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Caramel Apple Cupcakes

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If ever there was THE perfect back to school, It’s Almost Fall, Y’all, sort of treat, it’s most certainly these caramel apple cupcakes. Fall may not be here yet, but it’s right around the corner and that’s close enough for me. It’s my favorite time of year so it’s never too early to pull out all the fall and Halloween decorations in my house. It’s also not too early to dive into fall baking, and this year my caramel apple cupcakes are first on the list.  Apple spice cupcakes are filled with a salted caramel apple compote, and topped with brown butter cream cheese frosting, salted caramel drizzle and rolled in roasted, salted peanuts. SO good.

Caramel Apple Cupcakes

How to make the apple spice cupcakes

The ingredient that makes these apple spice cupcakes super moist is unsweetened applesauce. Fall spices – cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves makes the cupcakes super flavorful. Like an apple pie in a cupcake. Butter is beaten with brown and granulated sugar until light and creamy, followed by two eggs. After the eggs, and vanilla are incorporated, the batter may look a little curdled. It’s totally ok, keep going. Flour and applesauce are added to the batter alternatively, and the batter is given a final mix with a spatula to ensure everything is incorporated thoroughly.

This batter makes exactly 12 cupcakes. You will use all the batter, so be sure to scrape down the bowl to get every bit of it. After the cupcakes are baked, allow them to cool before adding the apple compote filling.

Caramel Apple Cupcakes

How to make the salted caramel apple compote

This filling is so good, it’s hard to not just eat it all out of the pan. And when it’s cooking, your home will smell incredible. You can use any apples you wish in this recipe, but I recommend using apples that don’t get mushy. I’ve used Honeycrisp and Granny Smith apples because they’re my favorites to bake with. Dice the apples pretty fine -1/2″ or a bit smaller. You want these apples to be to fit in the cupcakes. The diced apples are mixed with a bit of lemon juice so that they don’t brown while preparing the caramel mixture. Butter and salted caramel sauce are melted together in a saucepan. Cinnamon and salt are whisked in, followed by the apples. The apples cook in the salted caramel sauce until the sauce has thickened, and the apples are tender, about 5-8 minutes. Cool to room temperature before using. I will admit, these cupcakes with the apple compote still warm in the center are amazing. But, too warm and the filling could melt the frosting.

To fill the cupcakes with the compote, use sharp paring knife to cut a hole out of the top of each cupcake, while cutting down into the cupcake at an angle, about an 1″ – 1 1/2″. Don’t cut all the way down to the bottom of the wrapper or the filling will fall out. The piece you remove from coring the cupcakes should be a cone shape. Cut the bottom off of the cone, leaving a flat disc. Fill the cupcakes with the compote to the top, then place on the cupcake “lid”.

Caramel Apple Cupcakes

How to make the brown butter frosting

I firmly believe that brown butter makes all baked goods taste better, and this brown butter cream cheese frosting is no exception. Brown the butter and let it cool until semi-solid, where it’s cooled, opaque and similar to a thick paste when stirred. The brown butter is whipped with the cream cheese until light and fluffy, and confectioner’s sugar is added a cup at a time. This is to avoid confectioner’s sugar from flying everywhere. Vanilla and salt are added, and the frosting is whipped on medium speed for 3-5 minutes, until the frosting is light and fluffy.

I used an ice cream scoop to place equal amounts of frosting onto the cupcakes. Use an offset spatula to spread out the frosting to the edges of the cupcake, but also while keeping the dome shape. The dome shape gives these more of an apple-like look.

Caramel Apple Cupcakes

Finishing touches

Roll the sides of the cupcakes through the chopped peanuts to coat. The peanuts are my homage to those store bought caramel apples my kiddos love. You can use any nut you like here – pecans are really good with these, or you can omit them altogether if there’s an allergy.

Drizzle the cupcakes with salted caramel sauce. Pop a popsicle stick, lollypop stick or cake pop stick in the center of the cupcakes, and serve. The cupcakes should be stored in the refrigerator due to the cream cheese frosting, but serve at room temperature.

Caramel Apple Cupcakes

Enjoy!

