Soft and slightly crinkly, these melt-in-your-mouth maple brown sugar cookies are made with all brown sugar and infused with warm tones of maple syrup.
This is a favorite cold-weather cookie of mine that I posted last year, and the photos have been updated & recipe has been updated to include metric measurements.
2016 has been a hectic, stressful, exhausting, but mostly, joyful, blur.
I’ve baked more (maple brown sugar) cookies than any other year of my life, learned more about Pinterest than anyone should ever need to know, slept less (mostly because of all the time spent on Pinterest — not even kidding), decoded my Rubik’s cube of a camera just a little bit more, and improved my photography as a result (see today’s pictures and the original pictures at the bottom of the post for comparison).
I’ve even begun to dabble in video on my Facebook page, but that’s an entirely new beast that I plan on going after with torch and pitchfork in 2017.
Sure, I’ve got a long way to go and I’m looking forward to growing this space even more in 2017, but right now I’m just so grateful for everything this year has been for me.
But now, let’s talk cookies.
I shared these maple brown sugar cookies over a year ago, but they were in dire need of a new photo shoot.
They’re one of my favorites, and actually served as the inspiration for my Worst Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe after I realized how utterly amazing maple syrup tasted in cookie dough.
Maple syrup has a wonderful and warm flavor to it, an almost “cozy” taste, and it goes perfectly with a warm plate of cookies in the cold weather — they’re great fall or winter cookies and belong next to a glass of milk for Santa on Christmas Eve (only one day left!).
I’ve made these cookies many times using both pure (pricey!) maple syrup and plain old Aunt Jemima, and I’ve finally admitted to myself that I firmly prefer the inauthentic maple syrup.
Is that embarrassing? I feel like I should prefer the fancy tree-tapped stuff, but I don’t.
These will still certainly taste wonderful with pure maple syrup, but faux-syrup seems to be more prominent, more fragrant, and is far less expensive!
Combined with all brown sugar, these cookies are soft, chewy and simply perfect and rich in fall flavors. The dough is amazing — don’t taste it if you can help it, because it’s addictive.
These maple brown sugar cookies nearly melt in your mouth– the maple flavor a subtle warmth on your tongue.
If all goes as planned, this will be my last post of 2016. I have a lot of trouble going any length of time without posting, but I’m going to try to take off from doing so next week — I’ll still be doing plenty of behind-the-scenes work, though.
Before I figuratively sign off for the year, though, I wanted to give a special THANK YOU to all of you, for visiting my website, trying my recipes, leaving kind comments and writing encouraging e-mails. It’s because of you that I have been able to build Sugar Spun Run up to be what it has become in 2016.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year — let’s make 2017 a great one!!
Maple Brown Sugar Cookies
Soft, flavorful maple brown sugar cookies.
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter melted and cooled (226g)
- 1 1/2 cup brown sugar tightly packed (300g)
- 1/3 cup maple syrup (pure or faux -- I honestly prefer Aunt Jemima!)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 large egg (room temperature & lightly beaten.)
- 3 cups all-purpose flour (375g)
- 2 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- Granulated sugar for rolling or sprinkling
Instructions
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Melt butter in large, microwave-safe bowl and allow to cool completely.
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Stir in brown sugar and maple syrup until completely combined.
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Stir in vanilla extract and maple extract (if using).
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Add egg and stir until well-combined.
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In separate, medium-sized bowl, combine flour, cornstarch, baking soda and salt.
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Gradually (about 1/4 of the mixture at a time), add the flour mix to the butter mixture and stir until completely combined.
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Chill in refrigerator for 30 minutes to 1 hour.
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Once dough is about 30 minutes from being ready, preheat oven to 375F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
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Scoop dough into round 1 1/2" scoops. Roll in or sprinkle lightly with granulated sugar and bake for 10-12 minutes.
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Allow cookies to cool completely on cookie sheet. Do not put dough for following batches on hot cookie sheets, cookie sheets should always be room temperature or colder.
