12 Cookies of Christmas: Day 1 ~ Brown Butter Cookies

I am a sucker for shortbread, in any shape, form, or flavor, so when I saw these buttery little babies among Gourmet's cookie favorites rundown, it was love at first sight.

I wasn't disappointed. The only thing wrong with these cookies, and the reason I sorely wish I'd never made them, is that they are so. darn. good. I can't resist them. The texture, the flavor, the smell . . . a trifecta of unbelievably addictive goodness. If I could have only one cookie for the rest of my life, this might be the cookie.

Sounds like a lot of hyperbole, I know. And I don't even care. My hyperbole meter fled with my self-control. And let it be a warning to you. If you make these, you'd better strap on the heavy-duty willpower, because the scent alone is enough to make a grown adult (me, at least) weak in the knees.

Eleven more days of this? I might need insulin.

Brown Butter Cookies

Adapted from Gourmet magazine, June 1961, available online here

• 1 cup butter (I used salted)


• 2/3 cup sugar


• 1 tablespoon vanilla sugar (I used 1 tablespoon fine sugar with 1 teaspoon pure Madagascar vanilla extract added)


• 2 1/3 cups flour


• 1 teaspoon baking powder


• Blanched almonds halves or sliced almonds to decorate

1. In a small, heavy-bottomed saucepan, melt butter on low heat, stirring occasionally, until browned. Stir in sugar and vanilla sugar and remove from heat. Let cool.


2. Combine flour and baking powder and beat in cooled butter mixture to form a smooth dough.


3. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Roll small balls of dough into balls about 1 inch in diameter. Place dough balls about an inch apart on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Press each ball of dough down using the tines of a fork. Top with half of a blanched almond or an almond slice.


4. Bake at 325 degrees F for 20 minutes, or until edges just start to turn golden. Remove from baking sheet after 1 minutes and let cool on wire racks.

~I got 30 cookies from this recipe.

Recipe Notes:

• I decorated some of my cookies with a cookie stamp. This particular dough is quite soft, so it didn't perform that well for this decorating application, but some came out really nicely.



• To get the sugar to highlight my snowflake, I just dipped the oiled cookie stamps in confectioners' sugar before stamping the dough. I found it worked best if I flattened the dough ball slightly with my fingers before stamping.


• I made my dough the night before I baked the cookies. When I retrieved it from the fridge the next day, it was rock hard. It still had not softened at all after half an hour on the countertop, so I microwaved fist-sized chunks of it for 10 seconds at a time. Worked like a charm.


• If I let the dough get nice and soft before rolling into balls, it barely cracked when I pressed it with the fork.



• Cookie stamps courtesy of Rycraft. These stamps are beautiful, sturdy, heirloom-quality stamps. If you're looking for a great stocking stuffer for your favorite baker, check out the site ~ they have a huge selection of traditional and unique designs.