Okay. It’s time to lean into Fall. I finally accepted that Summer was coming to a close and am just diving right in. One of my favorite things to do on a chilly Fall weekend is to bake cookies and share them with friends and neighbors. Just to really kick off the holidays and get everyone excited. This year I started with one of my very favorites; chewy Maple Spice Cookies. They are perfectly soft, super flavorful, and topped with the most delicious brown butter icing on top. Seriously dreamy.

Here’s how it’s done

Step 1: Gather the ingredients

The simplest way to put these Maple Spice Cookies together is to first, grab all of your ingredients. They come together quickly once you get going, so measuring everything out first just take takes it up a notch. Because you don’t need to chill the dough for this recipe, these cookies will be in the oven super quick!

Step 2: Make the cookie dough

First, preheat your oven to 350° and grab a cookie sheet (or two if you have them) and line with parchment or a silicone baking mat. Grab your stand mixer or hand mixer (I need to get one of these, BTW. So convenient.) and cream the softened butter with the sugar, then the eggs, and maple syrup until light and fluffy. Add the flour, baking soda, salt, and spices.

Step 3: roll the dough and bake

Using your hands, roll the dough into tablespoon-sized balls and roll in sugar. I like using coarse sugar for this for an extra little crunch on the outside of the cookie, but I only had finely granulated this time. Next round! If your dough seems too sticky, rub a bit of flour on your hands between dough balls. That should help! Place the sugared dough balls onto the lined cookie sheet about 2″ apart. Bake for 8-10 minutes, until just set. These are a chewy cookie, so no need to really brown them up.

Cookies will “lay flat” and get crackly once they’ve been out of the oven a couple minutes. My little princess-costume helper wanted to make sure they turned out okay…

Step 4: Make the icing

While the cookies are cooling (and the smell of sweet cinnamon + maple fills your kitchen), make the brown butter icing. You don’t have to brown the butter to make this icing, but it just deepens the flavor and gives it a richness that compliments the spices in the cookies so well.

Melt the butter on medium-low heat until it just starts bubbling and becomes fragrant. Transfer it into a bowl, a let it cool for about 5 minutes. Once it’s not so hot, add the powdered sugar, vanilla, and a pinch of sea salt. Add heavy cream or milk. Stick with it as you stir, it will seem quite dry at first, but the longer you mix, the more it comes together and becomes nice and smooth. If it seems too watery, add a bit more powdered sugar. Too thick, add a bit of heavy cream or milk, one teaspoon at a time.

step 5: ice the cookies

Once the icing is done, work fast! It isn’t the kind of icing that is going to harden up fully, but it does get harder to work with as it cools all the way down. How you ice the cookies is totally up to you. For a bit less icing and a more subtle, cookie-forward flavor, drip the icing over the top. If you would prefer to eat the icing by the spoonful (like me), then you might just dip one side of the cookie into the icing. Either way, let them set on the counter to firm up.

There you have it. Delicious, super easy and quick, Fall-in-a-cookie-form. Subtly sweet maple, with hints of cinnamon, and rich buttery icing. These are so good and I love gifting these to neighbors with other baked Fall treats at the beginning of October.

Let me know how it turns out! I’d love to hear. And if you take a pictures, tag me on Instagram! It would be so fun for me to see. If you enjoyed this Maple Spice Cookies with Brown Butter Icing recipe and would like to try making more delicious treats, check out more recipes here!