3 Ingredient Brown Butter Shortbread Food

SUPER-EASY SHORTBREAD (3 INGREDIENTS)

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 300°.
• Cream butter and sugar together.
• Add flour and mix till texture is like clay.
• Press dough into ungreased 9 x 13 inch pan, prick all over with a fork, and sprinkle with sugar (tilt pan to cover the top evenly, then shake excess sugar back into the sugar canister).
• Bake for about 40-45 minutes (till very lightly browned--just golden around the edges).
• Let stand for 5 minutes, then cut into 24 squares while warm.
• Leave in pan to cool thoroughly. (Shortbread will not be crisp until cool.).
• Less easy method: Chill dough. Roll into 1-inch balls, then press balls to about 1/4-inch thickness on ungreased cookie sheets with the bottom of a glass dipped in sugar (sometimes you can find a glass with a pretty design on the bottom, like a star). Bake at 300° for about 20-25 minutes (until edges are very lightly browned).
• Least easy method: Chill dough. Roll out to about 1/4-inch thickness, sprinkle with sugar, then cut with cookie cutters. Bake on ungreased cookie sheets at 300° for about 20-25 minutes (until edges are very lightly browned).
• Variation: Add 2 tablespoons dried lavender to the creamed butter and sugar before adding flour. It may sound strange, but the flavor is subtle and elegant. Food-grade lavender is usually available in herb bins at health food stores, and I recently found it at a great price from Atlantic Spice online (their Lavender #1).
• Variation: After cutting shortbread into squares (it will still be warm), scatter 1 cup of chocolate chips over the top, let the chocolate soften completely, then spread as a thin layer and let cool completely before removing from pan. (No need to sprinkle shortbread with sugar before baking if you plan to do this.).
• Variation: Stir 1 cup chocolate chips or butterscotch chips into the dough before pressing into pan. You can also try melting the butterscotch over the top, as above. In England, you'll find "caramel shortbread," which has a layer of caramel and a layer of chocolate on top of the shortbread. It's wonderful (of course!). I've tried various ways of doing this and various kinds of caramel, but it's been a while and I don't remember what works best. It can be tricky not to make a mess!

3-INGREDIENT BROWN-BUTTER SHORTBREAD

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 300°F. Melt butter in a small skillet over medium heat and cook, stirring often, until milk solids begin to brown, about 6 minutes (do not burn). Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a medium bowl. Chill until just firm, about 30 minutes.
• Using an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat brown butter and powdered sugar in a large bowl until pale and creamy, about 2 minutes. Reduce speed to low and gradually beat in flour and salt, scraping down sides of bowl as needed, just to blend (do not overwork dough).
• Transfer dough to a sheet of parchment. Form dough into a rectangle. Place second sheet of parchment over dough. Roll out dough to a 8x6" rectangle about 1/2" thick.
• Remove top sheet of parchment. Transfer dough on parchment to a rimmed baking sheet. Using a fork, pierce dough all over, spacing 1" apart. Bake shortbread, rotating halfway through, until golden brown and firm to the touch, 55-65 minutes.
• Cut shortbread lengthwise into 1" strips on baking sheet while still warm. Cut each strip crosswise into thirds. Let cool completely.
• Do Ahead
• Cookies can be made 2 days ahead; cover and store at room temperature.

BUTTERY 3-INGREDIENT SHORTBREAD COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325°. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in flour. Press dough into an ungreased 9-in. square baking pan. Prick with a fork., Bake until light brown, 30-35 minutes. Cut into squares while warm. Cool completely on a wire rack. If desired, dust with confectioners' sugar.

3 INGREDIENT MELT IN YOUR MOUTH SHORTBREAD COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• Combine all ingredients and mix for a FULL 10 minutes.
• Yes, I said a full 10 minutes!
• Mixture will start out very dry and crumbly but will become batter like after the full 10 minutes.
• I like to use my stand mixer for this, but a hand mixer will do the trick if it is a strong one.
• Drop from teaspoons or a piping bag onto a cookie sheet, I find teaspoons work best.
• Decorate with maraschino cherries or sprinkles if you feel fancy.
• Bake for approx 15 minutes or until bottoms are very lightly brown.
• Watch that the tops don't turn brown!

3-INGREDIENT SHORTBREAD COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C.)
• Combine butter or margarine, flour and confectioner's sugar and beat for 10 minutes.
• Drop from teaspoon onto cookie sheet. Decorate with maraschino cherry pieces.
• Bake in preheated oven for 15 to 18 minutes, or until bottoms are lightly browned.

BROWN-BUTTER SHORTBREAD

Steps:

• 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.