Brown Butter Oatmeal Cookies

Trust me, you’ve never had oatmeal cookies like these before. They’re rich, chewy, and baked with brown butter for extra rich flavor. These cookies are so simple and are made with basic ingredients, yet they taste gourmet. All the flavor is in the brown butter so need for extras!

Baking with Brown Butter

I have a separate post all about how to brown butter and ways to bake with it, but it’s especially delicious in these oatmeal cookies. It adds so much flavor to an otherwise basic cookie recipe, allowing the brown butter to stand out and let that richness shine through.

The process of making brown butter is very simple, the key is just knowing exactly when to take it off the heat.

To make it, add your butter to a saucepan over medium heat. Allow it to melt down and bubble (about 5-10 minutes). During this time you’ll be mixing occasionally.

The bubbles will slowly turn into a fine foam. Begin to stir constantly to prevent the milk solids from burning on the bottom of the pot. These are what separate from the butter to create the browned and toasty flavor.

Keep stirring until the butter turns a deep brown color and gives off a toffee-like aroma. Pour into a separate container and scrape up all the brown bits from the bottom of the pan. That’s where the flavor is.

For this oatmeal cookie recipe, the brown butter is solidified before use. It’s simply chilled in the refrigerator for about an hour, stirring halfway through. Once solid (but not too hard), it’s ready to mix with the sugar.

Brown Butter Oatmeal Cookie Ingredients

Once the brown butter is solid and opaque, it’s time to prep the dough. The recipe itself is very simple and requires a few staple ingredients:

• Brown Butter – The star of the show. I like to use European-style butter which creates an incredibly flavorful brown butter.
• Dark Brown Sugar – Light brown also works, but dark brown will give you a deeper flavor and chew.
• Sugar – Just a little bit helps create chewy and crisp edges!
• Eggs – This extra hydration is needed to help dissolve the sugar, as we lost some water from browning the butter.
• Vanilla – For another layer of flavor.
• Flour – Just enough to allow these cookies to spread evenly while still remaining chewy.
• Quick Oats – These blend seamlessly into the dough, making each bite toothsome but not too clunky.
• Cinnamon – A little bit of warmth that pairs so well with the brown butter.
• Baking Soda and Baking Powder – The right ratio allows these cookies to spread beautifully.
• Salt – Both in the dough and on top! This extra kick of salt helps bring out that brown butter flavor even more.

How to bake chewy oatmeal cookies

Since the butter is chilled from the start, the dough bakes right away! First, make sure to use a large baking sheet, preferably one that’s light aluminum. Avoid dark metal as this will over bake the outside of your cookies.

Using a large cookie scoop (3 tablespoons worth), scoop 5 to 6 cookies onto the baking sheet. The general rule of thumb is to put at least 4-fingers space between each.

Bake until the edges are golden and the center is pale, puffed, and slightly underdone. Immediately nudge in any wonky sides using a fork and then sprinkle with sea salt. The cookies will appear somewhat cakey fresh from the oven, but they will settle into chewy cookies once cooled.

Transfer the cookies to a cooling rack, then continue with the rest of the batch. Once all the cookies have cooled, they’re ready to enjoy!

Brown Butter Oatmeal Cookies FAQs

For more of the BEST cookie recipes, check out my:

• Ultimate Monster Cookies
• Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Maple Snickerdoodles
• Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies

Make sure to tag me @butternutbakery on Instagram and leave a review below if you make these Oatmeal Cookies. To pin this recipe and save it for later, you can use the button on the recipe card, the buttons above or below this post, or on any of the photos above. Happy baking!

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