Brown Butter Soy Caramel Cookies

Brown Butter Soy Caramel Cookies

If you know a Korean, you’ll know that we love everything sweet and salty, from fried chicken, chips, garlic bread, and even our k drama oppas.

And there’s even a word for it called dan-chan dan-chan. It’s an acronym for saying sweet salty sweet salty. 

The American in me likes salty things to be purely salty and unihibited by sweetness but for sweets, I love a little saltiness because it keeps me going craving for more. I think it’s also because the saltiness presses down some of the overly sweet notes and balances out the dessert, like yin and yang. And the asian in me only knows how to compliment desserts by saying, "oo not so sweet!" So this soy caramel brown butter cookie is a perfect amalgamation of my love for sweet and salty but not too sweet because I want to be able to eat 10 cookies not just one. My body might not, but my PMS does.

The key take away of this cookie recipe is the nuttiness of the brown butter and the salty umami notes of the soy caramel. Hot tip: you have to work fast to make sure the caramel doesn’t firm up and can be well incorporated with the dough. And there you have it crunchy on the edges, soft and doughy in the center. 

Ingredients

Brown Butter Dough

• 2 sticks or 230g butter
• ½ cup or 100g light brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups or 240g AP flour 
• 1 tsp or 5g baking powder
• 1 tsp or 5g baking soda
• ¼ tsp soy sauce per cookie

Soy Caramel

• 200g white sugar
• 1 tsp or 5g water
• 2 tbsp or 30g soy sauce

Brown Butter Dough

1. In a small sauce pot, melt the butter on medium-high. 
2. Swirl the pot in a circular motion, ensuring the milk solids get evenly toasted and not burnt. 
3. Swirl the pot until you see no moisture bubbling from the butter.
4. After 3-4 minutes, the butter will start turning golden brown. Take it off heat once the butter looks golden brown, as it will continue to cook and turn into nutty dark brown butter. 
5. Transfer the brown butter to a separate bowl. Let cool while assembling the dry mix. 
6. Mix AP flour, baking powder, and baking soda together in a separate bowl. 
7. Add the sugar to the brown butter mixture. Stir to combine and dissolve the sugar. 
8. Once the mixture is not too hot, add the eggs. Stir to combine until homogenous. 
9. Slowly add the dry mixture to the wet, working in batches. 
10. Once there are no visible dry spots, place the dough in the fridge while making the soy caramel. 

Soy Caramel

1. Add white sugar and water to the same pot used for the brown butter.
2. Heat the mixture on medium-high until the sugar starts melting. 
3. Gently swirl the pot to caramelize the sugar evenly. Do not use utensils to stir the caramel, as it will crystalize it. 
4. Heat until the sugar mixture looks golden brown. Then, add the soy sauce.  
5. Swirl the soy sauce and incorporate it into the caramel. Let the soy sauce caramelize, swirling the pot for 1 minute. 
6. After 1 minute, cool the caramel but not yet set before adding it to the dough. (Around 5 minutes)

Cookie

1. Add the caramel in batches, swirling within the dough. If the caramel sets too fast, use scissors to cut large chunks. 
2. Place in the fridge for 30 minutes. At this time, preheat your oven to 180C / 355F.
3. Get an ice cream scooper or scoop 60g per cookie. Place the scoop on a parchment-lined tray. 
4. Smush the cookie with your thumb to create a divot. Fill with ¼ tsp of soy sauce. This would give an extra layer of salty umami to the cookie. 
5. Bake for 15 minutes to get a crispy cookie on the edges and still ooey gooey in the center. Bake for 18 minutes if you like a crisp cookie. Once out of the oven, use a rice bowl or a cup to swirl around the edges of the cookie to make it into a perfect circle. Cool for at least 15 more minutes once out of the oven. They will also develop more flavor the next day! Enjoy 🙂

Brown Butter Soy Caramel Cookie

3 from 681 votes

Recipe by Doobydobap Course: DessertCuisine: BakingDifficulty: Medium

Servings

16

Cookies

Prep time

15

minutes

Cooking time

15

minutes

The key take away of this cookie recipe is the nuttiness of the brown butter and the salty umami notes of the soy caramel.

Ingredients

• 2 sticks or 230g butter

• ½ cup or 100g light brown sugar

• 2 eggs

• 2 cups or 240g AP flour

• 1 tsp or 5g baking powder

• 1 tsp or 5g baking soda

• ¼ tsp soy sauce per cookie

• Soy Caramel

• 200 g white sugar

• 1 tsp or 5g water

• 2 tbsp or 30g soy sauce

instructions

• Brown butter dough
• In a small sauce pot, melt the butter on medium-high.
• Swirl the pot in a circular motion, ensuring the milk solids get evenly toasted and not burnt.
• Swirl the pot until you see no moisture bubbling from the butter.
• After 3-4 minutes, the butter will start turning golden brown. Take it off heat once the butter looks golden brown, as it will continue to cook and turn into nutty dark brown butter.
• Transfer the brown butter to a separate bowl. Let cool while assembling the dry mix.
• Mix AP flour, baking powder, and baking soda together in a separate bowl.
• Add the sugar to the brown butter mixture. Stir to combine and dissolve the sugar.
• Once the mixture is not too hot, add the eggs. Stir to combine until homogenous.
• Slowly add the dry mixture to the wet, working in batches.
• Once there are no visible dry spots, place the dough in the fridge while making the soy caramel.
• Soy Caramel
• Add white sugar and water to the same pot used for the brown butter.
• Heat the mixture on medium-high until the sugar starts melting.
• Gently swirl the pot to caramelize the sugar evenly. Do not use utensils to stir the caramel, as it will crystalize it.
• Heat until the sugar mixture looks golden brown. Then, add the soy sauce.
• Swirl the soy sauce and incorporate it into the caramel. Let the soy sauce caramelize, swirling the pot for 1 minute.
• After 1 minute, cool the caramel but not yet set before adding it to the dough. (Around 5 minutes)
• Cookie
• Add the caramel in batches, swirling within the dough. If the caramel sets too fast, use scissors to cut large chunks.
• Place in the fridge for 30 minutes. At this time, preheat your oven to 180C / 355F.
• Get an ice cream scooper or scoop 60g per cookie. Place the scoop on a parchment-lined tray.
• Smush the cookie with your thumb to create a divot. Fill with ¼ tsp of soy sauce. This would give an extra layer of salty umami to the cookie.
• Bake for 15 minutes to get a crispy cookie on the edges and still ooey gooey in the center. Bake for 18 minutes if you like a crisp cookie. Once out of the oven, use a rice bowl or a cup to swirl around the edges of the cookie to make it into a perfect circle. Cool for at least 15 more minutes once out of the oven. They will also develop more flavor the next day! Enjoy 🙂

Recipe Video

Notes

Did you make this recipe?

Tag @doobydobap on Instagram and hashtag it #doobydobap dontyuckmyyum

Like this recipe?

Follow us @doobydobap on Pinterest

Recent recipes

5 Ingredient Jjajang Sauce

Recipe 5 Ingredient Jjajang Sauce Dark, saucy, glossy, and meaty. The quintessential Chinese-Korean sauce better than takeaway. Written by Doobydobap Jump to recipe 5 Ingredient

Brown Butter Soy Caramel Cookies

Recipe Brown Butter Soy Caramel Cookies The key take away of this cookie recipe is the nuttiness of the brown butter and the salty umami

Cheesy Cabbage Roll Katsu

It's too OP

Three Chili Mapo Tofu (Vegan)

Spicy and Zingy