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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
the cookies themselves are DELICIOUS! I read the comments so i did use 2.5c of flour rather than the 2 1/3c in the recipe. i also used a small ice cream scoop to put the cookies on the tray so I had minimal issues with that.
my only recommendation (& the reason why i’m rating 4 stars, not 5) is to skip the glaze. I’m not sure what happened but I followed exactly and the texture was not right. My glaze was VERY liquidy, so I kept having to add more powdered sugar to thicken it and I ended up with a ton of glaze that just ran everywhere, despite chilling it in the fridge for a while AND letting the cookies completely cool. fortunately, I froze half the batter to make cookies later but they ones i have cooked now are overly sweet because of the glaze.
Agree with texture of glaze
I just made these for the second time in the past week (something I never do with recipes!) They are just the perfect, quintessential fall cookie. After the first batch was such a hit, my husband requested I make some more for him to take to his coworkers (something he has never done before, haha.) They are just perfect!
UK fan here! What can we use in place of apple butter? We don’t get that here.
Hi there! I would use apple sauce 🙂 xTieghan
Ohhhh my word are these good. I had multiple people, all separately, tell me “these are the best cookies I’ve ever had!” I substituted pumpkin for the apple butter because I didn’t have any, and they still turned out great! Mine didn’t look quite like the photo – didn’t flatten out as nicely, but still tasted amazing! Light a nice fall candle and make these on a rainy Sunday afternoon – you won’t be disappointed!!
I really love these cookies. Perfect for Thanksgiving! I’ve never made brown butter before, and was a bit nervous, but your instructions were perfect. Ill definitely make these again.
I read reviews that said the dough was very sticky. I used an ice cream scoop to put the cookies on the tray and that worked very well. I had no issues with the consistency of the dough!
Thanks for all of your amazing recipes!! ❤️
Thanks so much for giving this recipe a try, so happy to hear you enjoyed it! xTieghan
For everyone saying that the cookie batter is too runny , instead of adding 2cups 1/3 flour …use 3 cups instead!!! You can easily shape the cookie into a ball!!! I was confused first too because the batter was runny but if you add more flour the batter will be more thick & easy to make into a ball !!!! This recipe is so amazing & yummy! Perfect fall cookie:) hope this helps for everyone!
I love Tiegans recipes and this is the first one I haven’t really loved. They baked great, a little undercooked for my liking I wish I kept them in longer. My only reason for 3 stars is they were waaaaay too sweet for me. I have a pretty good sweet tooth. I followed the recipe exact and I couldn’t even eat one full cookie. Love you Tiegan it just didn’t hit the mark for us ❤️
Why didn’t my cookies flatten at all followed it to a T and didn’t ome out looking like this at all.
Ugh I really wanted to love this recipe! Followed the instructions exactly and even let my brown butter cool a bit longer but once in the oven they just melted into puddles. Thinking the recipe may need either less butter or more flour? It was impossible to roll the dough into balls and definitely not solid enough. Sad because the flavor of the cookies is so good 🙁
Hi Regina! Thanks so much for trying out this recipe, I’m so sorry it didn’t turn out the way you hoped! Is there anything that I can do to help? xTieghan
I am in the same boat as Regina! My cookies are puddles 🙁
I did refrigerate the dough for a day and a half before baking because I ran out of time to bake them originally… maybe this ruined something for me.
Bummed because the flavor is amazing.
These were delicious! The glaze really makes them
Can we omit the apple butter? Can’t find it anywhere. Would love to make these cookies this weekend! Thanks!
Mine were more cakes than gooey… might need to reduce the flour but too late for this batch. Not sure the brown butter flour is really coming through either.
So this is my second time making these cookies and they’re even better than the first time. I loved them the first time and so did my family, as they were gone in less than 2 days, but I wondered if they would be better with a tad more flour. I did 2 and 1/2 cups of flour this time and they were perfect! The extra flour allowed them to stay together better and get a little crispy around the edges, while still being soft and chewy in the center. I used baking spray instead because I don’t have any parchment paper but I think Ill omit that next time because I think it may have added more moisture to the cookies and they may brown better without them. I will make these cookies many more times!
Also, the person who said this recipe is terrible and to quit has no clue what they’re talking about. You and your recipes are amazing and I throughly enjoy your content. I’ve always loved to cook and try new recipes, but so many recipes are just not worth the time because they are just ok or they’re complicated. I have loved all of your recipes so far and even the ones that I would put at the so called “bottom” of my list, I still love. I don’t think I can get recipes anywhere else now! You inspire me and I’m so excited to see the end result each time I make your recipes. Never quit!
Hi Christina! This is such a kind comment! Thank you so much for sharing this! xTieghan
These cookies are wonderful! Chewy and so flavorful. Baked up perfectly for me. The batter is sticky like others mentioned so I just scooped it with a spoon and spatula. I did leave out the chocolate chips and pecans. I’ve never used apple butter before but when I opened the jar and smelled it I knew these were going to be amazing!
Hi there! Thanks so much for trying out this recipe! I’m so glad to hear you enjoyed it 🙂 xTieghan
Is there a way I can omit the apple butter and replace it? It’s not so easy to find it 🙁
Hi!! I had the same problem, so i made some at home!! Super easy, just combine 24oz applesauce with 1/2t cinnamon, 1/4t each of ginger, fresh ground nutmeg, ground cloves and allspice. Add suga, maple syrup, or honey to sweeten if desired. Cook over med-high boil, stirring for about 30 minutes or until you can run a spatula down the middle and it leaves a trail without refilling immediately!! You can blend if you’d like to make it smooth. Keeps in the fridge for a couple months!!
I replaced the apple butter with honey. It made the batter a little gooier so I had to add a little bit more flour for proper consistency but the cookies were to die for in the end.
Just a note, the glaze piece makes a TON of glaze. I probably could have cut the recipe in third and would still have leftovers after glazing the cookies. Ah well. Maybe I’ll save the extra glaze and put it on pancakes or something.
These are great! They don’t look like the picture, but they tasted delicious. I skipped the chocolate chips but I do think caramel chips or something like that would be delicious.
Hi there! Thanks so much, so glad you enjoyed this recipe! xTieghan
Hi! I am confused by the note on this recipe – if the dough is too dry, how do you reduced the amount of flour (it’s already been added)?