Melt-in-the-Mouth Cookies

Known in our family as Melt-in-your-Mouths, these “thin, crisp, brown sugar cookies” are my absolute favorites. This cherished recipe originated with my maternal grandmother (aka Grandmommy) who passed it down to my mother and now on to me and my siblings. After some research it appears that Grandmommy got the recipe from the December 1964 issue of Woman’s Day Magazine, though it’s entirely possible that she started making them earlier, perhaps after seeing them in the December 1953 issue.

Cookie sheet with 24 Melt-in-the-Mouth Cookies, fresh out of the oven
A cookie sheet of Melt-in-the-Mouths, fresh out of the oven

Melt-in-the-Mouth Cookies

Makes about 5 dozen (I usually get about 57–58 cookies)

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 400°F (205°C)
  2. Sift together into bowl and reserve: flour, baking powder, and salt
  3. Put soft butter in large bowl of mixer
  4. Add brown sugar, egg, and vanilla extract
  5. Beat with mixer until mixture is light and fluffy
  6. Beat in flour mixture with mixer, blending until smooth
  7. Stir in nuts
  8. Drop by scant measuring-teaspoonfuls (about 2 inches apart, resulting in a grid of about 24) onto ungreased cookie sheets (many people recommend using parchment paper for easier removal)
  9. Bake about 5 minutes (keep a close eye on them through the oven door with the light on, remove when a majority of the cookies’ gooey centers have dropped)
  10. Cool for a minute or two
  11. Remove carefully to wire racks (using a flat spatula)
  12. Store in an airtight container (separating each layer of cookies with wax paper)

Future Things to Try

Plate of Melt-in-the-Mouth Cookies
A plate of Melt-in-the-Mouths

Bonus: Melt-in-the-Mouth Cookies “for Engineers!

(courtesy of my father)

Preheat oven to 400°F (205°C)
3/4 cup flour sift beat stir drop scant teaspoonfuls 2 in apart onto ungreased cookie sheet bake 5 min cool 2 min
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup soft butter beat
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans

31 Comments

I tried these cookies and they were awesome! Thank you for sharing your recipe.

Gina

I had this recipe for several years and made them every Christmas, except I use walnuts in stead of pecans. Anyway, I lost my cook book and have been searching everywhere for the recipe. Thanks SO much for sharing it!

Marci

These are my all time favorite cookies. I thougth my Grandmother made up the recipe. We have made these every Christmas of my life; however, we use walnuts in stead of pecans as well. I’ll have to try some with pecans. Aloha!

Mel

i just made these with regular sugar, and crumbled up cookies and cream chocolate bar instead of nuts, and they are so delicious. i also made the cookies double the size it says here, and left them in the oven for about 5 and a half minutes.
they are a little bit doughy on the inside, but not too much… mmm

Donna

I love these cookies and so do my kids. My mother-in-law made them and she got the recipe from The Woman’s Day Encyclopedia Cookbook Volume 3 – Christmas Cookies. These are special to us as we call them Grandma’s Cookies and now they have become Mom’s (that’s me) cookies and our family published the Woman’s Day Cookbook. Is your Grandmother from either Minnesota or Connecticut?
Another good trick is to use parchment paper, that way they don’t stick to the cookie sheet if you are a minute or two late. Before I used parchment paper, the cookies either stuck to the cookie sheet or broke into a million pieces when I tried to release them with the spatula and were all over the kitchen. The clean up was really horrid. My kids Grandma didn’t share that secret with me, but, hey, I like to make things easy for everyone. Enjoy, these are wonderful and I’m going to share this with my daughter-in-law, so my son can always have his cookies.

Wow Donna, I must say you piqued my curiosity so much that I decided to pick up a copy of the Woman’s Day Encyclopedia of Cookery Volume 3 on Ebay. Who knows, maybe that’s where my grandmother got the recipe back when this was published in the 1960s.

Hi Justin! It’s so cool to see how many people have an obsession with these cookies and they all come from our respective Grams! I’ll get you that information you requested from the old magazine page. Hopefully it will turn up something!

Donna

My oldest son, who lives in Alaska, and took some back with when he was home for Thanksgiving has just asked for the recipe and I’m sending him your page.
Hooray for MELT IN THE MOUTHS. Happy New Year

Donna, I’m so glad you stopped back and left another comment. If you could, please send me an email so I can tell you about the research I’ve done on this recipe since you left your first comment…

Donna, thanks to your comment, I discovered there were several copies of “Melt-in-the-Mouth Cookies” published by Woman’s Day in the 1950s and 60s. I found the recipe in the cookbook you mentioned, as well as a really neat copy in the December 1953 issue of Woman’s Day. I’ve posted scans up of everything I’ve found here: Melt-in-the-Mouth Cookies, a brief history.

