Brown-Edge Cookies Recipe (2024)

Recipe from Millie Shea and Liz Laskey

Adapted by Margaux Laskey

Brown-Edge Cookies Recipe (1)

Total Time
1 hour 15 minutes
Rating
4(932)
Notes
Read community notes

These one-bowl cookies, sometimes known as crispies, are buttery like the Danish cookies in blue tins, tender in the middle like snickerdoodles and snappy like Scottish shortbread. But there’s nothing else quite like them, and they go with everything. No one knows the exact provenance of the recipe, but Nabisco sold a similar cookie called brown-edge wafers until they discontinued production in 1996. This all-butter version is adapted from Millie Shea of Traverse City, Mich., who learned it from her mother in the 1930s. For best results, be sure to cream the butter and sugar until fluffy, and don’t overbake. —Margaux Laskey

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Ingredients

Yield:About 4 dozen

  • 1pound/453 grams unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 1pound/453 grams granulated sugar (2¼ cups)
  • 1large egg, at room temperature
  • 1teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 3cups/384 grams all-purpose flour
  • 1teaspoon fine salt

Ingredient Substitution Guide

Nutritional analysis per serving (48 servings)

135 calories; 8 grams fat; 5 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 2 grams monounsaturated fat; 0 grams polyunsaturated fat; 16 grams carbohydrates; 0 grams dietary fiber; 9 grams sugars; 1 gram protein; 51 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Brown-Edge Cookies Recipe (2)

Preparation

  1. Step

    1

    Arrange two racks around the middle of the oven and heat oven to 375 degrees. Using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment or an electric hand mixer, cream butter and sugar on medium-high until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add egg and vanilla. Beat on medium until incorporated, about 1 minute.

  2. Step

    2

    Add 1 cup flour and the salt and beat on low to just combine. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the remaining 2 cups flour and beat on low until incorporated. Scrape down the bowl, then beat on medium for 30 seconds just until no flour streaks remain.

  3. Step

    3

    Drop heaping tablespoons of dough onto 2 parchment-lined baking sheets, spacing them 3 inches apart as the cookies spread quite a bit while baking.

  4. Step

    4

    Bake 2 sheets at a time, rotating the pans halfway through, until the edges are lightly browned and the centers are slightly puffed, 10 to 12 minutes. Repeat with the rest of the dough.

  5. Step

    5

    Cool on the pans on wire racks for 10 minutes, then transfer cookies to the rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for 5 days, or in the freezer for up to 6 months.

Ratings

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932

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Private Notes

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Cooking Notes

Ellen Tabor

Normally I get annoyed at "good" before an ingredient ("good olive oil." Really?) But your comment got me thinking about whether using European grass-fed butter, like Kerrygold, would produce a better or just different result than "good" American butter (maybe Cabot? Horizon?). Would the difference in the fat content make a difference?And what about cultured butter?I think I know how to find out...! As the weather finally cools off, I can start using my oven more...

susan

These cookies are delicious. Important to use good butter. Also avoid cookie sheets that are darkened. Must use the parchment paper as well.

Euphemia Thompson

For what it's worth, 1 tsp of vanilla for 2 1/2 lbs of ingredients is a little shy. I did it with 2. Sublime.

Dyona

I made these last night and they came out amazing! In my batch, I substituted for about 50 grams of almond flour and 50 grams of brown sugar for the AP and granulated sugar respectively. The resulting cookies were more delicate than the original recipe with a good balance of crispy edges and soft buttery inside. Highly recommend these minor subs!

John Golden

I’ve made these and they are terrific. Next time instead of heaping tablespoon I have think less is more— I’d prefer smaller cookies. These really spread in baking resulting in 4-in cookies

activitygirl

This is essentially my husband's grandmother's "Million Dollar Cookie" recipe. Only she used almond extract instead of vanilla. So delicious! For the holidays, we'll use a flat bottomed glass that you press into sugar crystals and then gently flatten the cookies.

William Wescott

You can be pretty sure that any cookie recipe that has some age to it was done with hand mixing. In fact, I find that a Danish dough whisk works wonders for most mixing jobs. It has a long handle ending in a loop of twisted heavy-gauge, very rigid wire; the shape is roughly like the bottom half of a treble clef. The openings are so large that sticky materials don't clog it, and the wire doesn't present enough surface to stick to. I don't even own a stand mixer.

Patti Travaglio

Has anyone tried this and browned the butter first?A little fiddly for sure- and an extra step but I brown the butter for my CC cookies and cocoa brownies and it’s a Game changerThanks!

Priyanka

When needing half an egg for a cookie recipe - I just use one egg yolk! It works and is easy. Just use the egg white in your breakfast.

Beate

You would have to figure out either the reduction in baking time or the reduction in oven temp. Rotate the pans. The back of the oven is hotter than the front, so rotating the pans ensures even baking / browning. I personally would stick to regular bake.

