients until thick and creamy. Since I’m not at high altitude, mine were fluffy and chewy. I baked mine 10 minutes and let them cool on the pan until I could pick them up and they didn’t crumble. You don’t need to tap down because with the amount of carbon dioxide in these cookies, they won’t flatten. The flavor was amazing though! I left out the chocolate chips because I wanted the pure maple flavor and the cookies has such an intense maple flavor and the pecans were a nice compliment. I also added flaky sea salt on top, which I thought worked great! I let the glaze cool, it will thicken as it does. So, mine personally wasn’t runny. I can see the confusion some people have if unfamiliar with high altitude baking. And hope people see this comment and in the future will know that their cookies will look different than hers.
I should clarify, cookies don’t rise as well at high altitudes not because the gas isn’t released, but because with less air pressure, there is less weight preventing the loss of the gases released by the rising agent. So, the loss of gas at a quicker pace means less in the cookie, and less rise. So, she does get the gas, but it goes away quicker.
Thank you for the scientific explanation ?. I knew there was one but couldn’t figure it out. I didn’t realize she was at high elevation. I’m way down in the “boot” so that explains why mine were fluffy and cake-y. They are still delicious and I have received multiple requests for more of them.
So could one achieve the same thing by not adding the baking soda? I’m not familiar enough with the science of baking to know if that would mess up anything else.
You have to have a rising agent. Otherwise the cookie will be a dense mess. Without any gas, the cookie won’t have any air to help it expand and it will be tough. You can try cutting the amount of baking soda. There are a lot of acids in this recipe (apple butter and brown sugar – which has acid in it as well), so rise is going to be expected with this cookie since the recipe uses baking soda. Baking powder gives a chewier cookie as well and won’t work if you want a flat cookie (in case you thought of substituting). The key to a flat cookie is using baking soda with a minimum amount of acid interacting with it, so as not to create a lot of carbon dioxide. But, there is too much acid to not have any rise unfortunately. There are a lot of other factors to high altitudes that contribute to her flat cookies – drier air, different boil times. So, it is not just one issue that comes into play.
Thanks so much for sharing Hannah!
We substituted pumpkin butter for the apple butter. And made some with Skor bits instead of chocolate chips. So good!
Hi Shannon,
Awesome!! Love to hear that this recipe was enjoyed, thanks so much for giving it a try! xTieghan
For the glaze, did you use pure maple syrup, or something likened to Aunt Jemima? Asking because of the difference in consistencies. Thanks!
Hi Abigail,
I always use pure maple syrup. I hope you love this recipe, please let me know if you give it a try! xTieghan
These were very good but there is no instructions. The recipe in terms of when to add the glaze. I assumed no step meant to do it after they came out of the oven (~5 min cool time) nut the glaze just melted. Worked much better to let them cool on a cooling rack for a bit first. Followed others’ recommendations and chilled the dough first, also needed about 2 min additional cooking time. But the flavors were fantastic
Hey Emily,
Fantastic!! So great to hear that you enjoyed this recipe and thanks a lot for making it. The glaze is added in step 6. Have a great week!? xTieghan
Ok so the dough for these cookies was SO good. The maple syrup and brown butter gave them the best fall taste. I had the same issue as a few people below where my dough was so runny and sticky I couldn’t roll them. I ended up plopping them on the sheet and they baked fine. I also tried chilling the dough and then rolling into balls but I couldn’t really tell the difference. They would’ve been 5/5 without the chocolate chips. My first two batches I had chocolate chips in which completely overpowered the dough and it made it taste like a regular chocolate chip cookie with way more steps. I painstakingly picked out almost all the chocolate chips for my last two batches and they were AMAZING. Melt in your mouth, delicious. My cookies never darkened to the same color yours were in the pics (I even used your apple butter recipe!) and my glaze was too transparent, even though I ended up needing extra powdered sugar. Still delicious, will definitely make again sans chocolate chips.
Hi Whitney,
Fantastic!! So great to hear that you enjoyed this recipe and thanks a lot for making it. Thanks for sharing what worked well for you. Have a great week!? xTieghan
These tasted good! I too had issues with this recipe and followed the measurements exactly. Could it be because you are baking at a high altitude versus at sea level? I grew up in the mountains and definitely had different recipes to follow based on the high altitude. Mine turned out good, but definitely not anything like your photo. The dough was also so wet I could not roll it into balls if I tried.
Hey Michelle,
So sorry you had issues with the recipe. Elevation should not be an issue here. Was there anything you adjusted? Could your dough have needed just a little more flour? Let me know how I can help! xTieghan
Maple and browned butter are two of my favorite flavors, so I was so excited to make these! I try to not make changes to recipes on the first attempt, but had to due to what I had available. I subbed pumpkin butter for the apple (didn’t have any on hand) and instead of chocolate chips used Trader Joes salted caramel chips. I had to leave out the nuts due to an allergy in my home. These were so, so good! Thanks for the wonderful addition to my cookie recipes!
Hi Karley,
Fantastic!! So great to hear that you enjoyed this recipe and thanks a lot for making it. Have a great week!? xTieghan