Soft and slightly crinkly, these melt-in-your-mouth maple brown sugar cookies are made with all brown sugar and infused with cozy maple syrup. Recipe includes a how-to video!
Warm & Cozy Maple Cookies
These maple brown sugar cookies are one of my all-time favorite cookies. In fact, I love this recipe so much that it actually inspired me to create my super popular worst chocolate chip cookies after I realized how utterly amazing maple syrup tastes in cookie dough!
So warm, so cozy, and deliriously soft and chewy, these cookies are perfect fall or winter cookies and absolutely belong next to a glass of milk for Santa on Christmas Eve!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Easy! No mixer needed, since we are starting with melted butter. Unfortunately this means we will have to chill the dough, but I promise these cookies are worth the wait!
- Soft, tender texture thanks to a few carefully selected ingredients (two types of brown sugar, cornstarch, melted butter) and my favorite cookie baking technique. They nearly melt in your mouth!
- Prominent, but not overpowering maple flavor. It adds a cozy and familiar taste that makes these cookies perfect for cooler weather, just like my brown butter blondies.
- The dough can be made in advance or even frozen, making this recipe perfect for holiday cookie baking! If you need more inspiration for Christmas cookies, check out my 12 days of cookies email series.
Ingredients
- Maple syrup. I’ve made these cookies many times using both pure maple syrup and plain old Aunt Jemima, and I like them both ways. Pancake syrup has a more prominent, more fragrant flavor, and it is far less expensive. But the cookies still taste wonderful with pure maple syrup (and we’ll be enhancing the flavor with some maple extract anyway!).
- Brown sugar. I recommend a blend of dark and light brown sugar. If you only have one on hand, use only light brown (all dark brown would be too sweet). Note that the only granulated sugar we are using today will be for rolling the cookies before they bake.
- Melted butter. Starting with melted butter means our cookies will have a more buttery flavor AND we won’t need to use a mixer (just like my chocolate snickerdoodles!). Make sure to let your butter cool down after melting; adding the sugars when the butter is too warm can create a greasy, unusable cookie dough.
- Cornstarch. I love using cornstarch to make chewy cookies! It thickens the dough without making it cakey (like flour would). I use this in so many of my cookie recipes, from my apple pie cookies to my pecan sandies.
- Maple extract. We’ll amp up the maple flavor even more with some maple extract.
SAM’S TIP: Make sure your egg comes to room temperature before you add it. Adding a cold egg to the otherwise room temperature dough could shock it. If you forget, pop your egg in warm water for 15 minutes or so to warm it up before drying it off and cracking it in the dough.
Remember, this is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!
How to Make Maple Brown Sugar Cookies
Make the dough
Melt the butter, then let it cool to the touch before stirring in your sugars and maple syrup. Do not rush this step, or you could melt your sugars and create a super greasy, unusable cookie dough!
Stir in your egg and extracts, then set aside while you combine your dry ingredients.
Gently fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients in 3-4 parts. This helps keep the dough manageable and allows the dry ingredients to fully absorb.
Cover and chill
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place the dough in the fridge for at least an hour or up to five days. If you pull your dough out of the fridge and it still seems too soft, you can bake a test cookie to see how much it spreads. If it spread too much, pop your dough back in the fridge a little longer.
Roll and bake
Scoop and roll the dough into 2-tablespoon balls. Roll through granulated sugar before baking on parchment lined sheets until the edges are light golden brown. The centers will still look underdone, and that’s totally fine! We’ll let the cookies finish baking on the hot sheets outside the oven for soft and chewy results.
SAM’S TIP: If you don’t feel like rolling your cookies, you can drop them directly onto the baking sheet and sprinkle the tops with sugar instead.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes! You can add up to 1 cup of chopped nuts (toasted pecans would be tasty!) to the dough right before chilling. Note that when you add nuts to a cookie dough, the cookies often don’t spread as much. If your first tray stays a bit more ball-shaped than you’d like, just lightly flatten the rest of the cookies before baking.
You will want to freeze it after chilling, and I recommend rolling the cookies into balls before you do so. I provide detailed instructions on how to do this with this recipe and pretty much every other cookie recipe in my post on how to freeze cookie dough.
Sure! You can either swap the granulated sugar coating for cinnamon sugar, or you can add your spices to the dough. If you choose the second option, I would start with ½ teaspoon and go from there.
If you try these cookies, please leave me a review below to let me know how you like them. I really appreciate it!
Enjoy!
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Maple Brown Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter melted and cooled
- 1 ½ cup (300 g) brown sugar tightly packed
- ⅓ cup maple syrup (pure or faux — I honestly prefer Aunt Jemima!)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon maple extract
- 1 large egg (room temperature & lightly beaten.)
- 3 cups (375 g) all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- Granulated sugar for rolling or sprinkling
Recommended Equipment
Instructions
- Melt butter in large, microwave-safe bowl and allow to cool completely.1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter
- Stir in brown sugar and maple syrup until completely combined.1 ½ cup (300 g) brown sugar, ⅓ cup maple syrup
- Stir in vanilla extract and maple extract.1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 1 teaspoon maple extract
- Add egg and stir until well-combined.1 large egg
- In separate, medium-sized bowl, combine flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda and salt.3 cups (375 g) all-purpose flour, 2 teaspoon cornstarch, 1 teaspoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon baking soda, ¾ teaspoon salt
- Gradually (about ¼ of the mixture at a time), add the flour mix to the butter mixture and stir until completely combined.
- Chill in refrigerator for at least one hour (may chill longer, up to 5 days).