Ash xx

For more autumn inspired recipes, check out these posts:

Caramel Apple Coffee Cake

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

Brown Butter Maple Pecan Cookies

Caramel Apple Cupcakes
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Caramel Apple Cupcakes

Apple spice cupcakes filled with a caramel apple compote and topped with brown butter cream cheese frosting, salted caramel and roasted peanuts
Prep Time40 mins
Cook Time18 mins
Total Time58 mins
Course: Dessert
Servings: 12 servings

Ingredients

Salted Caramel

  • 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
  • 1/4 cup (59ml) water
  • 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 1/2 cup (120ml) heavy cream
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

Apple Spice Cupcakes

  • 1½ cups (185g) all purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1/8 teaspoon cloves
  • 1/2 cup (115g) unsalted butter, softened
  • 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
  • 1/4 cup (50g) light brown sugar, packed
  • 2 large eggs, room temperature
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 3/4 cup (191g) unsweetened applesauce

Caramel Apple Compote

  • 2 cups apples, diced in small pieces I used two medium Granny Smith apples.
  • 1 teaspoon lemon juice
  • 2 tablespoon unsalted butter
  • 3 tablespoons salted caramel sauce
  • 1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting

  • 1/2 cup (115g) unsalted butter
  • 1 cup (8oz/227) cream cheese, room temp
  • 4 cups confectioner's sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  • 1 salted caramel sauce
  • 3/4 cup roasted, salted peanuts, finely chopped

Instructions

Make the salted caramel

  • In a medium sized saucepan, combine the sugar and the water. Stir just until combined. 
  • Place the saucepan over medium heat. Let the sugar mixture cook, without stirring, until the sugar mixture turns a rich amber color. Take the mixture off the heat to stop the cooking process.
  • Add the butter to the saucepan and whisk to combine. Be very careful as the mixture is incredibly hot and will bubble up and steam when the butter is added. 
  • Whisk in the heavy cream, followed by the vanilla and the salt until smooth.
  • Let the caramel cool in the pan for 10 minutes before transferring to a glass jar to cool completely.

Make the apple spice cupcakes

  • Heat the oven to 350F. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with cupcake liners.
  • In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves and whisk to combine. Set aside.
  • In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter, sugar and brown sugar. Beat on medium speed for 4-5 minutes until light and fluffy.
  • Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until they're fully mixed in. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula after each addition. Beat in the vanilla extract.
  • Add the flour mixture into the mixer in three additions, alternating with the applesauce in two additions. Start and end with the flour. Mix until just combined. 
  • Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula to ensure everything is fully mixed and incorporated.
  • Divide the batter into the liners. You will use every bit of this batter. Bake for 16-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow the cupcakes to cool completely before filling.

Make the caramel apple compote filling

  • While the cupcakes cool, make the apple compote. Combine the diced apples and lemon juice, and stir to combine.
  • In a skillet over medium-low heat, combine the butter and the caramel and cook until melted and bubbling. Whisk in the salt and cinnamon.
  • Add the apples to the caramel mixture. Cook until the apples have softened, and are a bit translucent, and the sauce has thickened, about 5-6 minutes. Allow the mixture to cool completely.

Make the brown butter cream cheese frosting

  • Place the butter in a light-colored skillet. Melt the butter over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Once melted, the butter will begin to foam. Keep stirring occasionally.
  • After 5-8 minutes, the butter will begin browning. There will be lightly browned specks forming at the bottom of the pan and it will have a nutty aroma.
  • Once browned to an amber color, remove from heat immediately and allow the butter to cool until solid, but still soft, like a thick paste.
  • In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the cooled brown butter, and the cream cheese. Mix until thoroughly combined.
  • Mix in the confectioner's sugar, a cup at a time, mixing after each addition until combined.
  • Add the salt and the vanilla.
  • Turn the mixer up to medium speed, and whip for 3 minutes. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl. Whip again for another 2 minutes.

