Brown Butter Sea Salt Cookies

Brown Butter Sea Salt Cookies are amazingly rich and delicious. These buttery cookies have the perfect nutty flavor with just the right amount of sea salt on top. They’re just utterly delicious!

These Browned Butter Cookies have just 7 ingredients, and take great simple flavors and turn them into one show stopping cookie! These are a must make, and everyone will love them on holiday cookie trays!

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Please let me know if you have any questions about this recipe. I read all the comments myself and I try to help as soon as I can. I have readers from all levels of comfort and experience in the kitchen on my site, and I’ve tried to answer some of your questions already in the post. But if I’ve missed anything, please feel free to leave a comment and ask.

Cookie research

I wanted to share with you how and why I came about making this recipe.

There’s a little wine and cheese shop named Bayleaf in Coupville, WA that I love visiting. And, sure their wines and cheeses are amazing. They also have all kinds of picnic and deli items like meats, canned tuna, preserves, as well as cookies!

And not just any cookies. They have what’s probably my favorite cookie of all. They call them Salty Blonde Cookies. And they’re awesome.

Sweet. Nutty, Salty, Buttery. Crumbly. Oh my gosh good!

Every time I’m in the shop I buy a bag. I’ve even shipped bags to friends and family because they’re so good!

So, I set about making the cookies for myself. I started by working on with the ingredient label. Unfortunately, my first attempt at the cookies was a failure – it tasted good but the wrong texture.

But I continued. And, I decided to do a bit of research. I reached out to the community. Turns out that these little cookies were created when someone read an article in the New York Times about a sweet small business in Morrow Bay called the Brown Butter Cookie Company.

Now, the Brown Butter Cookie Company is in Cayucos, CA. They also have two additional shops along the California coast: Paso Robles and San Luis Obispo. I was going to buy some of these cookies and have them shipped to myself, but the price just was just too much. Actually, it was the shipping charge that stopped me. So, I have yet to try these.

But I will say that armed with this information and the ingredients I was able to come up with a really close, I mean, really close, version of the browned butter cookies that I love!

This copycat recipe is a huge success! And I know you’ll love it too!

What does browned butter do in cookies?

Browned butter provides flavor, affects texture, and sometimes even aids in leavening cookies.

When you cook the butter, you’re basically concentrating the flavor and taking some of the moisture out of the butter. It’s like extra buttery-ness to your cookies!

And, if you like browned butter, you have to check out my Jubilee Jumbles Cookies with Browned Butter Frosting!

How to make these cookies

These copycat Brown Butter Cookie Company Recipe cookies are little bits of heaven! And I must say that I’m so excited that they came out so perfectly! The nutty flavor of the browned butter with the sea salt on top is just divine. These cookies are thick and dense with a crumbly, melt-in-your-mouth texture.

The full printable recipe ingredients and instructions are available in the recipe card at the bottom of the post. You can find important tips and tricks in the post.

Measure out the dry ingredients

In a small bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, and a pinch of salt. Set aside.  

Be sure to measure your flour correctly. Spoon the flour lightly into the measuring cup without packing it down. Sweep the top of the measuring cup with the back of a knife to level it off.

Brown the butter

I recommend using a high fat European butter for these cookies. It has a richer flavor, and more bits to brown than standard US butter. I love Kerry Gold Irish butter for these. If you don’t want to buy the pricier butter, standard US unsalted butter will work as well.

You’ll want unsalted butter because you want to control the amount of salt in the cookies. Every brand of butter, even different batches of the same brand will have different levels of saltiness.

The butter doesn’t even need to be brought to room temperature for this recipe because it will be melted and browned.

To ensure even cooking of the butter, cut the butter into tablespoon-sized pieces.

Place the butter in a medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently. Once the butter melts, it will begin to bubble and foam. As the milk solids begin to separate, they will turn a rich golden hue and settle to the bottom. Continue cooking until brown specks begin to appear beneath the foam and the foam will start to disappear. The butter will have a nutty aroma. Be careful not to burn the butter.

How do you know when brown butter is done?

I know that browning the butter came seem daunting. The first pro tip is don’t walk away and don’t get distracted.

Browned butter goes through a few stages as it cooks. First it melts. Then it foams. It’ll start sizzling and popping a bit. This is why it’s good to use a medium saucepan rather than a small one – it’ll keep the butter inside the pan.

Once the noise settles down, you’ll start to see golden brown bits at the bottom of the pan. You’ll also smell the nutty buttery aroma. This is how you’ll know the butter is done browning.

