Brown Butter Snickerdoodles (with Toasted Milk Powder)

brown butter snickerdoodles with a bite taken out of one.

Get the Recipe: Brown Butter Snickerdoodles (with Toasted Milk Powder)

Toasted milk powder and buttermilk powder make these far more than cinnamon sugar coated sugar cookies. Forget about all of the other snickerdoodles, you've tried! These are it!⁠

5 from 1 rating

Yield19 cookies

Prep1 30

Cook10

Chill20

Total2

Ingredients

Cookie Dough

2 cups All Purpose Flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon buttermilk powder
1/4 cup toasted milk powder
1/4 cup cornstarch
3/4 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup unrefined, granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed, dark brown sugar
1 egg + 1 egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 tablespoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt

Cookie Topping

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup unrefined, granulated sugar

Equipment

stainless steel or non-stick pan
measuring Cups
spatula
Measuring spoons
kitchen scale
small bowl
stand mixer with bowl attachment
cookie scoop
parchment paper or silicone baking mat
baking sheet tray

Print Recipe

Instructions

First, measure out the butter and set it on the counter to soften. Then, toast the milk powder in a pan on low, to medium low temperature for about 1 hour. Just like a roux, keep moving the powder around the pan so it doesn’t burn. Breakup any pieces that begin to clump together as best as you can. The powder will go from an ivory color all the way to a toasted deep golden color.
If too much of the milk powder is sticking to the bottom of the pan and you are having trouble scraping it up, turn your heat down or remove the pan from the burner to scrape and then return it to the heating element to continue. When you achieve a warm light brown color, remove from the burner and set aside to cool.
When the toasted powder is about room temperature, whisk together the flour, baking soda, toasted milk powder, buttermilk powder, and cornstarch. Set the flour mixture aside, measure out the sugars, and set that aside as well.
Begin the cookie dough, by beating the butter on medium speed until it lightens and becomes fluffy. This will take between 3-5 minutes. At that point, add both the brown and granulated sugars and continue beating for another 2-3 minutes. The mixture will go from very grainy to mostly uniform in color and texture (though it won’t be completely smooth).
At this point, scrape the butter and sugar mixture down the sides of the bowl and turn the mixer to low. Add the egg + plus yolk and mix until it’s fully incorporated. Then, add in the salt and vanilla extract and continue beating for about 30 seconds, to make sure they are mixed in pretty well.
Next, pour in the flour mixture in small increments, to keep it from puffing out of the mixing bowl. As soon as the flour mixes in, stop the machine. Do NOT overmix. The dough should be very soft. If you overmix the dough it will toughen.
Grab a #24, 2in (5cm) cookie scoop (it should hold roughly 2.5tbsp or 45-50g of dough). Scoop cookies onto a silicone or parchment lined baking sheet until you run out of dough. Gently roll each scoop into a ball with your palms and place it back down onto the tray. Chill the cookies in the refrigerator for 20 minutes.
While the cookies are chilling, mix the cinnamon-sugar topping and preheat your oven to 375°F (190°C). After chilling, separate the balls onto two silicone or parchment lined baking sheets. Arrange them roughly 1 1/2-2 in (3.8-5 cm) apart. For better consistency in baking, leave the cookies for the second tray in the fridge while you prepare the first tray.
For the first few cookies, roll the balls in your hands again until they heat enough on the outside to become tacky. Then, cover the cookies with the cinnamon-sugar topping. (see notes for topping tips).
Place the first tray in the oven. As soon as they are in, turn the temperature down to 350°F (177°C) and bake for 10-12 minutes. When done, the snickerdoodles should be nicely and uniformly domed and the top/middle should not look wet. Let cool for 10 minutes before moving to a cooling rack.

Notes

To speed up chilling the toasted milk powder, pour it into a different container and/or place it in the refrigerator.
Another way to save time and, honestly, have a fun pantry staple for all sorts of baked goods, is to make 1-2 cups (100-200g) of toasted milk powder at a time. I am working on a toasted milk powder recipes series, so you’ll have plenty of goodies to make, don’t worry!
If you only have refined, white sugar in your pantry, change the following ingredients… add 1/2tsp (2.5g) of baking powder to the dry ingredients and reduce the kosher salt to 1tsp (4.4g). (See FAQ for more information and explanation.)
The more you roll the cookies in the cinnamon-sugar topping, the more they accumulate cinnamon and the less the sugar granules stick. To combat this, try working quickly and only cover sections once. You can also gently press the bottom of the cookies into the topping at the very end and then turn them over so the top has a fair amount of sugar on them.
Store the snickerdoodle cookies for up to a week on the counter. You can also freeze the baked cookies for 1 month or the uncooked cookie balls (pre-cinnamon-sugar topped) for up to 3 months.
If baking from frozen, add 1-2 minutes to the oven time.
To reheat previously baked snickerdoodle cookies, throw them in a warm oven or microwave them on the reheat bread setting. If you don’t have that or a similar setting, use the lowest power in 10-15 second increments.

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