Food & Cooking Recipes Dessert & Treats Recipes Cookie Recipes Brown-Butter Shortbread 3.7 (51) Add your rating & review By Martha Stewart Test Kitchen Martha Stewart Test Kitchen The recipes developed by our test kitchen team have undergone a rigorous process of development and testing, ensuring that every element is optimal, from ingredient amounts to method and cooking time. This process includes triple-testing recipes to ensure they meet our high standards. The many stellar cooks and food editors who have been part of our team include Sarah Carey, Lucinda Scala Quinn, Jennifer Aaronson, Shira Bocar, Anna Kovel, Greg Lofts, Riley Wofford, Lauren Tyrell, and Lindsay Leopold. Editorial Guidelines Updated on June 23, 2022 Print Rate It Share Share Tweet Pin Email Photo: Ngoc Minh Ngo Prep Time: 35 mins Total Time: 2 hrs 35 mins Yield: 8 wedges Rich and delicious, these shortbread cookies are a delight. They're made with browned butter which gives them a subtle nutty flavor. If you can, use a high butterfat, European-style butter for this recipe and you'll taste the difference. Ingredients 9 ounces salted Irish butter, preferably Kerry Gold, or regular salted butter, cut into small pieces, plus more for pan 2 tablespoons nonfat milk ¾ cup confectioners' sugar, sifted ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract 2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted 2 tablespoons coarse sanding sugar or granulated sugar Directions Prepare an ice-water bath with a medium metal bowl set inside. Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Continue to cook, stirring constantly, until deep golden brown, about 8 minutes. Immediately pour butter into bowl in ice-water bath and whisk in milk. Stir mixture constantly with a rubber spatula, scraping the sides of the bowl, until mixture begins to thicken, about 3 minutes. Remove bowl from ice-water bath and let stand until mixture thickens to the consistency of room-temperature butter, about 30 minutes. Beat butter mixture with a mixer on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Gradually beat in confectioners' sugar and vanilla, and continue to beat for 2 minutes more. Reduce speed to low; beat in flour. Butter a 10-inch fluted tart pan with a removable bottom. Press dough evenly into bottom of pan using plastic wrap. (Make sure dough is flat; a small offset spatula may help.) Refrigerate, covered with plastic wrap, for 20 minutes. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Cut through dough to make 8 wedges using a sharp paring knife and a ruler. Cut a round from the center using a 2 1/4-inch ovenproof cookie cutter; discard dough. Return cutter to hole. Prick wedges all over with a wooden skewer. Refrigerate, covered, for 20 minutes. Sprinkle sanding sugar evenly over shortbread. Bake, rotating pan halfway through, until golden brown, 55 minutes to 1 hour 5 minutes. Let cool in pan set on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Remove shortbread from pan, and cut along lines into wedges. Let cool completely on rack. Cook's Notes Shortbread can be stored in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks. Rate it Print