DW99

I think hand-mixing won't replicate the effect of 3-4 minutes of med.-speed power-mixing. You need the butter and sugar to become light and fluffy -- I don't think you'll get there by hand, bc you won't have the speed to incorporate lots of air. I just checked Trget -- hand mixers start at $20, and they don't take up much room in the kitchen.

kcook

I split the dough into three batches and made the first plain, the second with lemon zest, and the third with both lemon zest and poppy seeds. All delicious!

January

Halved the recipe but not the egg. Came out just fine.

Laura M.

These look just like the ones my grandmother used to make over 50 years ago! She mixed in poppy seeds. I loved them as a child.

Baker

Oh baby these are delicious - rich and crisp at the edges, slightly chewy in the center. I halved the recipe, weighing everything including the egg (I used 25 grams of beaten egg for the halved recipe) and used twice as much vanilla and "normal" supermarket unsalted butter (not cultured). They do spread quite a bit - for the 2nd batch into the oven I used only about 1 teaspoon of dough per cookie. This is a keeper recipe!

PollyPolly

Can somebody explain the purpose of the potato starch? Can corn starch be substituted? (I live in Podunk and we have no idea what potato starch is, let alone where to buy it.)

cmd

Definitely a success. Parchment paper definitely works well - and can definitely be reused. I think I baked only 12 per large / regular size cookie sheet, because they spread very much. Rough calculation for calories: about 120 cal each! If Butter@3,200, Sugar@1,260, egg@80, and Flour@1200. 5740/48 = approx 120 calories each.

LewPhilly

These were nearly perfect. Nice thin, brown, crispy edges, as I remember the store-bought cookies. I used a #40 portioning scoop and put 6 on a half sheet pan. I put more on the pan for the first batch and they ran together. I baked them for 12 minutes at 350 on convection (for the two pans in the oven).

Ernestina

Too sweet and greasy, they spread too much so the cookies do not mantain a round form. Maybe overmixing the butter is an important thing to consider.

Hillary

Thanks to the notes here, I went with smaller scoops, 2 t Penney’s Mexican Vanilla and 1/2 t almond extract. Wow! The edges add a caramel flavor and the texture is crunchy, yet chewy. I love how plain they look—more for me!Has anyone tried these in a tin for shipping? How well do they hold up?

DebbyS

This recipe is delicious and I am so happy to have found it! I’ve been looking for something to replicate the beloved Nabisco version for YEARS. The recipe makes a massive amount, and I decided to freeze about half of it. I formed it into a 2-inch log, wrapped it in parchment, then put it in a freezer bag. Thawed the dough today and made them slice&bake style, about 1/4 inch thick. Baked the normal time. They’re perfect!

Robert

These are outstanding. They remind me of my childhood favorites, sand tarts. If you make half a batch, you can use 1 egg and 1 tspn of vanilla, and they remain great. You can also roll them into balls and freeze them for baking later.

CareMc

These are excellent cookies! Butter is definitely the star! I halved the recipe (using the beat the egg, measure, and use half method other commenters mentioned). Definitely will go into regular rotation.

K A Tate

These are great! Exactly what it says on the tin. If you want the perfectly round cookies as pictured invert a drinking glass over the hot cookie and swirl it around. (Like scribbling small circles with a giant pen.) You have to be quick. Once the edges harden it won't work.

Eurasia

I’m sure what I did wrong and the cookies didn’t spread at all - little scoops of dough that were slightly over cooked because I left them in longer hoping something would happen. I used vegetable shortening instead of butter because it’s all I had to hand. I’ll try again with butter but for those of you moaning about losing it’s shape - try crisco smh at myself

Annette Phillips

These cookies are addictive. Like several others, I used a good butter that could be tasted in every bite. Using parchment paper is a must with these cookies. I also used a little more flavoring. If you wanted another flavor such as lemon, almond, coconut, etc. I imagine that would be easy enough to do by just changing which flavoring you'd like. We were sad when the last cookie was gone!

Churros are Great with Cajeta

I halved the recipe. 4 dozen cut in half is 24, but the amount of cookies I ended up with was 12.I made these for Valentine’s Day and made them pink and they looked like tiny octopi at the start! Haha. The cookies came out with very crispy edges, looking not at all like the picture. But. They. Tasted.AMAZING! So buttery- the teachers I gave them to loved them! You can’t stop eating these amazing cookies! Super simple and adaptable for what I was doing to them!Would use this recipe again!

Crystal

The best part of this cookie is the browned, crispy edges. The heaping tablespoon expands considerably (3 to 4 inches for me). Mine morphed together into big blobs, which meant fewer crispy edges :( Definitely recommend wayyy smaller scoops (a teaspoon instead of a tablespoon), and no more than 8 cookies per pan.

caron

These cookies remind me of the brown edge Nabisco cookies I ate as a kid. They just don’t look the same. So I did some investigative work. I found out that if you combine all purpose, flour, and potato starch, you would get the exact recipe for the Nabisco cookie with that incredibly brown edge. So I tried it, and they were outstanding. instead of 3 cups of all purpose flour you use, you use 1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour and 1 1/2 cups of potato starch!!! Brown edge and all !

meg

I just made these and oh my gosh— so easy and delicious. These will be my go-to cookie recipe this winter. I ended up halving the recipe (just guesstimated half an egg once beaten) and used 1 teaspoon of vanilla. After the first round, I took the cookies out around 10 min (vs 12) so they’d be a little softer. I do think switching the positioning in the oven is key!

