Brown Butter Cutout Cookies

Note: The butter will brown quickly once it starts to turn brown, so don’t walk away from the stove. Have a bowl ready to pour it into once it’s done, so it doesn’t continue to cook and burn.

Add the butter to a light-colored pan over medium-low heat and allow to melt, stirring continuously. Turn the heat up to medium and allow it to come to a boil, again stirring constantly.

The butter will change as it boils, finally getting a dense foam on top once the water has all evaporated. Stir constantly so that the butter browns evenly and milk solids don’t settle on the bottom of the pan and burn. Stirring also allows you to see through the foam to see when the butter starts to brown. The foam will subside a bit and you’ll notice brown bits on the bottom of the pan. It’ll smell buttery and nutty. I like to stir a touch longer to get plenty of brown bits, just be careful not to burn it (keep stirring!).

Immediately remove from the heat and pour the brown butter into a heatproof bowl. Set aside to cool to room temperature (or just slightly warmer). It will thicken as it cools and become more solid, but soft, at room temperature. If you want to prep the brown butter ahead, you can refrigerate it and bring it room temperature before using it.

Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in a medium-sized bowl and set aside.

Add the butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla extract to a large bowl and whisk together until well combined.

Add the dry ingredients and stir together just until the dough is well combined. I folded it by hand with a spatula, but you could use a mixer. It may seem a little dry at first, but it’ll come together. Don’t over mix.

Divide the cookie dough into two parts and roll each one out between two pieces of parchment paper to about ¼ inch thick. If much thicker, they can spread more.

Refrigerate the cookie dough for at least an hour, or up to 2 days. You could also do this a day before you cut out your cookies and let it refrigerate overnight. If you have a container large enough to hold the rolled-out dough, you can store it in that. Otherwise, the cookie dough should be fine between the parchment paper. You could also just roll it into a ball to refrigerate, but the brown butter cookie dough gets quite firm so you’ll need to add time for letting it come to room temperature before you can roll it out.

Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C) and line a cookie sheet with a silicone baking mat.

Remove cookie dough from fridge, peel off the top layer of parchment paper and immediately cut into shapes. Transfer cookies to cookie sheet.

Bake for 7-10 minutes or until the cookies just look done in the center and before they start to brown on the edges.

Allow the cookies to cool for 3-5 minutes, then remove to a cooling rack to finish cooling.

Continue rolling the dough, cutting out cookies and baking them until you’ve used all the cookie dough. I always chill the cookie dough after rolling it out, before cutting the cookies, so that the dough is firm and cuts cleaner and is easier to transfer to the cookie sheet. You can chill in the fridge for about 20 minutes, or freeze for 5-10 minutes.

Once all the cookies are baked and cooled, decorate them with the method of your choice. My photos show a mix of my easy sugar cookie icing, royal icing and brown butter buttercream.

Store the cookies in an air tight container. If using sugar cookie icing or royal icing, they can stay at room temperature. If using buttercream, they be at room temperature for up to 48 hours and then should be refrigerated (but still served at room temperature). Cookies are best if eaten within 3-5 days.