Assemble the cupcakes

  • Using a sharp knife, cut a hole into the center of the cooled cupcakes to create a space for the apple filling. The piece you removed will be the shape of a cone.
  • Spoon the apple mixture inside each carved out cupcake. Fill the cupcake with apple filling to the top. Slice off the pointy end of the cone piece you removed so that it can fit on top of the filling. Place on top of the filling.
  • Use a large ice cream scoop to scoop heaping portions of the frosting onto each of the cupcakes.
  • Use a small, offset spatula to smooth out the frosting to the edges, while still maintaining the dome shape.
  • Place the peanuts in a shallow bowl. Roll the sides of the cupcakes through the peanuts.
  • Drizzle the salted caramel sauce over the cupcakes. Insert a popsicle stick or cake pop stick into the center, and serve.

Notes

These cupcakes can be stored in the refrigerator for 3 days. Serve at room temperature.

Brown Butter Stone Fruit Tart

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Oftentimes, I’ve heard the phrase, “It’s just too pretty to eat.” I mean, it is food after all, and meant to be eaten, right? And then I finished decorating this tart, and thought to myself, how can I cut this?  It’s just too pretty to eat. But, admittedly, totally worth the destruction in order to do so. This brown butter stone fruit tart is as delicious as it is beautiful. It’s rich and creamy, slightly sweet, fresh and flavorful. It’s the perfect end of summer tart to use up those juicy, sweet in season stone fruits.

Brown Butter Stone Fruit Tart

My brown butter stone fruit tart is easy to prepare, and all the components can be made in advance and assembled before serving. Thick and silky brown butter pastry cream is spread into a crisp and crumbly sweet tart crust and topped with ripe juicy peaches, red plums and cherries. The tart is sprinkled with toasted almonds and Demerara sugar for extra crunch and sweetness right before serving. It’s simple but complex in flavor from the vanilla flecked brown butter pastry cream and the combination of ripe fruits.

For the tart crust, I used my go-to Sweet Tart Crust. It’s easily prepared in a food processor and bakes up beautifully golden brown. It’s buttery, tender and slightly sweet – a perfect crust for holding all types of fillings. The tart crust for this recipe is baked until golden brown and cooled completely before the pastry cream is added.

Brown Butter Stone Fruit Tart

How to make brown butter pastry cream

Pastry cream is similar to vanilla pudding in how it’s made and it’s consistency. Pastry cream is a custard, thickened with egg yolks and cornstarch, while pudding is thickened with fewer or no eggs, and cornstarch. To make the brown butter pastry cream, start by making the brown butter first, and allowing it to cool just slightly. You want it to still be warm, but not boiling hot.  This will be added to the custard still warm. The milk, sugar and salt are combined in a saucepan and heated until simmering. While the milk is heating up, egg yolks, additional sugar and cornstarch are beaten together to make a thickened, homogenous mixture. Once the milk is heated, it is slowly whisked into the egg yolk mixture to temper the eggs. This ensures that the eggs are being heated gradually, and won’t seize when cooking. Then the mixture is returned back to the saucepan to cook until bubbling and thickened.

The pastry cream is strained to catch any potential egg bits that might have cooked or curdled, and to keep it smooth and silky. The brown butter and vanilla are whisked in, and the pastry cream needs to chill for at least 3 hours, preferably overnight. You want the pastry cream to be super cold before adding it to the tart crust.

Brown Butter Stone Fruit Tart

Assembling the tart

Assemble the tart before serving so that any  liquid from the fruit doesn’t make the pastry cream watery or the tart soggy. Spread the pastry cream into the tart crust, and top with your favorite fresh stone fruits. Peaches, red plums and cherries are some of my favorites so I chose to use them here, but apricots, nectarines and blackberries (yes, they’re stone fruits) would be delicious as well.

The sweet crust and the pastry cream aren’t super sweet, to allow the ripe, seasonal fruit to really shine. Ripe fruit will be the sweetest and most flavorful.

Brown Butter Stone Fruit Tart

Slice the peaches and plums into thin slices, and fan them out over the pastry cream in little sections. Place some pitted and halved cherries, as well as some whole, stemmed cherries on the tart, down the center, or off to the side. Sprinkle some toasted almonds to fill in any gaps. Finish the tart by sprinkling with Demerara sugar. The sugar will cause the fruit to get juicer so be sure to add the sugar just before serving.