Thanks again!

Augusta

I cut this recipe out of I think a Woman’s Day Magazine some 20 or 25 years ago, but I I had lost it. I could remember the ingredients, but wasn’t sure about how much of each. So I decided to get on the internet and low and behold I found it. These are the best cookies, when I used to make them, I would eat the whole batch almost by myself. I’m so glad I found it again especially right here at Christmas.

Augusta, I don’t know if you noticed, but I wrote a whole history of the melt-in-the-mouth cookie from Woman’s Day magazine here: Melt-in-the-Mouth Cookies, a brief history.

kathy

Just can’t believe that this is online. We had the original booklet that was from the magazine for years and the pages just disintegrated. There were several other great cookie recipes in the booklet also.

Rebecca

Justin, thank you so much for posting this recipe, and especially for all the research you did on it. This cookie has also been “our family Christmas cookie” and I know exactly how you felt to find out it came from Women’s Day!! I’ll be baking several batches of these this week, just like I do every year, and I can’t wait to share the history with my family while we enjoy them! So thanks again!

Rebecca, you’re very welcome. As you can imagine I’m quite tickled to discover how many people have been touched by this particular recipe over the years. So glad you found the history I put together enriching. Happy Holidays!

Reine

I was shocked and thrilled to find this site today. My family also has a tradition of making these every year. My mother has the Woman’s Day Encyclopedia of Cookery (which opens automatically to this page). For some reason, the recipe disaapeared in later printings.

Jerry

Thank you so much! I am 46 now and have been looking for this recipe for at least 5 years now. Womans day published a Cookie recipe book around 1970 and that is where my mom got it from. I started looking for the book about 5 yrs ago to no avail. Try them without the nuts and they are AWESOME!

Jerry, glad I was able to reconnect you with the recipe.

Marlene

Justin I too had the recipe 25 yrs ago. THANK you for posting this!! My Son still remembers when I made them. Now we can share these with his children!! Marlene Vsrner Arizona

Marlene, so glad to hear it. I hope you also enjoyed my “brief” history of the recipe.

Gina

My mother has had this recipe for years, since I was a little kid, and I’m 40 now. We used to make them every Thanksgiving and Christmas. But we lost it a few years ago and I’ve been looking for it ever since. I can’t believe I finally found it!!! Thank you!!!!

Gina, so glad I was able to help you rediscover this treasured cookie recipe. If you haven’t already, check out my research into where my grandmother (and probably your mother) first discovered the recipe: Melt-in-the-Mouth Cookies, a brief history.

Maggie

Is it really possible to get 72 cookies from 3/4 cups flour? These must be really small cookies!

Maggie, they do come out of the oven pretty thin. Each cookie only takes a small amount of batter, as the recipe says “scant measuring-teaspoonfuls”—I’d say a heaping teaspoon or about a tablespoon—which yields about 60-70 cookies. If you make them, let me know how they turn out.

Muriel Dooley Vlahakis

I have the original page from the December, 1964 Woman’s Day! My mother took out the little cookie book from the magazine and as, you can imagine, it is a little messy by now (probably thanks to me). The paper is quite fragile now and I am trying to preserve it somehow. We love this cookie and so do many family members who enjoyed my mother’s! I do treasure it and the memories it provides! Thank you, Muriel Vlahakis

Holly

Omg they were the best cookies in the world i made them for my whole family and they loved them.

Carol

These are the greatest cookies my family has ever eaten, 3 grown boys tackling each other for a cookie!

Joe

This recipe was reprinted in the Woman’s day issue 12/23/1980. It was passed down from my Mom, but had lost the second page. The 1980 recipe uses baking soda instead of baking powder

Jason Dunlap

Justin, dude, I went to Spackenkill with you a lifetime ago. I looked up this recipe, found it, and just realized YOU wrote it. Nice.

I cleaned up the post a little and added a new photo of the cookies on a cookie sheet, fresh out of the oven.

Kathleen

It is joyous, particularly during this holiday season, to know my children have such good loving memories of their Grandmommy and Melt-in-the-Mouth Cookies at Christmas.
It is also heart warming that so many others have the similar happy memories of their families through this one cookie recipe. Merry Christmas to all!🎄

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