With big flavor, crisp edges, and mega chewy centers, these maple brown sugar cookies are a definite favorite. Top with maple icing for the ultimate fall cookie! Chilling the cookie dough is imperative, so set aside 2 hours or prepare the cookie dough the day before.
I may say this a lot, but nothing has been truer than in this very moment… (dramatic? who, me?) … these maple brown sugar cookies are the best cookies I’ve ever made. And that statement holds big weight considering I authored an entire cookbook of JUST cookies.
Maple brown sugar cookies > every other cookie. I know a good one when I bite it!
Plus, this recipe is such a fan favorite, that it deserved a spot in print! You’ll also find this recipe in my New York Times best-selling cookbook, Sally’s Baking 101.
These Maple Brown Sugar Cookies Are:
- Brown sugared and buttery
- Unbelievably chewy and soft in the center—not cakey
- Crisp on the edges
- Filled with pure maple syrup
- Topped with luscious maple icing
The maple icing sets, so these are perfect for stacking and transporting. Because, trust me, you’ll want to bring these everywhere you go. Football game? Bring them. Party? Bring them. Bake sale? Sell them. No occasion at all? Make them.
Video Tutorial
10 Ingredients in Maple Brown Sugar Cookies
We use most of these in maple pecan snickerdoodles, too!
- All-Purpose Flour: All-purpose flour is the structure of the cookie. I played around with different amounts. 2 and 1/4 cups wasn’t enough and 2 and 1/2 cups was too much. 2 and 1/3 cups was the perfect amount to hold up to the liquid maple syrup.
- Baking Soda: Baking soda provides lift.
- Salt: Salt balances the flavor.
- Butter: 1 stick (1/2 cup) is plenty for the maple cookies and be sure you use room-temperature butter. It should be cool to the touch and not overly soft and greasy.
- Dark Brown Sugar: For optimal flavor and texture, reach for brown sugar. I recommend dark brown sugar for extra flavor, but light brown sugar works too.
- Egg: 1 egg provides structure, stability, and richness.
- Pure Maple Syrup: We can’t make maple cookies without pure maple syrup. Avoid “breakfast syrup,” which doesn’t have the same robust maple flavor that pure syrup contains. I played around with different amounts and 1/3 cup is plenty. And, as a bonus, the pure syrup helps create slightly crisp edges.
- Vanilla Extract: Adds flavor. Have you tried homemade vanilla extract yet?
- Maple Extract: Pure maple syrup isn’t enough to guarantee mega maple flavor. Without the crutch of maple extract, the cookies were lacking. Pure maple extract is difficult to find, so reach for imitation. I prefer McCormick brand because the flavor doesn’t taste fake. You can use it in maple pecan snickerdoodles, maple walnut tassies, and maple bacon doughnuts, too!
- Pecans: Nuts are an optional ingredient, but they add awesome (and complementary!) flavor and texture. If you love these maple pecan snickerdoodles, you’ll also love pecans here.
Which Pure Maple Syrup Is Best?
Grade A is good, but Grade B is darker and more flavorful because it’s produced later in the season. Honestly, you can’t go wrong with either here!
How to Make Brown Sugar Maple Cookies
Minimal effort, mega results. ♥
- Whisk the dry ingredients together.
- Cream the butter and brown sugar together.
- Beat in the egg, maple syrup, vanilla extract, and maple extract.
- Mix dry and wet ingredients together.
- Add the pecans.
- Chill the cookie dough. This cookie dough contains an additional liquid (maple syrup), so chilling the dough is crucial. Set aside 2 hours to chill this cookie dough. Without chilling, the cookies will spread into a greasy puddle.
- Roll cookie dough into balls. Each dough ball is about 1.5 Tablespoons, or 35g.
- Bake until the edges are set. Cookies are done in about 12–13 minutes.
Then we’ll obviously drizzle maple icing all over the tops!
That Irresistible Maple Icing!!
You only need 3 ingredients for this super easy maple icing: butter, maple syrup, and confectioners’ sugar. To avoid any lumps, sift the confectioners’ sugar. If desired, a pinch of salt adds exceptional depth of flavor. The wonderful thing about this maple icing is that it eventually sets, so these cookies aren’t sticky or difficult to store.
You have my full support to use this maple icing for anything and everything. We found it to be the perfect finishing touch on these pumpkin crumb cake cookies and these maple pecan slice & bake cookies. Some ideas: on banana scones, pumpkin scones, and apple cinnamon scones, obviously.
By the way! Today’s cookies differ from the Soft Glaze Maple Cookies in Sally’s Cookie Addiction. Those are ultra cakey (think pancakes!) with moderate maple flavor. These are more similar to chewy chocolate chip cookies in terms of texture.
Loving These Fall Cookies Too
- Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Cookies
- Butter Pecan Cookies
- Snickerdoodles (no cookie dough chilling!)