Brown Butter Stone Fruit Tart

For more fruity recipes, check out these posts:

Honey Cardamom Peach Galettes

Chai Spiced Apple Cranberry Pie

Spicy Pineapple Margarita Granita

Brown Butter Stone Fruit Tart
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Brown Butter Stone Fruit Tart

Thick and silky brown butter pastry cream is spread into a crisp and crumbly sweet tart crust and topped with ripe juicy peaches, red plums and cherries and sprinkled with toasted almonds and Demerara sugar.
Prep Time35 mins
Cook Time25 mins
Chill3 hrs
Total Time4 hrs
Course: Dessert
Servings: 8 servings

Ingredients

  • 1 recipe Sweet Tart Dough, fully cooked
  • 1/4 cup (57g) unsalted butter
  • 2 cups (480ml) whole milk
  • 1/2 cup (100g) light brown sugar, packed, divided
  • 1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 5 large egg yolks
  • 3 tablespoons cornstarch
  • 2 teaspoons pure vanilla paste (or vanilla extract)
  • 3 peaches
  • 3 red plums
  • 1/2 cup (80g) cherries
  • Toasted almonds, for sprinkling
  • Demerara sugar, for sprinkling

Instructions

Brown Butter Pastry Cream

  • Place the butter into a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook the butter until deep golden brown, and the butter stops popping. Set aside to cool until warm.
  • In a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, combine the milk, salt and 1/4 cup of sugar and bring to a simmer.
  • Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar and egg yolks and whisk until fully mixed, about 30 seconds.
  • Whisk in the cornstarch until thickened, for about a minute.
  • When the milk mixture is simmering, remove the saucepan from the heat. Carefully and slowly, whisk the milk into the egg mixture.
  • Pour the egg/milk mixture back into the saucepan and place over medium heat, whisking continuously until the pastry cream thickens and slow bubbles pop on the surface.
  • Strain the mixture through a fine mesh sieve into a clean bowl to remove any curdled bits, and to smooth out the cream.
  • Whisk in the brown butter and vanilla bean paste.
  • Cover the surface of the pastry cream with plastic wrap so that a skin doesn't form. Allow the pastry cream to cool to room temperature.
  • Chill the pastry cream in the fridge until completely chilled, about 3 hours, preferably overnight before using.

Assembling the Tart

  • Assemble the tart just before serving. Slice the peaches and plums into thin slices.
  • Pit and halve the cherries, leaving a few stemmed and uncut. Set aside.
  • Stir the chilled pastry cream. Pour into the cooled, fully baked tart crust.
  • With an offset spatula, spread the pastry cream out evenly in the tart crust.
  • Place the peaches and plums over the pastry cream. Top with cherries.
  • Sprinkle the toasted almonds over the tart, filling in some of the gaps where the pastry cream is can be seen.
  • Sprinkle the tart with Demerara sugar. Serve immediately.

 

 

Overnight Cinnamon Rolls with Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting

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I have been making these overnight cinnamon rolls with brown butter cream cheese frosting, and variations of these rolls for my family for many years. I’ve always sort of viewed cinnamon rolls as a special baked treat reserved for holiday mornings, or for big breakfasts when guests are over, but since we have all been at home these past several weeks, I have been making these often. My kiddos LOVE them. They are crazy delicious.

Overnight Cinnamon Rolls

There’s nothing more disappointing than biting into a warm, gooey cinnamon roll only to find that the dough is tough or crumbly. Cinnamon rolls should be soft and fluffy, with a sweet brown sugar cinnamon filling, no skimping on the cinnamon, with a cream cheese frosting that drips into the rolls making those gooey centers that might be the absolute best part of the cinnamon roll.

I use a buttery, soft and fluffy brioche dough for my cinnamon rolls that I adapted from Joanne Chang’s book Flour: Spectacular Recipes from Boston’s Flour Bakery + Cafe.  Brioche is a buttery and tender enriched dough that is perfect for all sorts of sweet and savory shaped and filled breads, buns, rolls, and more. This is my go-to recipe when making any sort of brioche pastries.

