These brown butter sugar cookies with caramelized white chocolate are soft, chewy and filled with flavor. The caramelized white chocolate chunks (which we make with mostly hands-off in the oven) adds a caramel and butterscotch flavor that pairs so well with the brown butter.
Maybe it’s just me, but I’ve never been a huge fan of sugar cookies. There are definitely some that I am obsessed with, but I often find they’re not super flavorful, are dry, or are covered with icing that’s beautiful but not tasty.
That’s where these brown butter sugar cookies with caramelized white chocolate come in. The dough itself is much more flavorful than the average sugar cookie thanks to brown butter and a smidge of brown sugar and almond extract. And the caramelized white chocolate (which we make with mostly hands-off time in the oven) adds a toasted, butterscotch flavor that complements the brown butter sugar cookies so well.
These brown butter sugar cookies are best enjoyed warm from the oven. I like to eat them day-of, or reheated slightly the next day. Either way, these deserve a place on your holiday and any-time-of-year baking list and will truly blow you away.
This post is all about soft and chewy brown butter sugar cookies with caramelized white chocolate.
Brown Butter Sugar Cookies with Caramelized White Chocolate
Ingredients
Here’s what to snag on your grocery store trip:
- White chocolate. You want a white chocolate bar (not chips) that has 30% or higher cocoa butter content. Lindt and Valhrona fêves are great. You want to avoid white chocolate chips since they have a heat protective coating that makes them resistant to melting, and usually have lower cocoa butter content.
- Unsalted butter. Butter has a strong flavor in sugar cookies, so get the best quality American-style butter you can get (not Kerrygold or Plugra, as those have a higher fat percentage than American-style). Cabot is a great quality butter that’s affordable where I live. We use brown butter that is melted butter (instead of room temperature) for a more dense and moist cookie with chewy centers.
- Granulated sugar. We use mostly granulated sugar to give these cookies a characteristic sugar cookie feel!
- Light brown sugar. We add a little light brown sugar to make the cookie softer and a little thicker than classic sugar cookies. The light brown sugar also adds toffee notes thanks to the molasses in it, which adds to our toasted, nutty flavor.
- Eggs. We do one full egg and one egg yolk — the extra yolk helps make the cookie chewy.
- Vanilla extract. We use a lot of vanilla in this sugar cookie recipe. You can use vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste (I like Taylor & Colledge) if you want to see some specks of vanilla bean in the cookie.
- Almond extract. We add just a half teaspoon of almond extract in this recipe because it rounds out the vanilla flavor.
- All purpose flour. We use all purpose flour to bring the cookies together!
- Kosher salt or another coarse salt. I always cook and bake with coarse salt, because it’s easier to control the flavor than with fine salt. If you are using a fine table salt, try using a little over 1/2 tsp. so the cookies aren’t too salty.
- Baking soda AND baking powder. Baking soda helps the cookies spread and get crispy edges and a chewy inside. Baking powder gives the cookies lift so they’re nice and thick. Together, they’re powerhouse leaveners!
- Feel free to add sprinkles on top if you’d like! I’m loving these gold stars/confetti sprinkles for the holidays/New Years and these multi-colored confetti sprinkles for any time of year. You can sprinkle or press them onto the dough before baking.
What is caramelized white chocolate?
Caramelized white chocolate is white chocolate that’s been cooked low and slow in the oven until the sugars in the white chocolate caramelize. The process is similar to caramelizing onions — you cook gradually and let the flavor change over time. The technique was created by the renowned Valhrona chocolatiers, and I first saw it on Buttermilk by Sam’s Instagram account and was immediately hooked.
Caramelized white chocolate has a toasted, butterscotch and caramel flavor, and none of the cloying sweetness you normally get with white chocolate. It’s liquid when it’s straight from the oven, but will firm up so you can use it the way you would a normal chocolate bar. It’s unique, so delicious and can be used in place of white chocolate in most recipes!
How to caramelize white chocolate
Caramelizing white chocolate sounds more challenging than it is. It’s mostly hands-off time in the oven and is achievable for even the novice baker.
You’ll preheat your oven to 250°F. If you haven’t tested the true temperature of your oven, I always recommend it — you can get an oven thermometer for only $7 on Amazon. Chop your white chocolate into even pieces and place them on a silicon mat / silpat or parchment paper lined rimmed baking tray. Do NOT let any water (including your own saliva from trying some chocolate) get near the chocolate, or it will seize up.