Recipe Notes
I rolled these cookies in coarse sugar and sprinkled with golden sugar sprinkles and stars for decoration while they were cooling.
Original photos
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Maple Brown Sugar Cookies were originally posted 11/18/15 — Updated 12/23/16
These cookies really do look melt-in-your-mouth! They look so chewy, and delicious!
Thanks, Marsha! 🙂
These look amazing! Love the rich flavors in these cookies 🙂 Pinning!
Thank you, Medha! 🙂
Mmm I love maple syrup! It’s such a warm and comforting flavor, especially during the colder season. These cookies look and sound absolutely perfect. I can imagine swooning over these with a tall cup of hot coffee! 😀
Thank you, Beeta! 🙂
Yes!! Real maple syrup is the best! When I first met my hubby he only liked Aunt Jemimah’s, AHHH! The New England girl in me quickly converted him, though! 🙂 These cookies sound so awesome!
Haha good job, Jess! I don’t know what took me so long to finally see the light! Thanks! 🙂
I definitely agree that there’s something cozy about maple syrup. These look great, and I bet they’d be good ice cream sandwich cookies!
Oh yum, that’s a great idea, Amanda! 🙂
I didn’t like pure maple syrup as a kid either, but now I can’t live without it! By the way, I am sooooo excited about holiday cookie season. I bet these Maple Brown Sugar Cookies would be perfect to dunk in some eggnog!!!
You know, I’m not actually a fan of eggnog, but that pairing of these cookies with a mug of some doesn’t sound bad at all! 🙂
These look so dangerously Moorish I am sure I would devour a whole batch in one sitting.
It’s hard not to! Thanks, Ruby! 🙂
These look so soft and so perfect! Perfect for Christmas!
Thanks Chels! They’d be great for a cookie exchange!
This looks like a great cookie. Can’t wait to try it!
Thanks Abbe! I bet you’ll love it! 🙂
Has anyone tried to make these with nuts (pecans) in them? I love Maple Walnut ice cream – maybe add walnuts to the dough and eat with the ice cream?? Or am I obsessing too much, LOL??
Sounds delicious! I bet these would be great with walnuts!
Are those pictures really from the ones you made? <3 They look so yummy! You're truly talented. I love your page! Will visit it all the time from now on 🙂 I want to learn how to do the best cookies ever.
Hi Barbara! Yes, I take all of the photos on my site. Thank you so much, you are so sweet! I hope you love the recipes! 🙂
Has anyone who rated them even attempted to make them? It drives me crazy when people say “they look great” “sound fabulous” and then rate them. Don’t rate things unless you make them. The dough is chilling in my fridge.
Hope you’ll come back and let us know how they turned out, Angela! 🙂
I totally agree!!!!!
Oh my goodness! You are a queen of baking! Thank you for sharing this recipe. I prepared the dough in the morning to chill for the afternoon so I could bake. I did not add the maple extract and I did sprinkle sugar before baking. They did not even make it to cool down. These are so delicious I recommend everyone to make them and make them again! Seriously! I never doubted your cookie recipe (I make your worst chocolate chip cookie too) Great, now I’m going to be conflicted in which cookies I should make! Thank you so much for sharing and letting me bake!
Yay! I’m so glad that you enjoyed these cookies so much, April! Thank you for commenting, and have a wonderful day! 🙂 🙂
These turned out so good! I popped them in the freezer for 30 minutes and was able to handle them easily, with no sticking. The only change I’d suggest is the baking time and temp. Every oven is different, so I know it’s hard get a temperature consensus, but I put my cookies in at 350 F for about 8 minutes and they were perfect, without being too crunchy. I always try to error on the side of underbaked, anyway. All in all, incredible autumn sugar cookies!!