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Brown-Edge Cookies Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What happened to brown edge wafers? ›

Their simplicity and subtle buttery flavor seemed very "adult" to me. But in 1996, Nabisco stopped making them. Now I have to really be an adult and make my own. Fortunately, these elegant cookies are simple to create."

What makes cookies brown? ›

Caramelization – Just as the cookie is almost finished baking, two chemical reactions happen – caramelization & Maillard reaction. As sugars in the dough break down (especially around the edges & the hot bottom), they transform into a brown, fragrant caramel gold adding to the flavours of the cookie.

Why did my cookie dough turn brown? ›

When you rest your dough, the flour proteins and starches begin to break down, which will speed the “browning” process when you bake the dough, yielding a cookie with a rich butterscotch-like flavour.

What is the ratio of butter to sugar in cookies? ›

The higher the proportion of butter to other ingredients, the more tender your cookie will be (and consequently, the more it will spread as it bakes). I found that a ratio of 1 part flour to 1 part sugar to 0.8 parts butter was about right for a cookie that has moderate spread and doesn't end up cakey.

Has Nabisco stopped making chocolate wafers? ›

Earlier this year, Nabisco discontinued its Famous Chocolate Wafers, one year short of the cookie's 100th anniversary. Makers of icebox cakes and chocolate crusts were incensed, and you know what happens when a bunch of bakers get outraged? They riot in the streets! They organize sit-ins!

Why did Nabisco stop making famous chocolate wafers? ›

Nabisco Old Fashioned Chocolate Wafers have been a staple in our homes for generations. They are a key ingredient in scores of desserts. Unfortunately, Nabisco has "removed them from the product line to make room for new innovations." How is there not "room" for this beloved and much used cookie in their product line?

What is the best brown sugar for cookies? ›

Using all light brown sugar will yield cookies with a lighter flavor (that's not a bad thing!). They'll be buttery with accents of vanilla and a soft interior, but a lighter molasses flavor. Opting for all dark brown sugar will give you a richer flavor and ever-so-slightly softer centers.

What is the secret to chewy cookies? ›

Cornstarch gives the cookies that ultra soft consistency we all love. Plus, it helps keep the cookies beautifully thick. We use the same trick when making shortbread cookies. Egg yolk: Another way to promise a super chewy chocolate chip cookie is to use an extra egg yolk.

What does more brown sugar do to cookies? ›

Brown sugar adds a little more depth of flavor, due to the addition of a tiny amount of molasses. It also is moister side to the hygroscop nature of the molasses. You can add only white sugar, but in my experience, doing so decreases the chewy texture and the caramalized sugar flavor of the cookie.

What happens when you put too much butter in cookies? ›

Classic signs of a cookie with too much butter include crispy-bordering-on-burnt edges, a greasy surface, an excessively brittle texture, and a predominantly buttery flavor that overpowers the other caramel and chocolate notes.

What does brown do in cookies? ›

Brown sugar

Using brown sugar will result in a denser, moister cookie. Brown sugar is also hygroscopic (more so than granulated sugar) and will therefore also attract and absorb the liquid in the dough.

What happens if you over cream butter and sugar for cookies? ›

Undermixed butter and sugar looks gritty and chunky, which can lead to dense cookies and cakes. It is possible to overmix the butter and sugar. If you overmix, the butter will separate out of the mixture and it will be grainy and soupy. Be sure to stop once your butter becomes light and fluffy.

Is it better to use oil or butter in sugar cookies? ›

Indeed, cookies made with butter are usually softer and more tender than those made with oils. And last but not least, butter in cookies helps achieve that perfect texture. That's because butter melts at a lower temperature than other fats, allowing cookies to spread evenly while baking.

Can you over whip butter and sugar for cookies? ›

Over-creamed butter and sugar adds in too much air and alters the final texture – typically to be more gummy and dense. Sometimes over-creaming can produce cakes, cupcakes, or cookies that collapse upon baking or while cooling if the mixture is well and truly over-creamed (where it looks like curdled milk).

Who makes famous chocolate wafers? ›

The History Of Nabisco Famous Chocolate Wafers

The National Biscuit Company (Nabisco) began selling their now famous chocolate wafer cookies in 1924. Initially the cookies came in three flavors: Chocolate, ginger, and sugar, but both sugar and ginger were discontinued shortly after launching.

Who makes chocolate wafers? ›

For nearly a century, Nabisco's Famous Chocolate Wafers have been essential to the classic icebox cake and the crusts of no-bake pies and cheesecakes.

When did wafers come out? ›

Wafers' origin dates to the 9th century Western Europe where the first waffle tong or waffle iron was discovered. The term wafer was first included in Middle English by 1377. In the 1890s, Josef Manner manufactured the first hazelnut cream-filled wafer sandwich.

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