Brown Butter & Vanilla Glazed Cookies
These brown butter & vanilla cookies are soft, chewy and topped with a tasty vanilla glaze & loads of sprinkles. They’re super easy to make & are a guaranteed crowd pleaser.
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Now we’ve made quite a few different cookie recipes on this blog but they’ve all been chocolate chip cookies (or variations of chocolate chip cookies). That’s until I made these brown butter vanilla cookies! These feature a double brown butter & vanilla cookie that are soft & chewy, a simple glaze that’s flavoured with nutty brown butter & some really good vanilla and a sprinkle of rainbow sprinkles. They’re super simple but incredibly delicious!
These vanilla cookies make a really good base for loads of different mix ins & flavourings. You could stir some toasted nuts or dried fruit through the cookie dough, use a different glaze or replace the sprinkles with chocolate shavings or popping candy!
For more cookie flavours, check out our ever growing collection of cookie recipes! There’s a whole load of flavours here, from miso banana bread, to brown butter s’more & black sesame cheesecake. If there’s a cookie that you’d like to see on the blog, feel free to leave us a comment at the bottom of this post!
What You’ll Need
- Toasted Milk Powder – Made by cooking dried milk in a pan, until golden brown. This adds extra brown butter flavour to our cookies. And when you stir toasted milk powder into brown butter, it makes double brown butter!
- Butter – We’re using unsalted butter for this recipe, so that we can control the salt content.
- Vanilla – Using a good quality vanilla makes all the difference with these cookies!
- Sugar – We’re using 3 types of sugar for these cookies. Light brown & caster for the cookie dough & icing sugar for the glaze.
- Eggs – We’re using a large egg for the cookie dough plus 2 extra yolks, to make the cookies extra fudgy.
- Flour – The cookie dough uses plain flour (all purpose flour).
- Cornflour – Replacing a small amount of the flour with the cornflour, gives the cookies an extra chewy texture.
- Raising Agents – This cookie dough contains equal amounts of baking powder & bicarbonate of soda. Make sure to measure this accurately as it is what gives these cookies their soft, fudgy texture.
- Salt – We’re using fine table salt for the cookie dough, as well as a pinch for the glaze.
- Sprinkles – Any brand of rainbow sprinkles will work. The ones that I use come from Get Baked supplies.
How To Make Brown Butter Vanilla Cookies
This recipe makes a dozen brown butter vanilla cookies that are soft & super chewy! They also make a great base for loads of different mix ins so feel free to experiment with different flavours…
- Brown Butter
First, we place unsalted butter into a saucepan & brown over a medium heat. Once cooked, we whisk in toasted milk powder then leave to cool to room temperature. - Cookie Dough
To make the cookie dough, we mix brown butter, softened butter, light brown & caster sugar until well combined (in a stand mixer) then beat in an egg, 2 yolks & a teaspoon of vanilla extract. Next, we add in plain flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda & table salt then mix until just combined. - Chill To Firm Up Dough
Once mixed, we chill the cookie dough in the fridge for 30 minutes or so to firm it up slightly. - Portion
Next, we scoop the dough into 12 portions then use our hands to roll each one into a ball. Each ball of dough should weigh around 70 grams. - Chill Before Baking
Now that our cookies are shaped, we need to chill them in the fridge for at least 2 hours. This ensures that the cookies don’t spread out too much in the oven. - Baking
We bake the cookies for 12 minutes (@ 175°c/350°f), until the edges are crisp & set but the centres are still soft. We then “scoot” the cookies into uniform circles with a large cookie cutter then leave to cool completely, on the tray. We’re using the “Pan Banging” technique when baking the cookies but more on that below.
Brown Butter & Vanilla Glaze
This brown butter & vanilla glaze is the same glaze that I use on my Krispy Kreme style doughnuts! It’s super easy to make, simply mix icing sugar with cooled brown butter, vanilla paste, a pinch of salt & enough milk to make a thick, spreadable icing.
To glaze the cookies, we spoon a generous amount of the glaze on top of each cookie, use a palette knife to spread it out to the edges then leave them to set. I like to finish my cookies with some sprinkles but you could leave these out if you’d prefer.
The Pan Banging Technique
If you’ve ever searched for a cookie recipe on Google, chances are you’ve come across the pan banging technique by Sarah Kieffer from The Vanilla Bean Blog. This technique involves banging the tray of cookies onto your oven rack towards the end of the cooking process. This causes the cookies to deflate, giving the cookies crinkly edges.
Here’s how we bake these cookies using the pan banging technique…
- Bake the cookies for 8 minutes (undisturbed).
- Next, open your oven door, lift up the baking tray inside the oven by a few inches then let it drop down against the oven rack. Use enough force so that the cookie starts to deflate.
- Bake for another 2 minutes then repeat the pan banging process.
- Bake for another 2 minutes (bringing the total bake time to 12 minutes) then take the cookies out of the oven.
The Cookie Scoot
The cookie scoot is a technique used to shape cookies into a perfect circle as soon as they come out of the oven. To do this, take a large circular cutter & use it to move (or scoot) the edges of the cookies, to make a perfect a circle. This is the secret to making a batch of uniform cookies.
Tips & Tricks
- Add toasted milk powder to the brown butter to give the cookies an extra nutty flavour. This makes double brown butter!
- Weigh the cookie dough into portions, to get evenly sized cookies.
- Chill the cookie dough for at least 2 hours before baking, so that the cookies don’t spread out too much as they bake.