Overnight Cinnamon Rolls

How to make brioche

Brioche is fairly straightforward to make, albeit a bit time consuming due to the mixing and kneading. Luckily, most of the tedious work of making brioche takes place on a stand mixer. I do not recommend making this brioche by hand, or with a hand mixer. It needs a powerful mixer to be able to knead it properly, and it would take substantially longer to knead by hand. Bread flour, all-purpose flour, sugar, salt, yeast, milk and eggs are placed into the bowl of a stand mixer. Use a scale to weigh your ingredients for the best and consistent results, and it’ll be a one bowl wonder dough.

Overnight Cinnamon Rolls

The dough is mixed together for several minutes, and then the softened butter is added. Do not rush these first few steps of mixing before the butter addition. Once the butter is added, gluten formation is slowed down, which is why mixing times are longer for enriched doughs (doughs with a high fat content and contains butter, eggs, etc.) and also why gluten formation needs to occur in these first couple steps. No gluten strands = tough, dense and crumbly rolls. Softened butter is then added a piece at a time, and set to mix for a good amount of time until the dough has pulled away from the bowl, and has mixed into a smooth, shiny and elastic dough. Pop the brioche into the fridge to deepen its flavors and cold proof overnight.

Overnight Cinnamon Rolls

In the morning, remove the brioche from the fridge, then make the filling. Mix the softened butter, cinnamon, brown sugar and salt into a smooth paste. This filling is so good and I think of the amazing cinnamon sugar toast it would make. YUM. But back to the recipe….Roll out the cold dough into a 18×12 rectangle and spread the filling over the dough, leaving about 1/4″ border around the edges. Tightly roll up the dough, cut off 1/4″ off both ends and cut into 12 equal size rolls.

At this point, you can freeze the rolls. I do this often to only bake what we will need. Once you are ready to bake them, thaw them in the refrigerator overnight, then leave them to proof a couple hours before baking.

Overnight Cinnamon Rolls

How to make the brown butter cream cheese frosting

While the rolls are baking, prep the brown butter cream cheese frosting. We love lots of frosting so this recipe makes just the right amount for us. If you like less frosting, you can cut the recipe in half. Brown the butter in a saucepan until deeply browned, but not burned. It will be more browned than what you are probably used to, but trust me on this, the browner the better. Let the brown butter cool to room temperature. Mix the cream cheese, confectioners sugar, vanilla, salt together then add the brown butter. Whip until fluffy. Those flecks in the frosting are from the brown butter and vanilla bean paste. You will want to eat the whole bowl with a spoon, but… you should frost the cinnamon rolls with the brown butter cream cheese frosting while they are still warm.

Then eat them. It will be hard to eat just one. But, eat at as many as you want. No judgement here.

Overnight Cinnamon Rolls

For more breakfast recipes, check these out:

Blueberry Streusel Muffins

Bacon, Cheddar and Chive Scones

Overnight Cinnamon Rolls
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Overnight Cinnamon Rolls with Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting

These cinnamon rolls are soft, buttery and tender filled with a brown sugar and cinnamon filling and topped with a brown butter vanilla cream cheese frosting that is deeply flavorful and delicious.
Prep Time1 hr
Cook Time35 mins
Total Time1 hr 35 mins
Course: Breakfast
Cuisine: American
Keyword: Overnight Cinnamon Rolls with Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting
Servings: 12

Ingredients

Brioche Dough:

  • 2 1/4 cups (315g) all purpose flour
  • 2 1/4 cups (340g) bread flour
  • 3 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
  • 1/3 cup + 1 tablespoon (82g) granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 5 large eggs
  • 1/2 cup (120g) cold milk Any kind of milk will work. I use 2%.
  • 1 cup + 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature cut into 10 pieces

Cinnamon Sugar Filling:

  • 1/2 cup (115g) unsalted butter, softened
  • 1/2 cup (100g) light brown sugar, packed
  • 2 tablespoons cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting:

  • 1/2 cup (115g) unsalted butter
  • 8 ounces (224g) block cream cheese, room temperature
  • 1 3/4 cups (210g) confectioners sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract or paste

