3-ingredient brown sugar cookies recipe to make a large butch of chewy and sweet cookies with buttery flavor for home, work of gifting.
Buttery cookies never fail to satisfy and I especially love the caramel-like flavor, the soft interior, and crisp edges. And when it takes 3 ingredients and 20 minutes to whip up a huge batch, who can possibly say no?! If you are on the lookout for delicious recipes to make easy sugar and butter cookies, try this brown sugar cookies recipe.
Gina’s Recipe Rundown:
Texture: Brown Sugar Cookies have a soft, chewy texture with slightly crisp edges.
Taste: Brown Sugar Cookies have a rich, caramel-like sweetness with a deep, buttery flavor. The molasses in the brown sugar adds a subtle toffee-like warmth, making them slightly more complex than traditional sugar cookies.
Ease: Brown Sugar Cookies are easy to make, requiring just a few simple ingredients and minimal prep time. The dough comes together quickly without the need for chilling (in most recipes), making them a great choice for beginners and busy bakers.
Why I love it: You love Brown Sugar Cookies because they are soft, chewy, and packed with rich caramel-like flavor.
It is family-approved and budget-friendly. The best part? You probably don’t even have to shop for any ingredients!
They are similar to shortbread cookies but not the same. Brown sugar cookies use the same ingredients but in a very different ratio which yields different results. Plus, using light or dark brown sugar gives us a richer flavor. Think of it, like the best combination of butter and shortbread cookies.
And if you think, oh…3 ingredients…It will probably be plain and too simple, I guarantee these cookies won’t last long in your household, so don’t underestimate them!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- This simple recipe uses very few ingredients to make 30 chewy brown sugar cookies!
- Perfect chewy texture of brown sugar vs crispy sugar cookies made with granulated sugar.
- No baking soda, baking powder, yeast, or chilling is required.
- Super easy to customize with healthy additions like nuts or fruit.
Ingredients Notes
You only need 3 simple ingredients: brown sugar, unsalted butter, and all-purpose flour. For these three ingredients, I use the ratio of 1:1:2, so it is easy to double or triple the recipe.
- Unsalted butter. Take it out of the fridge 2 hours prior to let it soften at room temperature. To make this cookie dough dairy-free, substitute the butter for olive oil.
- Brown sugar. It is fine to use light brown sugar or dark brown sugar. Doesn’t have to be labeled as “natural”, any works. Adding only brown sugar brings out molasses flavor, but dark brown sugar has a deeper flavor and makes softer and chewy cookies, while light brown sugar has a lighter caramel flavor. Homemade brown sugar works too, grab my recipe to make it!
- All-purpose flour. Old-fashioned recipes also used self-rising flour mixture to make these yummy cookies.
Kitchen Equipment
- A few baking sheets or cookie sheet
- Large mixing bowl
- Mixer: electric mixer or stand mixer (fitted with paddle attachment)
- Medium cookie scoop. Ice cream scoop works fine too!
- Rubber spatula
How To Make This Brown Sugar Cookie Recipe
1: Cream The Butter And Brown Sugar
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Line several baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
- Beat the softened butter and brown sugar together in a large mixing bowl until the mixture is soft and creamy. If using a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar on medium speed for 2 minutes.
2: Add Flour
Slowly mix the flour into the butter mixture until no dry pockets remain. If using the stand mixer, reduce the speed to low. The texture should be thick and creamy.
3: Scoop And Shape The Brown Sugar Cookies
- Use a medium cookie scoop and scoop balls out of the dough onto the prepared baking sheets.
- Roll the portioned dough between your hands to smooth it out. Then gently press the tops of the balls of dough to flatten slightly into a thick disk to let the cookies bake evenly and hold the shape. Pressing them down will also make slightly crinkled look.
- Altervative way: transfer all the dough onto a plastic wrap and roll a big log. Then simply cut slices.
4: Bake The Cookies
- Place back on the lined baking sheet at least 2” apart to leave some room as cookies spread during baking.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the edges are golden brown.
- Cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Storage
For the chewiest cookies, store them in an airtight container at room temperature for 4 days. The brown sugar cookies will last longer in the fridge: up to 2 weeks in an airtight container.
If you prefer these cookies warm, reheat in the microwave for 15-20 seconds.
You can freeze unbaked cookie dough balls to make the cookies later. Simple shape the balls, flash freeze them on the baking sheet, and then move to a freezer-safe bag. The brown sugar cookie dough will last for 2 months in the freezer.
Baked brown sugar cookies also freeze well, in a bag or stacked and separated with parchment paper, for up to 3 months.
Substitutions & Variations
- Add pure vanilla extract or almond extract for mild flavoring. You can also use vanilla bean paste.
- Turn them into a brown sugar chocolate chips cookies by simply adding some chocolate chips.
- Brown sugar oatmeal cookies. Healthy cookies often use oatmeal, and this recipe is no exception!
- Make rectangle cookies. Simply roll the cookie dough and then use a knife to cut equal rectangles. As you can guess, it means you can technically make any shape you like!
- Use salted butter or mix of two if you love the sweet and salty flavor combination. Otherwise, stick to unsalted butter.
- Add chopped nuts like pecans, walnuts, or dried fruit on top of each cookie. Warm spices can be another great option for fall and winter season.
- Coat cookies in sugar before baking, you can use regular white sugar. Add some sugar in a separate bowl and simply roll each cookie dough ball in it.
- Drizzle the baked cookies with chocolate or caramel sauce. You can use any melted chocolate chips or bars, from white chocolate to semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips.
Expert Tips To Make The Best Sugar Cookies With Brown Sugar
- If you have time you can chill cookie dough for about an hour. Chilled cookie dough spreads less and holds the shape better. But it is not mandatory!
- For crispier cookies, bake them a little bit longer. But do not overbake, they will dry out and crumble.
- A richer flavor and chewy texture is easy to achieve with a bit more prep time – you can brown butter before creaming it and also add one egg yolk! Simply melt half of the butter in a pan over medium heat and brown it until amber-ish color. It will also bubble, it is ok. Then add the remaining butter and proceed as per the recipe.
- Always measure the flour using the spoon and level method. Do not pack the flour into the measuring cup.
If you love this simple cookie recipe, you’re going to love these other 3-ingredient recipes too. Please click each link below to find the easy, printable recipe!
More Great Sugar Cookie Recipes
Lofthouse Sugar Cookies – Copycat Recipe
Soft Chocolate Sugar Cookies – Rudolph Cookies
CONNECT WITH YUMMI HAUS!
Be sure to follow me on my social media, so you never miss a post!
Brown Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter – softened
- 1 cup brown sugar – packed
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Line several baking sheets with parchment and set aside.
- Beat the butter and brown sugar together in a large mixing bowl until the mixture is soft and creamy.
- Slowly mix in the flour until no dry pockets remain. The texture should be thick and creamy.
- Use a medium cookie scoop and portion out the dough onto the prepared baking sheets.
- Roll the portioned dough between your hands to smooth it out. Then gently press the tops to flatten slightly into a thick disk.
- Place back on the baking sheet at least 2” apart to leave room to spread.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the edges are golden brown.
- Cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Store in an airtight container at room temperature.
Nutrition
Nutritional information for the recipe is provided as a courtesy and is approximate. Please double-check with your own dietary calculator for the best accuracy. We at Yummi Haus cannot guarantee the accuracy of the nutritional information given for any recipe on this site.
Created by Gina Kleinworth
Reader Interactions
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
Share Your Thoughts