I’m so glad you enjoyed these, Kelsea! 🙂
Great recipe! However, I used a slightly different method. I made them like a molasses cookie. So I softened the butter in the microwave for a bit and then creamed together the butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Then added in the maple syrup, scraped down the sides of the bowl, and added the eggs. Then the dry ingredients. I think the dough is a lot easier to work with this way!
The taste of them is good, however I had some issues with the dough not cooking correctly. I followed the recipe exactly and chilled it as directed. It made more than enough to trial different tempatures, sizes of dough, etc. mine never even began to flatten or spread out. How I put them on the sheet was the shape they cooked and stayed at. Although tasty, they look weird and are almost biscuit like.
Very odd, I haven’t experienced that and I can’t say for sure what might have caused it, unless possibly the flour was over-measured? Thank you for sharing your feedback!
Approximately how many cookies does this make per batch?
You’ll get about 40 cookies 🙂
Mmmm, I love these cookies. These cookies look and sound absolutely perfect for this holiday season Sam. 🙂
Yum
Hi Sam! I recently discovered your blog because I Googled Maple Chocolate Chip Cookies after having some at a cookie exchange. I think your recipe is now my favorite go to Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe! With that said, I made these (Maple Brown Sugar Cookies) today because you said they’re great on cold days and are cozy. You were right! The maple, butter an brown sugar flavors work so well together,while still being distinct somehow. I haven’t been this impressed with a new cookie recipe in a very long time. I never bother melting butter because it takes longer to have it solidify again and then even longer to put the mixed (but not baked) batter back into the fridge because ittends to be stickier, however I noticed a lot of your recipes call for that. Is there a difference between simply using softened butter and skipping those steps verses melting? Thanks again for sharing these amazing recipes! I’m really picky and so far, am a big fan. (This is also the first time I have commented on a food blog since I’ve started loving cooking and baking about 19 years ago!)
Hi Mya!
I am so thrilled that you have enjoyed the cookies and especially honored that you are commenting on my blog!! 🙂
To answer your question about the butter:
I totally feel your pain about the butter taking a while to cool & the necessity of chilling the dough. However, I prefer to melt the butter because I’ve found that it always leads to chewier cookies with a richer (and butterier) flavor.
You could probably get away with just using softened butter, but your cookies would be less chewy, perhaps a bit drier, and they wouldn’t have the same rich taste as a cookie made with melted butter.
By melting the butter, every last bit of the dough is infused with flavor in a way that softened butter just can’t manage, and for that reason in most of my recipes, it is my preferred choice.
There’s also some science behind the chemical differences in creaming and melting the butter, too — creaming the butter and sugar together creates air pockets which gives the cookies a little bit of a lift while they bake, while the melted butter doesn’t provide that rise, leaving you with denser, chewier (and in my humble opinion — more delicious) cookies.
I hope this helps explain why I use melted butter in my recipes, but I’m definitely happy to discuss further if you have any more questions! 🙂
Have a wonderful weekend!
Another winner, Samantha. Such an easy recipe for fabulous cookies. To gild the lily, I added a half-teaspoon of maple extract, and when the cookies came out of the oven, I pressed two toasted pecan halves on top of each. These babies are going to be entered in our county fair! Thanks again.
This makes me so happy to hear, Candace!! I am so glad that you loved the cookies, the pecans on top sound like the perfect touch — I hope you win at the fair!!! <3
Haven’t tried them yet, but I make about 500 dozen cookies in late fall/Early Christmas. Obviously, some of them are frozen ahead of time. Sometimes the dough is frozen; sometimes the finished cookie. Do you have any recommendations about how this recipe would work with that in mind? Keep sharing those great recipes!
I haven’t tried freezing these cookies once they’re baked, but I think freezing the dough would be just fine! You will still need to chill it in the refrigerator the recommended time, then I would scoop it into balls and then freeze those. Wrap them tightly in cling wrap and then store the wrapped balls in a freezer bag or airtight container, they should keep just fine for a few months (about 3). Enjoy!