Instructions

  • In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the all purpose flour, bread flour, yeast, salt, sugar, milk, and eggs.
  • Fit the dough hook attachment to the mixer. Miix the ingredients on low speed for 3-4 minutes until the ingredients are thoroughly combined, and pockets of dry flour have been fully incorporated.
  • Mix for an additional 3-4 minutes. The dough will be stiff and dry.
  • Add the butter, a piece at a time, mixing after each addition until each piece is mixed into the dough.
  • Mix on low speed for 10 minutes, stopping to scrape down the bowl every so often to fully incorporate the butter. The dough will look like a gooey mess, but that's ok.
  • Once the butter has been completely incorporated, increase the mixer speed to medium and beat for 15-18 minutes. The dough will go from gooey and shaggy to smooth and cohesive.
  • Turn up the speed to medium high and beat for 2 minutes. You should hear the dough making a slapping sound against the sides of the bowl.
  • The dough should have a little bit of stretch and should be able to be picked up in one piece. If the dough breaks when you pull at it, mix on medium speed for an additional 2-3 minutes.
  • Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, pressing the plastic wrap against the surface of the dough so that it doesn't form a skin.
  • Proof the dough in the fridge overnight.
  • In the morning, remove the dough from the fridge and set aside so you can prepare the cinnamon sugar filling.
  • Combine the softened butter, brown sugar, salt and cinnamon in a small bowl and mix into a smooth paste. Set aside.
  • On a floured surface, roll out the dough to a 18x12 rectangle.
  • Make sure the long side is facing you. Starting on the long side of the dough closest to you, tightly roll up the dough into a log. Pinch the seams together so that the log doesn't become unrolled when cutting into rolls.
  • Trim 1/4" off of each end of the log. Cut the dough using a sharp knife, a bench scraper, or unflavored dental floss into rolls, about 1 1/2" wide.
  • Line a 9x13 baking pan with parchment paper. Place the rolls evenly in the pan, leaving space between each roll.
  • Cover the pan with plastic wrap and proof in a warm spot for two hours, until the dough has risen, is puffy and the rolls are touching each other.
  • Heat the oven to 350F. Remove the plastic wrap from the rolls. Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until the internal temperature of the rolls reaches 190F.
  • While the rolls are baking, make the frosting. Place the butter in a light-colored sauce pan over medium-low heat. Once melted, the butter will begin to pop and sizzle around the edges. In about 5-8 minutes from when you started, the butter will turn dark golden brown. The majority of the popping will subside and the milk solids at the bottom of the pan will be a dark toasty brown. It will smell buttery and nutty, but not burned. Let the butter cool to room temperature.
  • In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the cream cheese, confectioners sugar, salt and vanilla. Add in the room temperature browned butter and mix to combine. When all the ingredients are combined, turn the speed up to medium. Whip until light and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes.
  • Once the rolls are out of the oven, let them cool for about 5 minutes before adding the frosting. Spread the frosting over the warm rolls and serve.

Notes

Brioche recipe adapted from Flour: Spectacular Recipes from Boston's Flour Bakery + Cafe by Joanne Chang.
 

 

 

Brown Butter Maple Pecan Cookies

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Oh my goodness guys, these cookies. It was so hard to not eat ALL of them when testing this recipe – they are so good. The other taste testers of this cookie have been eagerly waiting for me to share this recipe, so I’m super excited to be sharing my brown butter maple pecan cookies with you today.

Brown Butter Maple Pecan Cookies

There are so many yummy elements to these brown butter maple pecan cookies, it’s hard to peg down exactly what makes them so good. Buttery, nutty, and crumbly shortbread cookies made with brown butter and filled with toasted, finely chopped pecans are dipped in a maple glaze with REAL maple syrup, and just a bit of maple extract for some extra maple flavor. I top them with some more toasted pecans for some extra crunch.

Browning butter is fairly fast and easy and really elevates any dessert you choose to use it in. Brown butter by heating it until the milk solids turn a deep golden brown. The butter will pop and bubble as it cooks, but as the popping and bubbling start to slow down, that means your brown butter is close to being cooked. It’s important to keep an eye on your browning butter as it can go from perfect to burned fairly quickly.