- Oatmeal Scotchies
- Caramel Apple Spice Thumbprints
- Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Pecan Sugar Cookies
- Brown Sugar Shortbread Cookies
Maple Brown Sugar Cookies
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 13 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours, 50 minutes
- Yield: 28-30 cookies
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
With big maple flavor, crisp edges, mega chewy centers, and crunchy pecans, these maple brown sugar cookies are a definite favorite. Chilling the cookie dough is imperative, so set aside 2 hours or prepare the cookie dough the day before. This recipe is also in my New York Times best-selling cookbook, Sally’s Baking 101.
Ingredients
- 2 and 1/3 cups (292g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup (8 Tbsp; 113g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 cup (200g) packed dark brown sugar*
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 1/3 cup (113g/80ml) pure maple syrup*
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon maple extract*
- 1 cup (120g) chopped pecans*
Maple Icing
- 2 Tablespoons (28g) unsalted butter
- 1/3 cup (113g/80ml) pure maple syrup
- 1 cup (112g) sifted confectioners’ sugar*
- pinch of salt, to taste
Instructions
- Make the cookies: In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt together. Set aside.
- In a large bowl using a handheld mixer or a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and brown sugar on medium-high speed until light and creamy, about 3 minutes. Add the egg and beat on high speed until combined, about 30 seconds. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. Add the maple syrup, vanilla extract, and maple extract, then beat on high speed until combined, about 1 minute. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and beat on low speed until combined. Add the pecans and beat on low speed until just incorporated. Dough will be creamy and soft.
- Cover the dough and refrigerate it for at least 2 hours (and up to 3 days).
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. (Always recommended for cookies.) If the dough has chilled for longer than 3 hours, let it sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes before shaping the cookies.
- Scoop and roll cookie dough into balls, about 1.5 Tablespoons (35g) of dough per cookie. Arrange the cookies 3 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets.
- Bake for 12–13 minutes or until the edges are lightly browned and set but the centers still look very soft. Cool the cookies on the baking sheets for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely.
- Make the icing: In a small saucepan over low heat, melt the butter with the maple syrup, whisking occasionally. Once the butter has melted, remove from heat and whisk in the sifted confectioners’ sugar and salt. Taste. Drizzle over the cooled cookies. Icing will set after about 1 hour. Store cookies covered tightly at room temperature for up to 2 days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Make Ahead Instructions: You can make the cookie dough and chill it in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Allow to come to room temperature then continue with step 5. Baked cookies, with or without icing, freeze well for up to 3 months. Unbaked cookie dough balls freeze well for up to 3 months. Bake frozen cookie dough balls for an extra minute, no need to thaw. Read my tips and tricks on how to freeze cookie dough.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Glass Mixing Bowl | Whisk | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Baking Sheets | Silicone Baking Mats or Parchment Paper | Medium Cookie Scoop | Cooling Rack | Small Saucepan
- Brown Sugar: I recommend dark brown sugar for a deeper flavor, but you can use light brown sugar instead if needed.
- Maple Syrup: Avoid syrup labeled “breakfast syrup” or “pancake syrup,” which doesn’t have the same robust maple flavor that pure syrup contains. Grade A is good, but Grade B is darker and more flavorful because it’s produced later in the season. You can’t go wrong with either in these cookies.
- Maple Extract: Pure maple syrup isn’t enough to guarantee mega maple flavor. Without the crutch of maple extract, the cookies were lacking. I use McCormick brand maple extract. You can find it in the baking aisle or online.
- Pecans: The pecans are optional, but add wonderful flavor and texture. I use unsalted, unroasted pecans, but feel free to use salted roasted pecans or toast the pecans before using, if desired. You can also substitute chopped walnuts.
- Confectioners’ Sugar: To avoid any lumps, sift the confectioners’ sugar.
- Be sure to check out my top 5 cookie baking tips AND these are my 10 must-have cookie baking tools.
Reader Comments and Reviews
First time making these and the recipe is perfect! Used walnuts and we absolutely loved them! Plan to make often!
I’ve made these several times now and always get compliments on the flavor especially.
This most recent batch however didn’t spread out the way they normally do. Instead it was raised and round almost like the baked up instead of up and out. I can’t figure out what I did wrong? I know that I had baking soda in it.
Hi Stephanie, how are you measuring your flour? Are you spooning and leveling it? Usually cookies do not spread when there is too much flour (or dry ingredients in total). Spoon and level your flour, or weigh it, or you can slightly reduce the flour by 2 Tbsp.
This recipe is excellent! The only change I will make next time is with the icing – I’ll add a little vanilla.
I loved this recipe so much! Thank you so much for sharing. I just have a question about my cookies. They tasted so good but looks funky. Like they looked puffy and didn’t have cracks like the ones in your picture. What did I do wrong to cause this and what can I do better for next time?
Hi Ana, When cookies stay puffy, it usually means that there’s too much dry ingredient (flour) soaking up all the liquid. When measuring flour, use the spoon & level method. Do not scoop the flour out of the container/bag. Doing so leaves you with excess flour in the cookie dough. Hope this helps for next time!
So delicious! I’m taking these to Thanksgiving tomorrow. I doubled the recipe (½ nuts, ½ without) but I love them with the pecans! Thank you, Sally, for sharing trusted recipes.
Have you considered making these with a brown butter instead?
