3 Ingredient Brown Butter Shortbread Recipes

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.

3-INGREDIENT BUTTERY SHORTBREAD COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325F, with rack on lower middle position. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mats; set aside.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer, add butter and brown sugar. Using paddle attachment on medium-high speed, mix until fluffy and light, several minutes. Add only 3 1/2 cups of the flour and mix on medium-low speed until combined.
• On a large board, sprinkle 1/2 cup flour to keep dough from sticking to the board. Use rubber spatula to transfer dough to the board. Knead dough by hand for 5 minutes, adding only as much of the remaining 1/2 cup flour as needed to make a soft dough, while continuing to knead by hand. The dough should end up soft and pliable, similar to play-dough, not sticky. Work in desired amount of sprinkles, if using. (Important Note: You may not end up using all the flour, depending on how your dough feels; it's important to stop adding flour as soon as your dough feels like soft play dough.)
• Divide dough into thirds, wrap tightly, and chill for at least 30 minutes or until firm enough to roll and cut shapes. Roll one-third of the dough out to about 1/2 inch thickness (lightly flour board if needed.) Either cut into 3x1 rectangular strips, triangles, or use cookie cutter for shapes. Place each cookie 2 inches apart on baking sheet. Poke cookies with fork to design if not using sprinkles.
• Bake 15-20 minutes, or until edges are golden brown. If your shapes are smaller, bake less time. Bake longer for bigger shapes. Repeat with the remaining dough, working in batches so dough stays chilled and workable.
• Cool completely on wire rack before serving. Cookies keep very when sealed airtight, at room temp.

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.

THREE-INGREDIENT SHORTBREAD COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Line a 9-inch square pan with foil, leaving an overhang on all sides.
• Mix butter and sugar together with a spoon until texture is sandy. Slowly mix in flour. Knead dough a few times until crumbly, not smooth. Pat dough over the bottom of the prepared pan. Prick all over with a fork.
• Bake in the preheated oven until set, about 45 minutes. Score with a knife while still warm. Lift out foil and let cookies cool on a baking rack. Break apart on cut lines when completely cooled.

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 SUGAR SHORTBREAD

Steps:

• In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Gradually stir in flour and mix well. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth, about 3 minutes. Pat into a 1/3-in.-thick rectangle measuring 11 in. x 8 in. , Cut into 2-in. x 1-in. strips. Place 1 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Prick with a fork. , Bake at 300° for 25 minutes or until bottoms are lightly browned. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack.

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!

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.