Bake the chocolate for 10 minutes, then smear it on the tray with an offset spatula or spoon. Bake the chocolate for another 20-40 minutes, scraping it up and smearing it every 10 minutes. It will be a bit clumpy at some point, but keep going! You want to stop when it looks about the color of peanut butter.
When the white chocolate is fully caramelized, you’ll smooth out the bumps with an offset spatula or spoon, then pour it into a parchment paper lined baking tin or rimmed tray. Let cool at room temp or quickly in the freezer. Now you can break it up and use it like you would any other chocolate!
How to make brown butter sugar cookies
Step 1: Make the caramelized white chocolate either the day before, or right before you begin making the dough.
Step 2: Brown the butter in a saucepan over medium heat until it has a nutty aroma and brown specks on the bottom of the pan (more directions in the recipe itself!). Whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder in a medium bowl while the butter cools so it doesn’t melt the sugar.
Step 3: Once the butter has cooled slightly, whisk vigorously with the granulated sugar and brown sugar. Add the egg, vanilla extract and almond extract and mix well.
Step 4: Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until there are just a few streaks of flour left. Break up your hardened caramelized white chocolate into chunks and fold them into the batter, reserving a few pieces to place on top before baking.
Step 5: Portion your dough into 16 balls. Place on a rimmed baking tray, cover in plastic wrap and refrigerate for one hour (or at most 48 hours).
Step 6: Before each round goes into the oven, you can roll the dough balls in sugar to get a nice sugar cookie crunch, but this part is optional. Press the reserved pieces of caramelized white chocolate on top of the cookies, bake and enjoy!
Tips for the best brown butter sugar cookies
- Properly measure your flour. Too much flour in cookies can make them puffy and soft instead of chewy. And too little flour won’t give them enough structure!
- Meaure by weight: I always use a kitchen scale to measure my ingredients and include the measurements in grams in the recipe so you can, too. You can get a pretty cheap scale on Amazon (I used a $12 scale for years and now use a $28 KitchenAid scale).
- Measure by volume: If you’re using a cup measure instead of a scale, first fluff the flour in its bag, then use a spoon to place it into your measuring cup. Level the flour off by scraping the flat edge of a knife across the top of the cup measure.
- Chill your cookie dough. You need to chill the dough for at least one hour (and a max of 48 hours). Chilling helps the cookies spread less, so they come out perfectly thick. Keep the cookie dough balls in the fridge up until you pop them in the oven. This way the butter stays cool and your cookies don’t spread too much.
- Use the circle method to get perfectly round cookies. Have y’all seen this one? It’s genius. First grab a circular cookie cutter or any circular vessel that has a larger diameter than your cookie. Right when you take your cookies out of the oven, make fast circles over the cookies to to mold them into a perfect circle and make them thicker. This is a video is you’re a visual learner!
- Use a cookie scoop to get evenly sized, easy to scoop cookies. For this recipe we use a 3 TBS. scoop (50-60 grams). I use this trio of cookie scoops, and the 3 TBS. scoop is the middle size.
Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
Browned butter adds a deep nutty, caramel/toffee flavor to desserts. The difference in flavor between regular and brown butter cookies is wild — it’s a total game changer.
Caramelized white chocolate has a toasted, butterscotch and caramel flavor. It’s pretty mind blowing!
If you’re allergic to nuts, you can substitute almond extract for imitation almond extract, or leave it out.
Go for it! After the dough has chilled for at least one hour (and up to 48 hours), put the preportioned balls into a freezer bag, pressing out as much air as you can. You can bake the cookies right from the freezer, just add a couple minutes of bake time.
These cookies are best day-of warm from the oven. But you can store them in an airtight container on the counter for 3 days and reheat before eating or in the freezer for three months.
There seem to be a few options online if you want to go that route (Creo and Liberty Orchards look pretty good). But I promise it’s not out of your wheelhouse to make at home.
I wouldn’t recommend frosting these, but you can definitely add sprinkles! Just press them into the top of the cookie dough balls before baking.
Looking for more great recipes?
