These glazed soft maple cookie gems will melt in your mouth. They’re actually more like pancakes and will remind you that soft cookies are completely appropriate at the breakfast table. Don’t be discouraged when you’re mixing up the dough. It’s a very soft dough—almost like a thick cake batter.–Sally McKenney
Glazed Soft Maple Cookies
Ingredients
For the soft maple cookies
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 stick (4 oz) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 1/4 cups packed brown sugar
- 1/2 cup pure maple syrup (use the real stuff!)
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1/2 cup sour cream, preferably full-fat at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the maple glaze
- 4 tablespoons (2 oz) unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup pure maple syrup
- 1 1/2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
Instructions
Make the soft maple cookies
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Line rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
- In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt together.
- In a large bowl, using a handheld mixer or a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium-high speed until smooth, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the brown sugar and beat on medium-high speed until creamy, 2 to 4 minutes more.
- Add the maple syrup, eggs, sour cream, and vanilla extract, and beat on high speed until combined, 1 to 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl and beat again as needed to combine.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix on low speed until combined, about 30 seconds. The dough will be very soft. The cookie dough can be made and stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days before baking. Bring to room temperature before proceeding with the recipe.
- Scoop balls of dough, about 1 1/2 tablespoons (no. 40 scoop) of dough per cookie, and place 3 inches (7.5 cm) apart on the baking sheets. Bake until the tops spring back when touched and the edges are lightly browned, 13 to 15 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Make the maple glaze
- In a small saucepan over medium heat, whisk the butter and maple syrup together until the butter is completely melted and is combined with the syrup. Remove from the heat and whisk in the confectioners’ sugar and salt. Let cool for 15 minutes.
☞ TESTER TIP: If your glaze is runny set a baking sheet under the cooling rack to catch any drips when you drizzle the glaze over.
- Spoon 1 to 2 teaspoons glaze on top of each cooled cookie. Allow glaze to set completely, 10 to 20 minutes, before serving.
- Cookies will stay fresh in an airtight container at room temperature for 2 days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. Baked cookies, without glaze, freeze well for up to 3 months; allow cookies to thaw overnight in the refrigerator, then bring to room temperature before glazing and serving.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Recipe Testers’ Reviews
Loved this recipe. I live in New England with an abundance of top quality maple syrup. The robust taste of the NH maple syrup I used in this recipe really contributed to the flavor. I did sprinkle a touch of sea salt on top of each. The balance of the buttery sweet cookie, with a bit of salt, was really a home run. They were soft but still had just a bit of a crunch with a bite, which worked well. A nice rich buttery flavor. The maple glaze in on point!
I was attracted to this recipe from the photograph but also because it used pure maple syrup. We tap trees each spring, and it’s a family tradition to make maple syrup together. I was excited to use some of our 2019 syrup in this recipe. Everyone liked the cookies, but were surprised by the texture. When I told them they’re meant to be kind of like pancakes, that clarified things.
They certainly are delicious, and the bottoms had a nice golden brown and had a tiny bit of a crunch. I had a bit of trouble with the glaze, however. Unsure if others did too. Mine turned out very thin, so didn’t quite look like the photograph.
I ended up placing some of the cookies on a cooling rack with a cookie sheet underneath and then pouring the cooled glaze over them from a measuring cup. This worked fine, and the glaze is a sweet addition to the maple cookie, intensifying the maple flavor. I actually didn’t have a 40 scoop, but rather a 24 scoop, so my cookies were larger.
After they were ready, my teenage son toasted one on the rack in our toaster oven (just until the glaze started to drip), and this actually improved the texture a bit. It almost reminded me of a pop-tart, so if you were looking for these to be a breakfast item, they just could be if toasted lightly!
At first, I thought I would happily eat these cookies plain, but my gosh, the glaze totally elevated them far above clouds, making them a maple syrup lovers’ dream. “Pancake cookies” is a spot-on way to describe these lovely rounds. They’re generously sized (mine were 3 inches in diameter), tender, and cakey, but the slightly crisp bottom and edges made them decisively cookies.
I fit 6 cookies per half-sheet pan and baked 2 sheets at a time. I got 36 cookies out of the recipe and was glad that I’d opted to glaze half of them and save the rest in the freezer for later enjoyment (which turned out to be not so “later” as we missed the cookies too much!).
As I was glazing 18 cookies, the halved glaze started to get stiff rather quickly so the glaze on the last few cookies looked a bit dry. I learned an easy fix when I glazed the other half of the cookies later (thawed overnight on the kitchen counter): cool the glaze only for 15 minutes and start using it right away. The glaze looked fluid and shiny on all of the 18 cookies.
I was not prepared to like these cookies as much as I did, since I normally prefer a crispy and chewy cookie, but these were absolutely delicious and so comforting. Using good maple syrup is key!
I put about a teaspoon of glaze on each cookie because it would drip down a little bit, but not much because the cookies were flatter than pictured.
Can these be made as bars?
Lee, we haven’t tried them as bars, and I’m hesitant to suggest it. They are quite cakey in the center, and I’m concerned that you’d have difficulty getting the center of the bars fully set without drying out the edges, and that you’d also find that the center bars would be extremely soft and crumbly.