Hi Hallston, you can use the same amount of brown butter. Make sure it is softened to room temperature for the cookies so that it can be creamed with the brown sugar.
So I subbed in an equal amount of brown butter making sure I had extra butter because of evaporation and they ended up coming out kind of cakey. They didn’t really spread out very much or get any kind of noticeable browning. Any ideas at what might have gone wrong? Could I have not creamed the butter and sugar properly, or is it because I made very small cookies instead of big ones?
My favorite cookies ever. I make them every fall now. No adjustments made. They remind me of maple nut ice cream yummmm
This recipe was a hit w/ our family. My granddaughter found it & shared it with me.
We love this cookie. Have made it 4 times in last month. Thank you for sharing it.
I made these yesterday and everyone loved them! Easy to make too.
This is the best cookie recipe I’ve ever made!
I made this recipe and it was delicious! The only thing is I don’t want to add brown sugar. I just want it to be maple syrup sweetened. How can I do this? It was a bit Too sweet as well with the brown sugar.
Hi Angelani, we haven’t tested the cookies without brown sugar, but other ingredients would need to be adjusted if you omit the sugar, so I don’t recommend it. If you want to make them a bit less sweet, you could start by reducing the sugar slightly. Hope this helps!
Excellent recipe, no notes. texture is very similar to a good chocolate chip cookie and the maple smell while they were baking was amazing
I’m a chocolate lover first and always, but this cookie has about changed my mind. We are obsessed with these!
These are so delicious! I skipped the maple extract and found them plenty mapley. I also didn’t chill my first batch, just portioned out the balls on the cookie sheet and stuck it in the freezer while the oven was preheating. My dough balls were a little smaller, maybe 1 T size, I baked for 10 minutes, and resulted in 3 dozen 2″ cookies. I also used walnuts, chopped very finely. The glaze is excellent and really makes them, just a thin spread is all they need. I will be keeping this one!
I’ve made this recipe so many times and it never dissapoints!
These are so good they won a holiday cookie party! Has anyone tried to make them gluten free?
Yay! Some readers have commented that they tried this recipe with a 1:1 substitute of gluten-free flour and had success, but we have not tested it. Let us know what you try!
Yes! Just use 1 to 1 flour! They are fantastic!
AMAZING!!
I have made a LOT of Sally’s recipes, but this is probably the best one I’ve tried yet. So flavorful, rich, and buttery without being overly sweet. The pecans were the perfect texture addition. Everyone at work loved them!
Absolutely delightful cookies! I didn’t have maple extract on hand but I did have maple sugar. I used 1/3cup maple sugar and 2/3 cup dark brown. And then I didn’t add salt to the icing while mixing but instead sprinkled flaky sea salt on top directly after drizzling. The effect and flavors were a divine combo!
These cookies are great! A nice fall dessert that isn’t pumpkin flavored and so easy to make.
My grocery store does not offer maple extract so I used almond, which I already had, and added a tsp of cinnamon which I saw another commenter add.
This is a fantastic recipe. I was in a hurry recently and made them into bars in a 9 X 9 pan with parchment paper. No nuts in the batch. They came out beautifully. I poured the maple glaze on top and they were almost like maple fudge. Prefer the cookies, but bars work great too.
So yummy and perfect for fall! Just curious if there are nutrition facts for a serving. Thanks!
These were honestly some of the best cookies ever. If you like maple and pecans, then you will love this recipe. I LOVE all of Sally’s recipes. I haven’t tried one yet that I don’t like.
I really want to make these Cookies but want to add bourbon. How much and where, dough or glaze?
Hi Cathy, We’d caution against adding any extra liquid to the cookies, but you could try replacing some of the maple syrup in the cookies OR the icing with a bit of bourbon. Let us know if you try anything!
Hi Kathy! Whole Foods had a Maple Bourbon syrup last year and they might have it this year too!
Hi Cathy, I have added Bourbon soaked pecans on top and they were awesome. Just toast some pecans in a scant amount of butter and then cool. Once cool add them to a plastic bag with some bourbon and let them sit for about 30 minutes. Apply to the top after baking or add with icing.
Every time I make these cookies, people say they’re the best cookies they’ve ever had. I skip the maple extract because the first time I made them I didn’t have any, and I like them a little better that way. Thanks for the great recipe Sally and team!
These are definitely my new favorite fall cookie! On my most recent batch I added a couple tsp of cinnamon and a cup of oatmeal instead of pecans and they were perfect!!!
I cannot imagine anyone giving this less than 5/5. These were pure perfection. Sturdy enough to be mailed too in a care package.
They came out great and will be making them again. Nice, delicate maple flavor.
Soooo yummy!
These turned out so delicious! Are we able to double the recipe to make a larger batch or do you recommend making one batch at a time?
Hi Ely, so long as your mixer can handle the added volume from a double batch, that will work just fine!
Wow are these delicious !! Everyone loves them and I see making many more batches in the near future. One comment was this tastes like Thanksgiving dessert! Thank you for the info on being able to double the recipe because the 35 cookies I got from one batch just isnt enough of these treasures 🙂