Brown-Butter Honey Cookies

honey cookies martha bakes patterned tea
Photo: Mike Krautter
Yield:
5 dozen

Just a few touches take this cookie from ordinary to extraordinary. Brown butter gives it a lovely nutty flavor, a small amount of cardamom adds just enough spice, and rolling the dough with an embossed rolling pin supplies a beautiful pattern. This recipe appears in our cookbook "Martha Stewart's Cookie Perfection" (Clarkson Potter).

Ingredients

  • 1 stick (½ cup) unsalted butter

  • 2 ¾ cups unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting

  • 1 teaspoon ground cardamom

  • ½ teaspoon kosher salt

  • ½ cup dark-brown sugar

  • ¼ cup granulated sugar

  • ¼ cup honey

  • 2 tablespoons heavy cream

  • 1 large egg yolk

  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

  1. Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat; then cook, swirling pan occasionally, until golden brown, 3 to 5 minutes. Transfer brown butter to a heatproof bowl and let cool until solid.

  2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, cardamom, and salt. In another large bowl, beat brown butter and both sugars on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add honey, cream, egg yolk, and vanilla; continue beating until well combined, about 1 minute more. Gradually add flour mixture and mix on low until just combined. Divide dough into 4 equal pieces and cover with plastic wrap.

  3. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Working with one piece of dough at a time, roll out on lightly floured parchment to 1/4-inch thickness. Roll with a textured rolling pin to imprint. Using a 2 1/2-inch square cutter, cut out cookies and transfer to parchment-lined baking sheets. Repeat with remaining dough, rerolling the scraps once. Freeze until solid, about 15 minutes.

  4. Transfer chilled cookies to fresh parchment-lined baking sheets, spaced about 1 inch apart. Bake, rotating sheets halfway through, until lightly golden brown, 16 to 18 minutes. Transfer cookies to wire racks; let cool completely. (Cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature up to 2 weeks.)

Cook's Notes

Recipe reprinted from Martha Stewart’s Cookie Perfection: 100+ Recipes to Take Your Treats to the Next Level, From the Kitchens of Martha Stewart Living. Copyright © 2019 by Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. Published by Clarkson Potter/Publishers, an imprint of Random House, a division of Penguin Random House LLC.

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