- If you’re looking for more cookie recipes, check out salted brown butter chocolate chip cookies or dipped strawberry chocolate chip cookies.
- If you want more of that caramel, toffee flavor, try brown butter blondies or maple miso brown butter blondies.
- If you’re looking for a super quick dessert, try campfire banana boats (can be made in an oven), the viral half-baked single serve cookie skillet, or edible peanut butter cookie dough for 2.
If you make these brown butter sugar cookies with caramelized white chocolate, please leave a rating and review below. Tag me on Instagram or TikTok at @loaves.and.such!
Brown Butter Sugar Cookies with Caramelized White Chocolate
4
servings30
minutes40
minutesThese brown butter sugar cookies with caramelized white chocolate are soft, chewy and filled with flavor. The caramelized white chocolate chunks (which we make with mostly hands-off in the oven) adds a caramel and butterscotch flavor that pairs so well with the brown butter.
Makes 16 large cookies.
Keep the screen of your device on
Ingredients
8 ounces quality white chocolate (ideally 30%+ cocoa butter content)
2 sticks (227 grams) unsalted butter
2 1/2 cups (300 grams) all purpose flour
1 tsp. kosher salt or another coarse salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/4 cups (250 grams) granulated sugar
1/4 cup (53 grams) light brown sugar
1 egg + 1 egg yolk
1 TBS. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. almond extract
Directions
- At least one hour before you’re ready to make the dough, make the caramelized white chocolate.
Preheat the oven to 250°F. Break up or chop your white chocolate and put it on a silpat or parchment paper lined rimmed baking tray. Do NOT let any water (whether it’s water or your own saliva from trying some chocolate) get near the chocolate, or it will seize up. Bake the chocolate for 10 minutes, then smear it on the tray with an offset spatula or spoon. Bake the chocolate for another 20-40 minutes, scraping it up and smearing it every 10 minutes. It will be a bit bumpy and clumpy at some point, but keep going! You want to stop when it looks about the color of peanut butter.
When the white chocolate is fully caramelized, take your offset spatula or spoon and smooth out the bumps in the caramelized white chocolate, keeping the white chocolate on the pan you baked on. This will take 5-10 minutes.
Pour the caramelized white chocolate onto a new rimmed pan or an 8×8 baking tin and spread it until it’s about the thickness of a chocolate bar (it won’t take up a full 8×8 tin). Let it sit at room temperature until it’s hardened or stick it in the freezer to quicken the process. - While the caramelized white chocolate hardens, start on the dough. Brown the butter by placing it in a medium saucepan over medium heat. The butter is going to melt, then simmer, then foam. Swirl regualrly throughout the process so the butter cooks evenly.
After 6-10 minutes, the butter will get a nutty aroma and the milk solids from the butter will drop to the bottom of the pan. The specks will start out white and will then brown. Once they brown, pour the butter into a large bowl, making sure to scrape in the brown specks. Stir in one ice cube to help cool the butter and restore some of the liquid lost when browning the butter. Set aside to cool slightly (so it won’t melt the sugar). - In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder. Set aside.
- Add the granulated sugar and brown sugar to the large bowl with the cooled brown butter and whisk well until there’s no separation. Mix in the egg, egg yolk, vanilla extract and almond extract.
- Switch to a spatula and fold in the flour mixture, scraping down the bowl as you go, until there are almost no streaks of flour left. At this point, you can take the caramelized white chocolate out of the freezer and break it up into small pieces with your hand or a sharp knife. Add most of caramelized white chocolate chunks to the dough, reserving some to press into the cookies right before baking.
- Use a 3-tablespoon scoop (50-60 grams, the middle-sized scoop in this set) to make balls of dough. If you’re rolling the cookies in sprinkles, do this now. Place the dough balls onto a rimmed baking sheet (they can touch each other!), cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for one hour and up to 48 hours.
- When you’re ready to bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 350°F. If you’d like to give your cookies an extra sugar cookie feel, you can toss the balls in 1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated sugar.
Space the cookies every 3 inches on a cookie sheet. Bake for 9-11 minutes, until the edges are set, but aren’t brown. They may feel a little underbaked, but they’ll continue to bake from the residual heat of the oven. It’s better to err on the side of under-baking than over-baking sugar cookies, so that they stay soft the next day.