maple brown butter snickerdoodles
I'm from Vermont. I do what I want.
Friends, I've just returned from the most perfect week of fall in a land of cozy flannel, smoked cheeses, craft beers, and maple sugar. Vermonters do what they want, and it's mostly delicious. I borrowed that slogan from a bumper sticker we saw driving around the back roads (which were, by the way, gilded and ablaze with fall foliage colors). I couldn't exaggerate it if I wanted to.
Maple Brown Butter Snickerdoodles
Inspired by Sugarbush Farm and adapted from Tasty Kitchen
2 sticks unsalted butter
1 cup maple sugar (or substitute, below)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
sprinkle ground nutmeg
sprinkle ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
For rolling sugar mixture:
1/8 cup granulated sugar
1/8 cup maple sugar (or more granulated sugar)
2 teaspoons cinnamon
Note: I also love Penzey's pre-made cinnamon sugar mixture, sold in small and mass quantities.
In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. When the butter starts to foam, begin whisking often as it turns golden brown. This process will take several minutes. When the butter starts to smelly nutty and turn golden brown at the bottom of the pan, remove from heat to prevent burning. Set aside to cool. When ready to use, be sure to scrape in any golden brown solids that have settled at the bottom of the pan.
Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk together flour and next 6 ingredients in a large bowl.
Beat brown butter, maple sugar, and granulated sugar with an electric mixer fitted with with a paddle attachment until the mixture is very light. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Gradually add dry ingredients and stir just until combined. Scrape down sides and bottom of the mixing bowl with a rubber spatula to be sure all ingredients are combined.
Cover and refrigerate dough at least 30 minutes.
Roll cold dough into balls the size of heaping tablespoons. Roll in cinnamon sugar and arrange on a prepared cookie sheet (lined with silpat or parchment paper) spaced at least 2 inches apart. As they bake, the cookies will spread into perfect pilowy circles about 3 inches in diameter.
Baking at 350 for 8-10 minutes until the edges turn golden. Allow to cool on the cookie sheet 5 minutes to finish cooking through, then cool completely on a wire rack.
If you don't have maple sugar...
Substitute Grade B pure maple syrup if you can't find maple sugar.
In place of 1 cup maple sugar in the recipe above, use 1/2 cup brown sugar and 1/2 cup Grade B pure maple syrup. (Grade B has the most maple flavor compared to other, lighter syrups). Add an additional 1/4 cup flour to the recipe.
The dough will be wetter with the maple syrup, so refrigerate at least 1 hour before rolling into balls for baking. The longer you allow the dough to chill, the puffier your cookies will be.
Friends, I've just returned from the most perfect week of fall in a land of cozy flannel, smoked cheeses, craft beers, and maple sugar. Vermonters do what they want, and it's mostly delicious. I borrowed that slogan from a bumper sticker we saw driving around the back roads (which were, by the way, gilded and ablaze with fall foliage colors). I couldn't exaggerate it if I wanted to.
Don't adjust your settings. These are all my original amateur photos and completely unedited and unretouched. (Copyrighted and all rights reserved, btw.) And yes, that's a hot air balloon in that first photo taken at our bed and breakfast near Woodstock, Vermont. Central Vermont has a seemingly endless tangle of rural back roads, pilgrimy churches, and darling dairy farms that are all beautiful from all angles.
Vermont is also known for sugar maples, of course, and rich maple syrup. They sell pure maple sugar made from the same sap, which (I hope) is sold back home as well.
If you can find it, please buy it, and make these cookies. If you can't, sub in some good quality maple syrup and make them anyway. I've included instructions for a successful swap-out in this recipe.
Maple brown butter snickerdoodles are a quintessential fall and holiday cookie with a flavor that is so much more interesting than a typical white flour-white sugar cookie.
I'm excited about this cookie. It's everything I wanted it to be. The recipe follows.
Maple Brown Butter Snickerdoodles
Inspired by Sugarbush Farm and adapted from Tasty Kitchen
2 sticks unsalted butter
1 cup maple sugar (or substitute, below)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
sprinkle ground nutmeg
sprinkle ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
For rolling sugar mixture:
1/8 cup granulated sugar
1/8 cup maple sugar (or more granulated sugar)
2 teaspoons cinnamon
Note: I also love Penzey's pre-made cinnamon sugar mixture, sold in small and mass quantities.
In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. When the butter starts to foam, begin whisking often as it turns golden brown. This process will take several minutes. When the butter starts to smelly nutty and turn golden brown at the bottom of the pan, remove from heat to prevent burning. Set aside to cool. When ready to use, be sure to scrape in any golden brown solids that have settled at the bottom of the pan.
Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk together flour and next 6 ingredients in a large bowl.
Beat brown butter, maple sugar, and granulated sugar with an electric mixer fitted with with a paddle attachment until the mixture is very light. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Gradually add dry ingredients and stir just until combined. Scrape down sides and bottom of the mixing bowl with a rubber spatula to be sure all ingredients are combined.
Cover and refrigerate dough at least 30 minutes.
Roll cold dough into balls the size of heaping tablespoons. Roll in cinnamon sugar and arrange on a prepared cookie sheet (lined with silpat or parchment paper) spaced at least 2 inches apart. As they bake, the cookies will spread into perfect pilowy circles about 3 inches in diameter.
Baking at 350 for 8-10 minutes until the edges turn golden. Allow to cool on the cookie sheet 5 minutes to finish cooking through, then cool completely on a wire rack.
If you don't have maple sugar...
Substitute Grade B pure maple syrup if you can't find maple sugar.
In place of 1 cup maple sugar in the recipe above, use 1/2 cup brown sugar and 1/2 cup Grade B pure maple syrup. (Grade B has the most maple flavor compared to other, lighter syrups). Add an additional 1/4 cup flour to the recipe.
The dough will be wetter with the maple syrup, so refrigerate at least 1 hour before rolling into balls for baking. The longer you allow the dough to chill, the puffier your cookies will be.
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