Brown Butter Bourbon Spice Cookies
I can’t help but love the flavors of the season. And it hit me this weekend, when it was a bit chilly out, that this is the season for brown butter. Ok, so there really isn’t a season that’s not for brown butter. But if any are, it’s fall. It’s the perfect color, the smell is very autumn-like and who doesn’t want to warm up in front of the stove while waiting for those little golden specks to appear? I found myself doing just that this weekend. I don’t drink a lot, especially bourbon. But we had some in the house for a recipe that I developed a couple weeks ago. So I had been toying with the idea of a bourbon cookie for a while when it hit me: brown butter bourbon spice cookies. At that point, my heart was set, the idea was solid and I instantly set about browning some butter.
These cookies did a fabulous job warming me up and they really just made me more excited for what is to come this fall. I spent the weekend, as I do a lot of weekends, in the kitchen. I made homemade pumpkin puree, roasted pumpkin seeds, chicken tortilla soup, and some fall-inspired granola and these heart-warming brown butter bourbon spice cookies. You can say that my house is in full-fall swing. I hope you are ready for it!
Brown Butter Bourbon Spice Cookies Recipe
Yield: 14-16 large cookies
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
A fall-inspired cookie recipe with warm brown butter, sweet bourbon and spicy hints of nutmeg, cinnamon and allspice.
Ingredients:
12 Tbs. (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, browned (see note below) & cooled
2 1/2 cups (11 1/4 ounces by weight) flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. allspice
1/2 cup (3.5 ounces by weight) dark brown sugar
1/2 cup (3.5 ounces by weight) light brown sugar
1/2 cup (3.5 ounces by weight) granulated sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
3 tsp. vanilla
2 Tbs. BourbonDirections:
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Line two large baking sheets with a Silpat liner or parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice together until blended. Set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, add all of the sugars, along with the cooled brown butter and, using a paddle attachment, mix until well-blended. It won't be creamy like a normal cookie batter. Add the egg, egg yolk and vanilla and mix until combined. With the mixer on low sweet, add the bourbon and mix until it is distributed.
Slowly add the dry ingredients and mix just until incorporated. Using a 2 3/4-ounce ice cream scoop, scoop the dough onto the prepared baking sheets. Bake in the preheated oven for 10-12 minutes until the cookies are just done on the edges.
Cool for about 5 minutes on the cookie sheet before transferring to a wire rack.
Cassie's Notes:
To brown the butter: place butter pieces in a small sauce pan over medium heat. When the butter begins to foam, stir with a wire whisk and continue to whisk constantly. The color will begin to change and you'll see some brown flakes on the bottom of the pan. Continue to stir until the butter has a nutty fragrance and is golden brown. Remove from the heat and stir until the foam subsides. The whole process will take 8-10 minutes. Be patient!
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ooooh! I love anything with bourbon! 🙂
Oh my! Brown butter + bourbon = that’s just the perfect combination, Cassie.
Cassie, those are some good looking cookies! I bet they smell amazing…
Cassie, these sound ABSOLUTELY amazing. I bet the booze gives them a nice little zing!
Unreal!
Love the flavor combo in these — you are GENIUS!!
These just scream fall! I want one!
Holy delicious! The flavor combo is outrageous. Can’t wait to make these for the holidays!!
The only time I ever really ingest alcohol is in baked good form! And these sound dreamy. And totally fall-flavored.
these look fantastically yummy!
Brown butter and boozy? sign me up!
Looks like the perfect autumn treat! My husband wanted cookies, here we go! =D
These had me at brown butter..
Brown sugar cookies are on my to-make list! Yours look incredible. And cannot go wrong with browned butter & bourbon & spices. They’re perfect, Cassie!
Bourbon and brown butter…how can you go wrong there!!! These cookies are so awesome looking!! Your house sounds like it is all about the Fall…I want to come over and eat cookies with you:-)
Love the cookies!!!
This cookie says “Heather you need me”. For real! I need these in my life immediately.
These are exceptional! Love the brown butter and bourbon combo!
I have no words! AMAZING.
All I had to read was “brown butter” and “bourbon” and I’m in! Wish we lived in the same city and could bake cookies together! 🙂
dude, brown butter? HELLO YUMMY!! Plus these look good. I am such a visual person
Brown Butter. Bourbon. Cookies. I love you.
What a perfect fall cookie!
these sound amazing!! thank you!
Oh, I agree! Every season is brown butter season!
roasted pumpkin seeds! i can’t wait to see your recipe if you post it Cassie! Brown butter- a secret little weapon hiding in our refrigerators. Take EVERYTHING to the next level. I love baking with brown butter! And the bourbon? ooooooooooooooooh my freakin gosh Cassie! 🙂
These cookies look and sound just perfectly delicious.
Oh my. Cassie, I want to DIE! These look amazing.
these are a MUST MAKE!!!
wow, these are definitely the flavors of fall!! i love the brown butter and bourbon combo that you have going on – that is so brilliant!! and in cookie form? these would definitely be devoured almost instantly!
So adore the flavours of these cookies Cassie!
Glorious! Who wouldn’t love a little bourbon in their cookies?? Maybe a little on the side, too 🙂
BOURBON and brown butter? This is what heaven looks like! You’re brilliant.
Absolutely saving this recipe.
I would not survive limiting brown butter to the fall only but I totally know what you mean about how it goes hand in hand with this weather we’ve been having. And these cookies – amazing! I’m all for adding bourbon to dessert-type treats 🙂
These scream fall and I can’t wait to try them!
