These sweetened condensed milk cookies are soft and slightly chewy and have a sweet vanilla flavor.
These condensed milk cookies are like a cross between a snickerdoodle and a sugar cookie with a flavor similar to tres leches cake or no churn vanilla ice cream.
These cookies are perfect for packing in lunch boxes or for afternoon snacks. Everyone loves a soft vanilla cookie! In fact, they disappeared very quickly. These cookies are easy to put together and don't require a lot of effort. Just be sure to freeze the dough balls for about 15 minutes before coating them with sugar and baking them.
I've been on a cookie baking kick lately and these cookies are a part of a series of cookies I've made that I can't wait to share with you. It's hard to choose what to share first!
Ingredients You Will Need:
Unsalted Butter: Softened.
Granulated Sugar: Both for the dough and for coating the cookie dough before baking.
Egg Yolk: Room temperature.
Sweetened Condensed Milk: You will need less than a can. You can use leftover condensed milk for adding to iced coffee or to make Vietnamese coffee.
Vanilla: You can use extract or vanilla bean paste.
All-Purpose Flour: I used King Arthur.
Cornstarch: To help soften the cookies.
Baking Powder, Baking Soda, and Cream of Tartar: The cream of tartar helps activate the baking powder and also adds a little chewiness.
Salt.
To Make These Cookies:
First, beat the butter and sugar together for about three to four minutes until super pale, creamy, and fluffy.
Next, beat in the egg yolk, then the condensed milk, and then the vanilla.
After that, in a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, salt, cream of tartar, and baking soda. Gradually add this mixture to the butter and sugar mixture while beating on low.
Using a #40 cookie scoop (2 tablespoons), form the cookie dough into balls and then freeze them for 15 minutes. After the dough chills, you can briefly roll them in your hands to smooth out the surface. See the cookie dough balls below.
Finally, roll the cookie dough balls in granulated sugar and bake them for about 14 minutes.
Equipment You May Need:
Stand Mixer: For beating the butter and sugar. You could use a hand mixer, but four minutes is a long time. If you do a lot of baking, a stand mixer will get a lot of use. I actually have two different sizes!
Cookie Scoop: For portioning the cookies. I used a 2 tablespoon cookie scoop. It really helps for making sure the cookies are fairly uniform in size.
Kitchen Scale: I'm a firm believer in weighing your flour and ingredients such as cocoa. The scale is also handy for weighing the dough when portioning. Mine is well worn! Plus, if you place your bowl on the scale when adding ingredients, you end up with a lot less utensils to wash. Just slowly add the ingredients to the mixing bowl until you reach the desired weight.
Recipe Variations:
There actually isn't much that I would change to this recipe. You could use a coarse sugar or a colored sugar for coating the cookies if you like.
You could also dip one side of the baked and cooled cookies in coating chocolate similar to these gingersnaps.
These cookies do freeze well and would be good for making ice cream sandwiches. They'd pair well with almost any ice cream flavor.
Storage:
Store these cookies in an airtight container for three to four days.
"M" is for Meatball, Mambazha, Mastica, Melon, Molasses, Milk, and More!
As part of the 2026 Alphabet Challenge, we are sharing recipes that begin with "K" or include ingredients or methods that that begin with "M”:
- Grilled BBQ Meatball Skewers from Jolene’s Recipe Journal
- Mambazha Pulissery from Mayuri’s Jikoni
- Mastica Ice Cream from A Messy Kitchen
- Melon and Prosciutto Salad from A Day in the Life on the Farm
- Methi Chaman from Sizzling Tastebuds
- Mexican Green Chile Pimento Cheese Dip from Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice
- Mini Turkey Meatloaves from Blogghetti
- Miso Chocolate Cookies from Food Lust People Love
- Mix Flour Shankarpali/Shankarpara from Sneha’s Recipe
- Molasses Cake from Mildly Indian
- Sweetened Condensed Milk Cookies from Karen’s Kitchen Stories
Last year (2025) for the letter "M," I made Maple Pecan Madeleines. Perfect for tea parties. For 2024 I made Overnight Meusli. It's a great make ahead breakfast!
Sweetened Condensed Milk Cookies
These sweetened condensed milk cookies are soft and slightly chewy and have a sweet vanilla flavor.
Ingredients
- 150 grams (2/3 cup) unsalted butter, softened
- 150 grams (3/4 cup) granulated sugar, divided
- 1 large egg yolk, room temperature
- 118 grams (1/3 cup) sweetened condensed milk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
- 167 grams (1 1/3 cups) all purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt or 1/4 teaspoon table salt
- 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and 1/2 cup of the sugar (100 grams) at medium speed until pale and creamy, about 4 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl about half way through.
- Beat in the egg yolk until incorporated. Then, beat in the condensed milk. Finally, beat in the vanilla.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, salt, cream of tartar, and the baking soda. With the mixer on low, slowly beat in the flour mixture until just incorporated.
- Line a rimmed quarter sheet pan with parchment paper and then scoop the dough using a 2 tablespoon scoop, scoop the dough into balls (about 52 grams) and place them on the parchment paper. Freeze the dough for 15 minutes.
- Line three half sheet pans with parchment paper and heat the oven to 350 degrees F. (If you don't have three pans, you can reuse the pan after cooling it.) Place the rest of the sugar into a small bowl.
- Roll the frozen dough in your hands to smooth it and then roll it in the sugar to coat. Place the balls about 2 inches apart on the baking sheets. Bake the cookies, one sheet at a time, for 12 to 14 minutes. Let the cookies cool on the pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Nutrition Facts
Calories
140Fat (grams)
7 gSat. Fat (grams)
4 gCarbs (grams)
18 gFiber (grams)
0 gNet carbs
18 gSugar (grams)
11 gProtein (grams)
2 gCholesterol (grams)
27 mgRecipe adapted from Bake From Scratch magazine, January/February, 2026. They also have a great podcast that I love to listen to. It's called The Crumb.
