Thin Chewy Spiced Oatmeal Cookies with Brown Butter Glaze
Important question!
Chewy cookie?
Or soft cookie?
Or crunchy cookie?
Or no cookie?
Or all the cookies? (Of course.)
There are so many ways to enjoy a cookie. This season I sampled some peppermint bark chocolate cookies and wondered why they’re so irresistible — and whether it’s worth the effort to make them at home. Sometimes buying a few is easier than baking a big batch, but a homemade cookie still has its charm.
I’ve been baking holiday cookies for years and I love nearly every recipe on my list, which makes it hard to add new favorites to the rotation. This time I focused on texture: I wanted cookies that are super thin, incredibly chewy, and perfectly spiced — finished with a simple brown butter icing for a rich, nutty note.
Texture matters to me. My paternal grandmother made chocolate chip cookies that were consistently paper-thin, and I’ve always wanted to recreate that same dependable result. While soft and fluffy cookies have their place, chewy ones are my go-to. These oatmeal cookies are chewy to the max: thin, perfectly spiced, and topped with a buttery glaze.
They spread thin in the oven, develop golden, crisp edges, and stay chewy through the center. The spice blend — cinnamon, cardamom and freshly grated nutmeg — complements the oats, while the brown butter icing adds a toasted, caramel-like finish.
These cookies are now part of my annual holiday baking rotation. If you like, drizzle them with chocolate or a little peanut butter for variation — they hold up well to extras and are delicious eaten every day.
Thin and Chewy Spiced Oatmeal Cookies with Brown Butter Icing
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Ingredients
- 2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon cardamom
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 sticks, 12 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- 1 1/2 cups loosely packed brown sugar
- 1 egg + 1 egg yolk, at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
brown butter icing
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter
- 1/2 to 3/4 cup powdered sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 tablespoons milk
Instructions
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Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line one or two baking sheets with parchment paper.
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Place half of the oats in a food processor and pulse until partly chopped — some oat pieces should resemble flour while others remain coarse. In a bowl, whisk together all oats, flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg and salt.
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In a large bowl, whisk the melted butter with the brown sugar until smooth. Whisk in the egg and egg yolk, then the vanilla. Stir in the dry ingredients with a large spoon until a dough forms.
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Scoop about 2 tablespoons of dough per cookie and place on the parchment-lined sheet about 2 inches apart. I bake six per sheet because they spread widely. Bake 12–14 minutes, until edges are golden and cookies are thin and chewy. Remove and cool completely.
brown butter icing
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Heat a small saucepan over medium-low and add the butter. Whisk as it melts and then continues to bubble and foam. Watch for brown bits forming on the bottom; when they appear, remove from heat and stir for about 30 seconds. Let cool 10 minutes.
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Note: chilling the dough for an hour before baking will yield slightly thicker cookies.
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In a bowl, whisk together the cooled brown butter, vanilla and powdered sugar until smooth. Add 1 tablespoon milk and whisk; continue mixing for several minutes. If the glaze is too thick, add milk 1/2 tablespoon at a time. If too thin, add a little powdered sugar. Drizzle over cooled cookies.
Notes
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