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Browned Butter Shortbread

Browned Butter Shortbread

It’s hard to resist a good shortbread. It shouldn’t be too crumbly or too crisp, and it must have a rich butter flavor. This recipe makes just a small batch of shortbread that is pretty close to that good, middle-of-the-road shortbread that is well balanced, flavorful and should appeal to absolutely everyone.

This shortbread uses melted butter, which I browned on the stovetop to give it a toasty, nutty flavor that adds a lot of richness to the finished cookies. To be honest, skipping the browning step doesn’t hurt the shortbread too much, but it doesn’t take much time and the results are well worth it. The recipe was inspired by  some Dutch shortbread I had, which a Dutch friend made and shared with me. After a little bit of research, I was able to find some recipes similar to the shortbread she made online and used those as a starting point for my version. The browned butter was an element that I couldn’t resist adding to enrich the overall flavor.

This shortbread is baked in a pie or tart pan and is cut into wedges to serve. It is good right away, but will also keep well in an airtight container for a couple of days.

Browned Butter Shortbread
10 tbsp butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 large egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350F. Butter and flour a 9-inch pie plate or tart pan.
In a microwave-safe bowl, melt the butter. Set aside to cool.
Whisk together sugar, flour, baking powder and salt. Add in egg, vanilla and the cooled, melted butter and mix until dough comes together.
Turn dough out into prepared pan and press into an even layer with a spatula.
Bake for about 30 minutes, until golden. Cool shortbread in the pan on a wire rack. Slice when completely cool.

Makes 12 wedges.

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5 Comments
  • Bernadette
    December 25, 2009

    The above “comments” are just ads. Not a nice thing to do to Baking Bites on Christmas.

  • Chelsey
    December 27, 2009

    Looks delicious! I’ve never tried browning butter because I am nervous I will burn it. But I want to try your browned butter sugar cookies! Any advice? contact me at Cookteen@gmail.com

    With love and cupcakes,
    Cookteen

    P.S –check out my blog…Cookteen.blogspot.com

  • Calla
    December 29, 2009

    Hi, the recipe states “add in egg, vanilla….” How much vanilla is required?

    Thanks and merry christmas!

    P/S: I enjoy reading your blog. Keep going 🙂

    Calla

  • The Original Brown Butter Cookie Co., LLC
    February 18, 2010

    The recipe above is a copyrighted recipe owned by “The Original Brown Butter Cookie Company, LLC”. Please correct your blog to give the correct credit to the owner of the recipe. Thank you.

  • […] of you may remember my shortbread experiments of the past.  Recently I saw this recipe and figured I’d give it a whirl.  I do need to note that the recipe as I found it […]

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