Brown Butter Shortbread Cookies

Name: Brown Butter Shortbread Cookies
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 45 min
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 1 stick + 2 tablespoons (141 grams) unsalted butter, browned; 2 cups (240 grams) all-purpose flour; 1/8 teaspoon baking soda; 1 cup (213 grams) dark brown sugar; 1 teaspoon vanilla extract; flakey sea salt

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These brown butter shortbread cookies are the perfect bite sized treats with much more depth of flavor compared to the average shortbread cookie. This recipe was inspired by the renowned Brown Butter Cookie Company’s classic shortbread cookie, which were my guilty pleasure in college. I was immediately obsessed with the way the browned butter adds a nutty, toasty note that perfectly harmonizes with the brown sugar in this shortbread. With just six ingredients, these tiny bites of indulgence can be whipped up in no time!

Brown Butter Shortbread with flakey sea salt

Ingredients You’ll Need to Make These Brown Butter Cookies

Unsalted Butter – Browning this butter will be where much of the flavor in these cookies comes from, you will need to brown 1 and 1/4 sticks of unsalted butter.
All-Purpose Flour – You will need 2 cups of all-purpose flour.
Baking Soda – You will need 1/8 teaspoon of baking soda.
Dark Brown Sugar – You will need 1 cup of dark brown sugar. The reason I use dark brown sugar is because it adds to the depth of flavor in these cookies and compliments the brown butter flavor. Light brown sugar would work in this recipe as well, however it won’t have the same flavor payoff due to the lower molasses content.
Vanilla Extract – You will need 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract.
Flakey Sea Salt – You will need flakey sea salt to sprinkle on top of the cookies after baking. I’ve always been a big fan of Maldon Sea Salt Flakes personally! Regular sea salt would work as well, just use a lighter hand when sprinkling since the granules are smaller.

Notes

How to brown the butter:

Start by placing the butter in a skillet over medium heat. Cook slowly, stir occassionally and be patient. The butter can sputter and burn quickly if the heat is too high, so after about 5-10 minutes, the milk solids at the bottom of the pan should start to turn a “teddy bear brown” color and the surrounding liquid will become light amber. Once you reach this point, remove from the heat and let the butter cool off to room temperature. If you want to speed the cooling process up, stir the butter in a bowl over an ice bath or place in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes.

How to form the dough before baking:

Roll the dough into 1-inch balls and use a flat surface, like the bottom of a drinking glass, to lightly press down on the top of the ball. You should have a small flat area where you can sprinkle on the sea salt.

What if my cookies are spreading too much?

The cookies should only spread and flatten out slightly. If the first batch spreads a little more than you’d like, pop the next batch of dough balls into the refrigerator for 15 extra minutes to chill before baking.

browned butter cookies with sea salt stacked

Browning butter is one of my favorite things to do in the kitchen, it produces so many delicious aromas, along with the fun little snap-crackle-pop sounds as the butter cooks. A quick food science lesson on browned butter: the color and flavors that come with browning butter are a result of what is called the “Maillard Reaction” in food chemistry. This chemical reaction similarly takes place when you toast bread, sear a steak, toast marshmallows, and many other foods that undergo heat and result in brown-colored reactions (though not all). For a Maillard reaction to take place, all that is required is amino acids (proteins) and reducing sugars (a category of sugars, such as lactose in milk and butter). When these are combined with high heat, it results in deeper, more complex flavors and aromas, as well as that beautiful golden brown color!