- Let the cookies cool completely before glazing, so that the glaze doesn’t melt!
- Use a good quality vanilla in the cookie dough & glaze, for the best flavour.
Frequently Asked Questions
Glazed vanilla cookies will keep for up to 3 days & should be stored in a cool place in an airtight container, to keep them fresh.
Toasted milk powder is dried milk that has been cooked in a frying pan until it turns a deep golden brown. This adds a nutty, caramelised flavour to baked goods. It’s basically dried brown butter! For more info, take a look at our toasted milk powder guide.
Once vanilla cookies are cooked, the edges will be golden brown but the middles will still be soft. Cookies will continue to cook even after you take them out of the oven so it’s important not to over bake them.
Cookie glaze will take at least an hour to set at room temperature. If your kitchen is warm, the glaze may take a bit longer to set or you might need to chill the cookies in the fridge for 20 minutes or so.
How To Bake Vanilla Cookies In An Aga
With all of my recipes, I include cooking instructions for conventional ovens, fan ovens & also Agas. Here’s how to cook this recipe in an Aga…
Bake the cookies in the baking oven on the bottom set of runners. Use the boiling plate to brown the butter.
Equipment Used
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More Baking Recipes To Try!
- Classic School Cake
- Tres Leches Cake (3 Milk Cake)
- Brown Butter Mini Egg Cookies
- Brown Butter & Miso Pecan Pie Bars
- Kettle Chip Rocky Road
- Chocolate Loaf Cake With Dark Chocolate Ganache
If you have enjoyed this recipe for vanilla cookies, it would mean a lot if you could leave a review & rating. And if you’d like to stay up to date with future recipes, follow us on Instagram & TikTok!
Brown Butter & Vanilla Glazed Cookies
Equipment
- Stand Mixer
- Small Saucepan
- Cookie Scoop
- Baking Trays
- Large Circular Cutter
Ingredients
Vanilla Cookie Dough
- 200 g Unsalted Butter
- 1 tsp Toasted Milk Powder (See Notes)
- 160 g Light Brown Sugar
- 125 g Caster Sugar
- 1 Large Egg
- 2 Egg Yolks
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 285 g Plain Flour
- 15 g Cornflour
- ¾ tsp Baking Powder
- ¾ tsp Bicarbonate Of Soda
- ½ tsp Table Salt
Brown Butter Glaze
- 50 g Unsalted Butter
- 250 g Icing Sugar
- 70 g Whole Milk
- 1 tsp Vanilla Paste
- A Pinch Of Table Salt
- Sprinkles
Instructions
Cookie Dough
- Start by browning 120g of the butter. To do this, chop the butter into evenly sized pieces then place into a medium saucepan. Place over a medium heat & allow to melt, stirring regularly with a spatula. Keep cooking, until the butter starts to foam, smells nutty & you can see that the milk solids in the bottom of the pan have turned golden brown.
- Once the butter has browned, take it off the heat & immediately stir in the toasted milk powder. Transfer the butter to a bowl & leave to cool to room temperature. In the meantime, chop the remaining 80g of butter into small pieces & leave to soften at room temperature.The brown butter should take around 30 minutes to cool.
- Next, add both of the butters, the light brown sugar & caster sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attached. Beat on a medium speed for 1-2 minutes, until combined.Be careful not to over mix the butter & sugar, we don’t want to add too much air into the cookie dough as this will affect the baked cookies.
- In a separate bowl, lightly beat the egg, yolks & vanilla together. Then slowly pour into the butter, with the mixer running on medium speed. Stop mixing once the eggs are just incorporated.
- Add the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda & salt into the cookie dough then mix on a low speed until just combined.
- Next, chill the cookie dough in the fridge for 30 minutes, so that it firms up slightly.
Shaping
- Using a cookie scoop (or a spoon), portion the chilled cookie dough into 12 equally sized portions. Each should weigh around 70 grams.
- Using your hands, roll each portion of cookie dough into a ball then place them into an airtight container. Chill the cookie dough in the fridge for at least 2 hours.
Baking
- Preheat an oven to 175°c/155°c fan (350°f/311°f).
- Place 3-4 balls of cookie dough onto a lined baking tray, making sure that there’s plenty of room between them.
- Bake the cookies for 8 minutes then open your oven door, lift up the baking tray inside the oven by a few inches then let it drop down against the oven rack. Use enough force so that the cookie starts to deflate. (This is the “Pan Banging” method.)
- Bake for a further 2 minutes then repeat the pan banging process.
- Bake for another 2 minutes (bringing the total bake time to 12 minutes) then remove from the oven.Once baked, the cookies' edges will be golden brown but the middles will still be soft.
- Using a large, round cookie cutter, gently scoot each cookie into a perfect round shape then leave to cool completely on the tray.
- Repeat the cooking process with the remaining cookies, baking 3-4 cookies at a time.
Brown Butter Glaze
- Place the butter for the glaze into a saucepan & set over a medium heat. Cook until browned then pour into a mixing bowl & set aside to cool.
- Next, sift the icing sugar into a mixing bowl then add in the brown butter, milk, vanilla & salt. Whisk to make a smooth, thick icing.
- Top each cookie with a heaped teaspoon of the glaze then use a palette knife to spread out to the edges. Top the cookies with sprinkles then leave to set.The icing should take around an hour to set at room temperature but if your kitchen is warm, you may need to stick the cookies in the fridge for 20 minutes or so to firm the icing up.
