Brown Butter Cookie Company

Brown Butter Cookie Company’s sea salt-sprinkled shortbread cookies have remained a popular Central Coast treat for more than a decade. Beloved for their rich combination of sweet and salty flavors, the cookie craze first began in the coastal town of Cayucos before spreading across the world. The sister-owned business owes its success to their signature “sea salt cookie,” which debuted in December of 2008 at Brown Butter Cookie Company’s flagship gourmet market in downtown Cayucos. The unique melt-in-your-mouth treat sold out quickly, inspiring the sisters to build an entire business around their single iconic recipe. Today, locals and visitors alike can savor this local delicacy for themselves at multiple Central Coast locations as well as online. What you’ll taste is the same famous recipe that started it all: The sisters have yet to change their tried-and-true shortbread recipe, a crowd-pleaser among young and old. That said, Brown Butter Cookie Company has released additional flavors over the years alongside its original “butter” offering, including citrus, cocoa and coconut-lime. It’s no wonder that these melt-in-your-mouth treats garnered initial media attention from The New York Times, Sunset Magazine, Good Housekeeping, Gourmet Weekly, Westways Magazine, Rachel Ray and The Today Show. 

Founded by sisters Traci and Christa Hozie–who also own the Cass House in Cayucos–Brown Butter Cookie Company has expanded to include bustling retail locations in Paso Robles and San Luis Obispo. In the mood for a salty sweet snack unique to the California Central Coast? Head to the charming Cayucos flagship location and production facility, where you can smell the butter browning, savor a warm-from-the-oven sample and marvel at the work that goes into each buttery bite. You might be surprised to learn that the sisters’ cookie production is quite labor-intensive, as the company rejects machine automation in favor of a more human approach. To this day, Brown Butter Cookie Company’s delicious dough is hand-portioned and rolled one scoop at a time. While you can enjoy their signature brown butter cookies by ordering online anywhere in the world, the brand’s traditional cookies and honey cookie offerings are best enjoyed the day they are baked and are therefore available in-store only. If you needed a few good excuses to make a beeline for the Cayucos cookie mainstay, we’re here to help!