21 Days of Cookies: Day 17
This recipe originally comes from the Cookies and Cups cookbook. It’s a good book, I recommend it! This cookie is basically a shortbread, with a couple of important changes: 1. It starts with a brown butter base. You can make this recipe with regular butter. Yes, you could. It would be good, but it would not be the same. 2. It’s flavored with sparkling apple cider, giving it a wonderfully unusual sweet apple flavor that blends with the brown butter and kosher salt to give it a complexity rarely found in a simple shortbread cookie.
Don’t be intimidated by browning butter! It’s basically just melting it in a saucepan and cooking it until you’ve cooked out all the water, and the milk solids are, well, brown.
After you’ve browned the butter, transfer it to a glass container and refrigerate it. You basically need it to set up and be as cold as it was when you first took it from the refrigerator. I recommend browning the butter the night before you need it and letting it cool and solidify overnight.
The next morning, take it out of the fridge and let it soften slightly! Here’s what it looks like – I thought it was funny that the brown bits sank to the bottom, making it look kind of like a cheesecake!
Now – with some almost room temperature brown butter, you can make these cookies. It’s just a slice-and-bake refrigerator cookie from here on out.
Those brown flecks are brown butter, y’all. It’s amaaaaaazing.
Brown Butter Apple Cider Shortbread Cookies
A simple shortbread with complex flavors.
Cookies
- 1 cup butter (lightly salted)
- 1½ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- ½ cup cornstarch
- ½ tsp kosher salt
- 2 tbsp sparkling apple cider
Glaze
- 1¼ cups powdered sugar
- 2 tbsp sparkling apple cider
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Melt butter in a light colored saucepan over low heat, swirling and stirring constantly. The butter will begin popping and hissing, and then, as the color deepens, the noise will stop. When the butter solids are brown and the butter is no longer popping and hissing, it’s done. Be aware that brown butter can go to black butter (ruined) in the blink of an eye, so constant vigilance is important in this step.
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Remove butter to glass container and refrigerate overnight.
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When you are ready to make the cookies, remove butter from fridge and let rest at room temperature for 30-60 minutes.
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Cream together browned butter and powdered sugar.
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In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, and salt. Add to creamed mixture gradually until well incorporated.
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Add apple cider and stir until well combined.
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Separate dough into two halves and roll each half into a log 8 or 9 inches long, wrapped in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 2-3 hours, or overnight.
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Preheat oven to 350.
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Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
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Remove dough from fridge and slice into ½” thick rounds. Place on parchment-lined baking sheet. These do not spread much.
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Bake about 10 minutes, or until edges are lightly browned. Always let the color of the cookie be your guide, rather than the number of minutes on the timer — all ovens are a little different!
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Cool completely on a wire rack.
Glaze
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Whisk together powdered sugar and apple cider until no powdered sugar lumps remain.
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Use a spoon to drizzle glaze on each cookie. Add your favorite sprinkles while still wet.
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Frosting will set completely in a couple of hours.
