This recipe for Browned-Butter Macadamia Nut Shortbread is another easy one. Another short list of ingredients that come together to make a perfect crumbly shortbread with a velvety smooth finish. These are so tasty.
Let’s talk about Shortbread for a minute shall we?
Shortbread is a traditional Scottish biscuit. It’s usually made from one part sugar, two parts butter and three parts flour. We don’t add any kind of leavening agent to a shortbread recipe. We want the texture to be a little dense and crumbly which comes from the high fat content in the butter.
If you have a favorite flavor you can probably make it into a shortbread cookie. Whether it’s a nut, a citrus, a spice, or a chocolate, they all will do well in a shortbread. I went with a classic macadamia nut for this recipe and topped it with a browned-butter icing.
What’s Browned-Butter Sharon?
When I was describing this cookie to one of my taste testers she asked me this question. So let us discuss…
You can actually toast unsalted butter. Just put it in a pan and cook over a medium heat until it turns a beautiful amber color. It will start by bubbling and getting a little foamy but then like magic the foam disappears, the milk solids darken and fall to the bottom of your pan. Leaving you with a sweet nutty sauce that you can actually use for either savory or sweet good.
I think we should do this, don’t you? Let’s go.
Making Browned-Butter Macadamia Nut Shortbread
I know you will enjoy this tasty shortbread cookie as much as my people do!
Browned-Butter Macadamia Nut Shortbread
Shortbread Ingredients
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
- 2/3 cup (134g) sugar
- 3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste (or extract)
- 2 tablespoons Grand Marnier
- 2 1/4 cup (338g) all purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup finely chopped macadamia nuts
Browned-Butter Icing Ingredients
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 2 cups (225g) confectioners sugar
- 1/4 cup finely chopped macadamia nuts
- pinch of salt
Directions
- Sift together salt and flour. Set aside.
- Cream butter, sugar, ginger and vanilla together for about 3 minutes.
- Add flour to butter and mix half way.
- Throw in nuts and Grand Marnier and mix until dough forms.
- Wrap dough in plastic and chill in refrigerator for at least an hour or more.
- Preheat oven to 350° and line cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- Roll dough in to a log shape and slice.
- Place on parchment lined cookie sheet and bake 8-10 minutes. Until just set. Take them out before they brown.
- While they are cooling on a rack, place nutmeg, confectioners sugar, pinch of salt and 1/4 cup macadamia nuts into a bowl.
- Warm butter in a skillet over medium heat until it stops to bubble and turns an amber color.
- Pour hot butter into icing ingredients and mix with a fork until combined. You can add a little water or Grand Marnier to get the icing to a glaze consistency.
- Drag icing across the top of the cookie with the back of a spoon and let set.
- ENJOY!
Sounds amazing!
Yum!
Thank you!!