The Butter Tip You Need For The Most Delicious Snickerdoodles Of Your Life

When it comes to cookie classics, the chocolate chips, the oatmeal raisins, and the white chocolate macadamias may have their massive followings, but snickerdoodles — with their satisfying sugar cookie-style chew and fun-to-say name — seem to be the dark horse for cult favorite. Thanks to their cinnamon-y profile, they can sometimes be dismissed as a seasonal entry into the cookie canon only to be enjoyed during cooler months, but to those loyalists, there's no question these treats have a place at the table 365 days a year.

If you're still not sold on snickerdoodle supremacy, there's a trick that can tip you into superfan territory, and you don't need any additional ingredients or major changes to your favorite recipe. The most unforgettable snickerdoodles start by adding a simple step to the method: giving your butter a little extra love by browning it before whipping up your dough. Taking a few minutes for this process will transform your butter — and thus your cookie — thanks to brown butter's strengths.

If you've ever wondered how to describe the actual flavor of a snickerdoodle cookie, it's close to a cinnamon bun or cinnamon toast, a touch spicy and sweet, which keeps every bite so interesting. Brown butter brings a nutty, slightly caramelized, and totally complementary warmth that makes perfect sense with snickerdoodle's signature profile and delivers an added depth of flavor that's undeniably delicious.

Browned butter is perhaps one of the most potent culinary secret weapons — especially since it's so easy and requires that you add exactly zero items to your shopping list. When you simply heat up standard-issue butter, some of its natural moisture evaporates while its milk solids toast up into nutty little bits, and you're left with a fragrant product that is not only pure gold in terms of flavor, but feels tailor-made for the snickerdoodle cookie. Using browned butter will also impact the texture of your treat. Since you're cooking off some of that liquid, you'll wind up with a slightly chewier and even more satisfying finished product.

Making snickerdoodles with brown butter does require a little advance planning, as you'll need to allow the browned butter to cool before you make your batter. Recommendations for cooling time range from about five or 10 minutes to 45 minutes or an hour. This will depend on how you prefer your finished cookies, as butter temperature does affect how your cookie bakes up. But either way, once you have brown butter on hand, you can proceed as usual with your recipe by substituting it for the amount of standard butter, and revel in a resulting treat that has a level of complexity that may be surprising for a simple cookie — while also retaining that comfort factor.

These cookies are inarguably delicious in this new and elevated form, and you can easily enjoy them anytime exactly as is. But if you're the type to experiment with the classics or customize for season, occasion, or craving, you have a great starting point with brown butter snickerdoodles, as brown butter's traits complement so many additions to your cookies.

A quick way to put a spin on these treats is to include more or alternate spices. Easy pumpkin snickerdoodles are a fall favorite and may call for nutmeg, allspice, and clove in addition to cinnamon. Surprise your friends by adding cayenne for a kick (further evidence of the power of the swicy food movement). Combine with some citrus flavors in an orange cardamom snickerdoodle that begs to be served at tea time.

You can also toss in chocolate chips or raisins for a hybrid super-cookie, hazelnuts or pecans to play off the brown butter signature flavor and add crunch, or even marshmallows for a gooey s'mores style spin that's enriched by that extra complex flavor. No matter how you choose to do your 'doodle, you'll quickly find that this browned butter tip makes just about any style of snickerdoodle even more delicious, anytime and any season.