Ingredients
Units
Scale
- 1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar
- 2 eggs, room temp
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 1/2 cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp cornstarch
- extra sugar for rolling dough balls if desired
Instructions
- Brown your salted butter. Melt 2 sticks of butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Continue heating, stirring consistently, until brown specks begin to form at the bottom of the pan. This happens all of a sudden, so continue to watch butter as it heats. Remove from heat immediately and pour into a heat-proof container. Allow to cool at room temp for 5-10 minutes, then chill in the fridge until the butter is room temperature, solid, and spreadable.
- Cream together salted, solidified browned butter with sugars on medium-high speed, for 3-4 minutes until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time and vanilla. Beat on medium-high until light, fluffy, and completely emusified, about 5 minutes.
- In a separate bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder, cornstarch, and salt. Add to wet ingredients and mix on low/fold until the ingredients just come together into a cookie dough. Do not overmix.
- Scoop into 24 medium-sized cookie dough balls and line up on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Flatten tops of cookie dough balls slightly. Cover with plastic wrap and chill the whole baking sheet in the fridge for at least 3 hours, or up to 36 hours.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place chilled cookie dough balls on a prepared baking sheet. Bake for 8 minutes. With oven mitts, grab your hot baking sheet and bang it down (hard) onto the over rack. This will make the puffy centers of the cookies deflate, the edges spread a bit, and create a circular ridge on the cookie. Repeat again at 10 minutes cook time. Remove the cookies from oven around 12 minutes cook time, and bang the pan one more time on the counter. Allow cookies to cool.
- Serve warm or at room temp. Cookies keep well at room temp up for up to one week.
Notes
- Browned butter gives this recipe its nutty flavor and elevates it from your typical sugar cookie. If you burn your butter, throw it out and start over!
- This pan banging technique is borrowed from Sarah Kieffer, and imparts a wonderful crispy edge and chewy center texture to the cookie. The pan banging is optional but recommended.
- If needed, you can sub unsalted butter for salted butter and add and additional 1 tsp of kosher salt.
- Also optional, you can roll the cookie dough balls in granulated sugar for an extra sweet crunchy outside.