Brown Butter Shortbread Cookies

The flecks of golden brown throughout these melt-in-your-mouth brown butter shortbread cookies are a testament to their rich buttery flavor. 

It’s confession time again. I first attempted this shortbread recipe a couple of years back as part of a challenge to make stamped cookies. The dough tasted fabulous and I was very excited about the new cookie stamp I had bought for the occasion. 

Unfortunately, despite chilling the dough for more than the requisite amount of time, my cookies turned out looking unstamped, plain, unacceptable. 

I’m sure the fault was mine because I browned my butter instead of using normal butter. But if brown butter is wrong, who wants to be right? Can I get an amen? 

The cookies did, however, taste wonderful! (I ask again, is there anything so lovely as brown butter? I maintain there is not.) So I had another go and made a more traditional shortbread shape instead. Success! 

These would be perfect to put out for Santa on Christmas Eve. To see more Cookies for Santa, make sure to scroll down passed my recipe for a great list from my Sunday FunDay friends. 

Brown Butter Shortbread Cookies

My recipe is adapted from one on the blog, An Italian in my Kitchen. As you will see if you follow the link, it is for stamped cookies. Note that the original is with normal butter, not brown butter.  

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups or 218.75g all purpose flour

1/4 cup or 32g cornstarch

1 cup or 227g butter

1/2 cup or 63g powdered sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

Method

Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare your 8x8 in or 20x20cm pan by lining the bottom with a square of baking parchment. 

To make the brown butter: Melt, then cook the butter in a saucepan over medium heat, swirling occasionally, until golden brown, 5 to 10 minutes. Pour the remainder into a heatproof container. Cool the butter slightly, then refrigerate until almost solid. For photos with instructions, I highly recommend this post by my friend Kayle, The Cooking Actress. 

Now that your butter is almost set, it’s time to make the cookie dough. In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, cornstarch and salt. 

Check out the brown butter:

In a large mixing bowl, beat the chilled browned butter with the sugar until they are soft and creamy. Admire the lovely flecks of golden brown and congratulate yourself into working brown butter into another recipe. 

Add the flour mixture to the creamy butter a few tablespoons at a time, beating briefly to combine in between. 

When the mixture begins to come together, move to a clean flat surface and knead until you have a smooth dough.

Divide the dough into two pieces and wrap them in cling film.  

Chill for at least 30 minutes in the refrigerator. Two thinner pieces chill more quickly than one thick piece. 

When the chilling time is up, press both of the dough pieces into the bottom of your prepared pan. Score the top with a sharp knife. 

Bake for approximately 25-30 minutes or until the top is golden. 

Remove from the oven and leave to cool for about 10 minutes. Use a sharp knife to cut the shortbread into pieces where you scored. Leave to cool completely before removing from the pan.

Enjoy!

Years ago, we left out cookies and milk for Santa on Christmas Eve and he always seemed to enjoy them both, nothing but crumbs on the plate. This year has been a doozie and I’m sure Santa has earned those cookies more than ever. Check out the delicious list of cookies my SundayFunDay friends have been baking for him. Many thanks to our host, Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm. 

• Brown Butter Shortbread from Food Lust People Love 
• Chocolate Shortbread with Sprinkles from Our Good Life 
• Eggless Nankhatai from Sneha's Recipe
• Hazelnut Shortbread Cookies with Nutella Filling from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Krumkake from Cooking With Carlee
• Macaroon Kiss Christmas Cookies from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Butterscotch Cookies from Making Miracles
• Salted Honey Pecan Thumbprint Cookies from Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice
• Peppermint Crinkles from Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Toffee Coffee Bars from Palatable Pastime

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