These look amazing Cassie! Thanks for reminding me of brown butter as I’ve been thinking of fall recipes!
OMG yes! Another fantastic use for brown butter! Pinning these now 🙂
Love the recipe. I’m a little dismayed by the lack of bourbon though. 2 Tbsp is a tease 🙂 Im sure they’re fabulous!
Cheers
Matt
These look amazing. And, fortunately, we’ve got plenty of delicious bourbon cocktail recipes for the remainder of the bottle! 🙂
I’ll take a dozen please! These sound incredible! 🙂
I love everything about these!
It was about a year ago when I discovered just how much I adore browned butter anything! The flavors of this one are certain to be a hit with me too. LOVE!
These look amazing, Cassie! I think they would be the perfect football cookie, too.
Browned butter is my life! Love these!
Aw man! I am so sad I didn’t try one of these cookies last night. Brown butter and bourbon spice… I really missed out, huh?
Oh my, these sound divine! You had me at brown butter…
I NEED to make these!!
I’m not always a fan of brown butter, but these cookies look so yummy! I love how they’re big and thick and puffy. These will have to make an appearance in my kitchen soon!
Mmmmm, boozy browned butter cookies! I’m loving the alliteration and everything else about these guys. 🙂
Brown butter is perfect for fall (but really it works all year round!). Then you threw in some fall spices – sign me up. ANd of course a little bourbon never hurt anyone 😉
You had me at brown butter Cassie! These cookies couldn’t be more perfect for fall, excited to try them 🙂
I can’t wait to start cooking and eating with alcohol! Brown butter definitely makes these cookies so worth it!
Oh my goodness, Cassie. These sound amazing! Such a great combination of flavors. And brown butter = fally? Makes sense to me!
These sound amazing. I love the brown butter and bourbon combined with the 3 sugars. It sounds to me like it would almost have a maple flavor. Yum, I’m saving this recipe to try later. Thanks for sharing.
These are perfect for fall. Love the brown butter and all the spice!
I want to dunk each and every cookie into my afternoon tea. Really.
If I was left to choose only one type of booze for baking it would be bourbon! And brown butter, there are not enough words to express that flavor. Such a fantastic recipe!
These are some good looking cookies Cassie. brown butter makes everything taste better
These look really good…..the perfect fall cookie!
These cookies look so thick and chewy! I bet the bourbon adds a great richness to them.
I can just imagine how good these smell baking up in the oven!
just took these out of the oven. they are amazing!! thanks again for sharing the recipe!!
Great looking recipe! I think I will make these for a Derby-themed party we’re having this weekend. Perfect addition to my menu! I just discovered your blog, and I’m glad I did! Beautiful work.
I made these for the Food Bloggers Cookie Swap this year and I stuffed them with Bourbon Caramels. AMAZING!
I made these today and they were excellent! Definitely a keeper. Thanks for sharing!
Cassie replied: — January 8th, 2015 @ 7:38 am
So glad you liked these, Rhonda. Thanks for reading!
-C.
Look delicious. Can you roll this dough and use cookie cutters? Thanks!
Cassie replied: — December 22nd, 2015 @ 11:57 am
Hi, I am not sure…I have never tried to roll out the dough. I don’t believe it would be stiff enough but you could try adding more flour, and adjusting the spices and then roll it out.
I’m going to try these when I get a new bottle bourbon. Would be nice to have a print button on your page to print hard copy of the recipe. Having my laptop in the kitchen is a great recipe for sticky keyboard and greasy screen!
Cassie replied: — November 18th, 2016 @ 9:15 am
Hi there,
There is a “Print Recipe” button right underneath the thumbnail in the box containing the recipe. let me know if it does not work.
I made a batch of these yesterday and they were partly successful, I would give them a 7/10. The problem I had was that the dough was extremely firm, so when I scooped it on to the baking sheet it didn’t really sink down to a cookie shape,it stayed more like a small cake. The only thing I did wrong when I made them was maybe to pour the butter in when it was still warm. I thought it would go hard again if it cooled too much. Any ideas Cassie?
Cassie replied: — December 15th, 2016 @ 3:11 pm
Hi Peter, it’s hard to say exactly what happened. First, I do remember these being a thicker dough and flattening them a little bit. But also be sure that you are measuring your flour correctly and measure by weight if at all possible, just to be sure that you are not adding too much flour.
Is the amount of vanilla a typo?? 3 tsp (1 TBS) seems like ALOT!!!!
Cassie replied: — January 4th, 2017 @ 7:34 am
I like very vanilla-y cookies 🙂 if you feel it would be too much for your tastes, you can certainly decrease the amount.
Is there a way to make the cookie dough and freeze for later use? I would love to make these for my friends for when we go out camping, and just pop them in the oven before heading out!
Cassie replied: — June 9th, 2017 @ 9:38 am
Yes, you can definitely freeze the dough. I usually suggest scooping the dough into balls on a wax paper-lined cookie sheet, and then pop that into the freezer. Once frozen, store in a freezer bag or container. Then take them out of the container and onto a cookie sheet to bake.
I have been meaning to make these cookies for the last month. I just made them today and wow, delicious. My husband and I are both enjoying them. Thank you for teaching me how to make browned butter itself and these incredible cookies.
Hi – I was looking at this recipe and noticed the one step saying to use a stand mixer with a paddle attachment. Would you have any alternate suggestions for this step for someone who doesn’t own a stand mixer?