Use Brown Butter In Your Oatmeal Cookies For Toastier Flavor

While oatmeal cookies can be a polarizing flavor choice, utilizing brown butter in your recipe will create irresistible oatmeal cookies everyone will eat up. Most baking recipes involve butter because it provides a structure that helps your baked goods rise. However, butter also adds a rich flavor and moistness from the combination of water and fat. Butter may be an essential ingredient, but it makes for a familiar, generic-tasting cookie.

In order to elevate your baking and give your oatmeal cookies a toastier flavor, browning your butter is a simple trick that makes all the difference. Brown butter is popular in baking because it develops a butterscotch flavor as the milk solids begin to carmelize when heated. Throughout history, many variations of brown butter have been used, particularly in France. As the butter melts, the various stages of darkening color signify different flavor profiles, with golden brown giving nutty notes and reddish brown bordering on bitter coffee.

When browned butter is used for baking, it gives your pastries a deeper flavor. By adding subtle notes of caramel and hazelnut, brown butter can accentuate the earthy flavor of the rolled oats in your oatmeal cookies. The slight recipe variation likely won't change the taste enough to be drastically different but it will create many flavor nuances that elevate your cookie overall.

Brown butter is the key to making your homemade cookies taste like they came straight from a gourmet bakery. Bromabakery on TikTok referred to brown butter as "caramelized butter" because it's sweet and savory but also has a richness from the heat, which adds the toasted nutty flavor.

Good quality butter that is grass-fed and pasture-raised is the best place to start for optimal flavor. Cutting the chilled butter into small squares that are about the same size will help it to melt more evenly. On the stovetop, it's also important to use a light-colored stainless steel pan so you can see the color of your butter darkening. Similarly, you'll want to keep the heat on a low-medium since high heat can cause your butter to burn in a matter of seconds.

Brown butter requires constant attention because it needs to be stirred or swirled periodically to ensure the heat is evenly distributed. Frequent movement will also prevent the milk solids from burning at the bottom of your pan. Once the bubbles and layer of foam on the top begin to dissipate, you can remove the golden, amber-colored butter from the heat, let it cool, and use it in your favorite oatmeal cookie recipe for a superior cookie experience.