browned butter snickerdoodle bars
The Man Friend is not a dessert person. Or at least he wasn't until he met me. He (jokingly) complains to anyone who we dine with that he's eaten more desserts since he met me. However, I will admit to having much more of a sweet tooth than he does.
However, he does have a few Kryptonite ingredients: anything mint or cinnamon and he's in it to win it. When I discovered these delicious (and deceptively simply) cookie bars, I knew that he would fall in love - these are one of his favorite things that I make. In fact, we brought them over to our first booze and queso night with our new neighbors...they were a smash!
(for the record, what is known during the weekend as a wine and cheese night is called "booze and queso" on a Monday)
The secret to making these bars extra delicious is taking the time to make browned butter. It's not hard, it just requires a little bit of time and attention. The flavor from the browned butter really enhances the brown sugar and cinnamon in the cookies. Don't skip this step!
browned butter snickerdoodle bars
prep time: 20 minutes | cook time: 40-ish minutes
experience level: easy peasy | specialty: desserts, vegetarian
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- 2 cups light brown sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract (I love Mexican vanilla)
- 2 2/3 cups all purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon (Penzey's!)
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 ground nutmeg
- 2 tbsp granulated sugar
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
Preheat oven to 350° Fahrenheit / 177° Celsius. Spray a 9x13 pan with cooking spray and set aside.
In a heavy saucepan, melt the butter. Bring to a low boil, then reduce heat, stirring constantly. The butter will continue to simmer, but stir. it. constantly. You want to brown it, not burn it. The butter will start to separate with the liquidy stuff on top. Make sure that you continue to cook and stir until it starts to turn a golden, dark caramel color (not yellow). Set aside and allow to cool for 3-5 minutes.
In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, and nutmeg. Set aside.
Once the butter has cooled some, pour it into a large mixing bowl, including the browned "solids" at the bottom of the pan. Add the brown sugar and blend well. Mix in the eggs and vanilla, stirring until well-incorporated. Little by little, add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients, being sure to stir well between each addition. Once everything is well mixed, turn out the cookie dough into the prepared pan. Using your fingers, press the dough to the edged to the pan. Be sure to try to create uniform thickness to ensure even baking.
In a small bowl, combine granulated sugar and additional cinnamon. Sprinkle on top of the unbaked cookie dough.
Place the pan in the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes. While these cookies will be soft, be sure to make sure they're completely baked. A toothpick insert won't work well, as they are made to be soft. I usually err on the side of caution and bake for the full amount of time, making sure to watch that the edges don't burn.
Once baked, remove from the oven and allow to cook completely before cutting into squares.
Pro Tip: The above step is really important - they fall apart if you don't let them cool. And yes, I tried to eat some out of the oven. I burned my mouth and made my cookie bars ugly.