- Once dough is about 30 minutes from being ready, preheat oven to 375F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Once dough has chilled, scoop into 2-Tablespoon (45g) sized scoops. Roll in or sprinkle lightly with granulated sugar and bake for 10-12 minutes.Granulated sugar for rolling or sprinkling
- 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.
Notes
Storing
Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.
Originally posted 11/18/15 — Updated 12/23/16 and again December 2024
Georgiou
Can I add more gr of maple syrup? I want the taste
Sugar Spun Run
Hi, Georgiou! You can, you just don’t want to add too much as it will change the consistency of the dough. Enjoy! 🙂
Carol Walker
Thank you so very much for this FANTASTIC RECIPE. GREAT GREAT POST. AGAIN THANK YOU AND MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR 12-23-2019
Sam
You are very welcome, I’m so glad you enjoyed the cookies, Carol! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and thank you for commenting! 🙂
Lea mac leod
I saw a beautiful blue kitchen aid in the back ground.why aren’t you using this glorious thing? Had to have a good gigggle about the maple syrup issue. The fake stuff is more pronounced beacause its fake. Chemicals and just enough maple for it to be called maple syrup. Not a big anount. Why make home made cookies from scratch and put something that is chemicals in it? Cant beat real.just something to think about. Ill be making these tomorrow( with real syrup!) Thanks for sharing the recpie.❤🍪🍁
Sam
I lovvveee using my kitchenaid, but this uses melted butter so it’s not really necessary. It comes together pretty easily but you certainly can use a mixer. I hope you love the cookies! 🙂
Jen
I make cookies weekly for my son’s Model UN club. His school is nut free so it can be a challenge to find good recipes. This one fit the bill and the kids LOVED them! Big hit! Thank you!
Sugar Spun Run
Thank you so much, Jen! I am so happy that the maple brown sugar cookies were such a hit! 🙂
Zoey
Now that it finally feels like fall I wanted to make warm, fall cookies. These were great and stayed soft for a very long time! I laid them out at work and even a day later they were good and chewy. They didn’t have a strong maple flavor but I wasn’t necessarily wanting a huge punch of maple. But it was definitely filled with warm flavors, just what you want for fall 🙂
Sugar Spun Run
Thank you so much, Zoey! I am glad that you enjoyed the maple brown sugar cookies. 🙂
Megan
I have commented about these before, but since it’s finally fall (according to the calendar despite it going up to 90 today), the weather should start to cooperate after today. Going to a mountain cabin this weekend and am excited to make the place take on this smell along with other fall food scents. Question about these cookies. Would adding cinnamon and nutmeg change flavor too much or only enhance? Also any suggestion on how much of each to add? (1 teaspoon of each, 1/2 tsp?)
Sugar Spun Run
Hello, Megan! It’s a personal preference. If you wish to add them, I’d start with less and increase as desired. I would definitely start with less nutmeg, 1/8-1/4 tsp as its very strong. I hope that you enjoy the brown sugar cookies. 🙂
Jaime
Question – would this recipe work for cutout cookies? Looking for a more exciting recipe than plain sugar cookie dough.
Sam
Unfortunatley, it will not work with this recipe. 🙁
Mary
Wondering if it would work to brown the butter. Would the brown butter flavor overshadow the maple?
Sam
Hi Mary! That sounds delicious! I haven’t tried it, but it should work. Let me know how it tastes if you test it out! 🙂
Becky
These are SO yum! I brought them to church, and there wasn’t a single cookie left! I’m making them again tonight. Thanks for the lovely recipe. 🙂
Sam
I am so glad everyone enjoys them, Becky! 🙂
Mary Sheets
In anxious to try these Maple Sugar cookies. Every spring we have a Maple Syrup Fest every spring so I think these will be a winner
Sam
That sounds like a great time! I hope you love them. 🙂
Margot
Hi Sam – I found you when searching for a maple cookie recipe, and these were wonderful! I used real maple syrup (dark for baking) and based on a previous tip the mix of 1/2 t. vanilla and 1 t. maple extract. The smell of my kitchen the next day was still wonderful, and my boyfriend adored them! I made half of them rolled in sugar, and made a simple maple glaze for the other half… sweet little pancake pillows 🙂
Thanks so much, glad I found you!
Sam
I’m so happy to hear that you and your boyfriend enjoyed the cookies, Margot! Thank you so much for commenting and letting me know how they turned out for you, I appreciate it! And that addition of maple glaze sounds delicious! <3
Val E
If you decide to add maple extract, would it be the same measurement as the vanilla extract? 1 tsp of vanilla and 1 tsp of maple?
Sam
Hi, Val. If you add maple extract, I would reduce the vanilla extract to 1/2 teaspoon and use 1 teaspoon of maple extract. Enjoy! 🙂
April
Just made these and didn’t have the extract. With just the syrup I have to say that no one could tell these had maple syrup in them. They made good sugar cookies though. Next time I will definitely add the extract and hope for a more perceptible maple flavor. Thanks for the recipe!
Jen
These also turn out great using flaxseed (1 tbsp ground flaxseed mixed with 2.5 tbsp of water, let stand in the fridge while you prep your other ingredients) instead of the egg for an egg-free version. I also just leave the butter (or butter substitute if going full vegan) out to soften to room temperature instead of melting, but of course you have to plan ahead a bit, but then no cool down time is required.
Sunny
Oh my god, these turned out SO GOOD. Super soft and chewy, and I was really pleased with the way the maple came through without being overpowering. Another winner of a recipe! <3
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them! Thanks for letting me know. 😊