Brown Butter Maple Pecan Cookies

Toasting nuts before using them in a recipe does a few things to really bring out their flavor. The oils in the nuts are activated when toasted and come to the surface, which allows the nut to crisp up. This amps up their flavor and tones down the sometimes bitter flavor raw nuts can have. Toasting nuts is really the only way to allow nut flavors to shine through and work with stronger flavors, like chocolate, rather than being completely overshadowed by those stronger flavors.

I used to totally skip the process of toasting nuts for a recipe when I was in a hurry. I mean, why take the time to toast them when they toast while they’re cooking, right? Unfortunately, they don’t actually toast when cooking. The other ingredients prevent the nuts from getting hot enough to actually toast. Liquids in the recipe don’t allow the nuts to properly crisp as they would when toasting.

Brown Butter Maple Pecan Cookies

Luckily, toasting nuts is super easy. Just pop them on a cookie sheet into a 350F oven and toast for 6-8 minutes, stirring halfway, until they’ve darkened slightly and they have a toasty aroma. Keep an eye on them because if they burn, it’s game over and you’ll need to start over. Err on the side of under-toasted if you’re concerned about burning them.

I just used a simple, fluted round cookie cutter for my cookies but you can, of course use any cutter you would like. These cookies would look super cute cut out into maple leaves! Chill the cookie dough in the refrigerator after cutting out the cookies so that the butter firms up and decreases the chances of spreading when baked.

Brown Butter Maple Pecan Cookies

The maple glaze really takes these cookies to the next level. I use real maple syrup in this glaze, but I cut it with a little bit of water so that the glaze isn’t too sweet. To help amp up that maple flavor, I use a little bit of a good quality maple extract.

These brown butter maple pecan cookies would be the perfect addition to your holiday cookie platter. Bring these to your next cookie swap and they are sure to be a hit. Enjoy!

For more cookie recipes, check these out!

Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Cookies

Funfetti Sandwich Cookies

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Brown Butter Maple Pecan Cookies

Buttery, crumbly and nutty brown butter shortbread cookies with toasted, chopped pecans and a sweet maple glaze.
Prep Time20 mins
Cook Time20 mins
Total Time40 mins
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Keyword: Brown Butter Maple Pecan Cookies

Ingredients

Cookies:

  • 1 cup unsalted butter
  • 1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
  • 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
  • 2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup pecans, toasted and finely chopped

Maple Glaze:

  • 2 cups confectioner's sugar
  • 3 tablespoons real maple syrup
  • 2-3 tablespoons water
  • 1/2 teaspoon maple extract
  • 1/8 teaspoon Fine sea salt

Instructions

Make the cookie dough:

  • Place the butter into a medium saucepan over medium heat. Let the butter cook while occasionally stirring to ensure the butter is cooking evenly.
  • Cook the butter until it is a deep golden brown color and smells nutty and toasted, about 5 -7 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat.
  • Let the butter cool to room temperature. Place the butter in the refrigerator until solid but scoopable.
  • Combine the butter, the confectioner's sugar and the salt into a bowl of a stand mixer. 
  • Beat on low speed until combined, stopping to scraping the bowl to ensure all ingredients are well mixed.
  • Add the flour and the pecans to the butter mixture and mix until just combined, and no flour remains in the bowl. 
  • Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface or a non-stick mat, and form the dough into a ball. Flatten to a disc, about 1" high, and wrap tightly with plastic wrap.
  • Chill the dough in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Roll and cut out the cookies:

  • Heat the oven to 350F. Line two cookies sheets with parchment.
  • On a lightly floured surface or a non-stick mat, roll out the dough to about 1/4" thick.
  • Using a round fluted cookie cutter, cut out rounds out of the dough and place on the parchment cookie sheets, leaving about 2" between the cookies.
  • Bake the cookies for 17-20 minutes until the edges are just starting to lightly brown. Cool for 10 minutes on the cookie sheets. Transfer the cookies to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Make the maple glaze:

  • In a medium bowl, whisk together the confectioner's sugar, salt, maple syrup, water, and maple extract until smooth. 
  • Dip half of the cookies into the glaze and place on parchment paper.
  • While the glaze is still wet, sprinkle with finely chopped pecans. 
  • Let the glaze set completely before serving.

Notes

Cookies will stay fresh in an airtight container for up to a week.