Mix and shape the cookies

Pour browned butter, scraping all the browned bits at the bottom, into a medium heatproof bowl and stir in brown sugar, granulated sugar, and vanilla.

You’ll want to use light brown sugar for this recipe and not dark brown. Though dark brown sugar is normally my favorite, these cookies have a delicate flavor that will be overpowered by dark brown sugar.

There’s no stand mixer or hand mixer required for this recipe. Just mix with a sturdy fork for fewer dishes.

Add flour mixture to the butter mixture until just combined. The mixture will resemble wet sand.

There’s no chill time involved in these cookies!

Using a tablespoon size cookie dough scoop or a rounded tablespoon, drop dough onto cookie sheet. These cookies don’t spread too much, so you only have to leave about an inch between each one. With your hands, roll the cookies into balls.

The dough tends to be crumbly. Try to push it together the best you can as you roll it into balls.

I did some testing of the shapes of these cookies. They came out best when rolled into a tight ball. I also tested flattening them and just baking them after scooping – they both came of fine, just not quite as good.

Sprinkle with sea salt and lightly press the salt into the tops of cookies.

For the finishing salt, I recommend Fleur De Sel, Maldon, or another flaky sea salt. In a pinch, go with Kosher salt, which has nice large crystals.

Bake them up!

Bake for 10 minutes or until lightly golden. Don’t overcook, or cookies will be too dry and crumbly.

Allow cookies to cool for 10 minutes on the baking sheet before transferring to a cooling rack.

How to store these cookies

Store cooled cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days. I highly doubt they will last that long though!

Brown Butter Sea Salt Cookies can be frozen for longer storage. Pop the cooled cookies in a freezer safe bag and store up to 3 months. Defrost at room temperature.

More recipes you’ll love

If you love a little bit of salt in your sweets, and little sweet and salty, like I do you have to try my Sea Salt Caramel Pretzel Bark, Salted Caramel Ice Cream, and Salted Caramel Sauce.

And try serving these cookies with a nice hot cup of Mexican Coffee for a delicious afternoon coffee break.

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Brown Butter Sea Salt Cookies Recipe

Brown Butter Sea Salt Cookies

Debi

Brown Butter Sea Salt Cookies are amazingly rich and delicious. These buttery cookies have the perfect nutty flavor with just the right amount of sea salt on top. They’re just utterly delicious!

5 from 13 votes

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Cook ModePrevent your screen from going to sleep.

Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 20 minutes mins

Total Time 30 minutes mins

Course cookies, Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings 17 cookies

Calories 136 kcal

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 1 & ½ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• Large pinch salt
• ¾ cup unsalted butter I recommend a high fat content European butter
• ¼ cup light brown sugar
• ¼ cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Sea Salt for sprinkling I recommend fleur de sel

Instructions

 

• Preheat oven to 325° F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a Silpat baking mat.
• In a small bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, and pinch salt. Set aside.
  1 & ½ cups all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, Large pinch salt
• Place the butter in a medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently. Once the butter melts, it will begin to bubble and foam. As the milk solids begin to separate, they will turn a rich golden hue and settle to the bottom. Continue cooking until brown specks begin to appear beneath the foam and the foam will begin to disappear. The butter will have a nutty aroma. Be careful not to burn the butter.
  ¾ cup unsalted butter
• Pour browned butter, scraping all the browned bits at the bottom, into a medium heatproof bowl and stir in brown sugar, granulated sugar, and vanilla.
  ¼ cup light brown sugar, ¼ cup granulated sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Add flour mixture to butter mixture until just combined. The mixture will resemble wet sand. Let cool to room temperature.
• Using a tablespoon size cookie dough scoop or a rounded tablespoon, drop dough onto cookie sheet. With your hands, roll the cookies into balls.
• Sprinkle with sea salt and lightly press into top of cookies.
  Sea Salt for sprinkling
• Bake 10 minutes or until lightly golden. Don’t overcook, or cookies will be too dry and crumbly.
• Allow cookies to cool for 10 minutes on the baking sheet before transferring to a cooling rack.

Notes

Makes about 15 to 17 cookies

Nutrition

Calories: 136kcalCarbohydrates: 15gProtein: 1gFat: 8gSaturated Fat: 5gPolyunsaturated Fat: 0.3gMonounsaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0.3gCholesterol: 22mgSodium: 2mgPotassium: 43mgFiber: 0.3gSugar: 6gVitamin A: 250IUCalcium: 17mgIron: 1mg

Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations, and should be considered estimates. Actual nutritional content will vary based on brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes, and more.

Keyword brown butter, browned butter, sea salt

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