Comments on: brown butter brown sugar shorties

By: Julie

Julie — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 15:25:27 +0000

I just made these again – my first batch did spread but that was my own fault — I added a little more softened butter because the dough seemed way too dry. Although they spread they were delicious which made me determined to try another time. This second batch I just went with the dry dough and they turned out perfect! Outstanding.

By: Elizabeth

Elizabeth — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 15:04:10 +0000

I made these cookies this week to bring into the office (despite your warnings that an ugly cookie should not go public) and they were a HUGE hit. Six emails asking me to pass on the recipe – I’m just going to send them to this site.

But here are a couple of pointers regarding brown butter and your statement of caution at the end of the recipe:

- I burned my first batch of brown butter because I kept thinking, “Well maybe just a *little* browner.” But it didn’t occur to me that the hot pan would keep cooking the fragile butter as I carried it TWO feet to transfer to a bowl. So as soon as those little specks start to turn brown, take the pan off the heat right away – they’ll turn a bit browner (mine was a pretty reddish brown) by the time you transfer it to the bowl to cool.

- Also, my first batch did spread a bit, but I found that it was because my oven wasn’t quite hot enough and the butter was melting before the other ingredients could bake. So I turned it up to about 360-375 and took them out a little sooner. The result was perfectly shaped, not-flat cookies.

By: Allison

Allison — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 22:46:53 +0000

oh my goodness, fabulous! I just pulled these out of the oven (I couldn’t wait, I’m sorry) and they are honestly fantastic. I added a smidge of maple extract to the mix, which I think adds a nice extra fall flavor to these tasty shorties. They’re still a little sandy (it seems that may clear up as the cookies cool) but… really delicious.

I would have had a few more to bring to my women’s group tonight, except the batter was irresistible.

Additionally, I burnt my butter a little while browning, and also didn’t use a mixer (it’s on my list of things to get, I just have always lived with someone who already had one, haha)… and still, fabulous!

By: Julie

Julie — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 18:33:14 +0000

I made these yesterday and they were fantastic – I love brown butter! YUM

By: Sara

Sara — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 18:26:01 +0000

I think the reason people have problems is the directions to beat until light and fluffy. Butter for shortbread is usually beaten just until smooth and combined with the sugar. You don’t want air in it. Less beating would stop the spreading.

By: Sam

Sam — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 02:18:32 +0000

I made these tonight and they turned out fabulous, even straight from the oven. I followed the recipe exactly and didn’t have any problems with spreading. They’ve got to be one of my top 5 fav. cookies.

By: Michelle

Michelle — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 04:20:58 +0000

I just made these and they were absolutely perfect.No problem with spreading at all.

By: Emily

Emily — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 23:25:38 +0000

Oh wait, never mind. Hehe sorry, I just didn’t read closely enough.

By: Emily

Emily — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 23:12:24 +0000

Thanks for the quick reply- I know that it has to be chilled, but how much? completely solid or just firm?

By: deb

deb — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 02:35:51 +0000

This recipe is uses browned butter — melted and toasted butter — so it would be liquid otherwise and needs to be firmed up before it can be made into cookies.