Browned Butter Ginger Shortbread Recipes

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the butter and 1 cup of sugar on medium-low speed, just until they are combined. (Don¿t whip!) Add the vanilla and 2 teaspoons water and mix until combined. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour and salt. With the mixer on low, slowly add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix until the dough starts to come together. Add the ginger, then dump onto a surface generously dusted with flour and shape into a flat disk. Wrap in plastic and chill for 30 minutes.
• Roll the dough 3/8 inch thick and cut circles with a 2 3/4-inch plain round cookie cutter. Place the cookies on an ungreased baking sheet and sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the edges start to brown.
• Cool to room temperature and serve.

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350°F. Line bottom and sides of 13x9-inch pan with foil, extending foil 2 inches on 2 opposite sides of pan.
• In large bowl, beat butter and brown sugar with electric mixer on medium speed, scraping bowl occasionally, until fluffy. On low speed, beat in flour, ground ginger and nutmeg until crumbly. Stir in crystallized ginger. Press dough firmly in pan. Prick surface generously with fork.
• Bake 18 to 22 minutes or until light golden brown and set. Cool 10 minutes. Remove from pan by lifting foil. To make 24 squares, cut into 6 rows by 4 rows by pressing down with a long knife (do not use sawing motion). Cut each square diagonally in half to make triangles. Cool completely, about 1 hour.
• In small microwavable bowl, microwave chocolate uncovered on High 1 minute. Stir; microwave 30 seconds longer, stirring every 15 seconds, until completely melted. Dip one short, flat edge of each triangular cookie in chocolate; if necessary, shake off any excess chocolate. Place on waxed paper; let stand until chocolate is set before storing between layers of waxed paper in loosely covered container.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix together the butter and 1 cup of sugar until they are just combined. Add the vanilla. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour and salt, then add them to the butter-and-sugar mixture. Mix on low speed until the dough starts to come together. Dump onto a surface dusted with flour and shape into a flat disk. Wrap in plastic and chill for 30 minutes.
• Roll the dough 1/2-inch thick and cut with a 3 by 1-inch finger-shaped cutter. Place the cookies on an ungreased baking sheet and sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the edges begin to brown. Allow to cool to room temperature.
• When the cookies are cool, place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Put 3 ounces of the chocolate in a glass bowl and microwave on high power for 30 seconds. (Don't trust your microwave timer; time it with your watch.) Stir with a wooden spoon. Continue to heat and stir in 30-second increments until the chocolate is just melted. Add the remaining chocolate and allow it to sit at room temperature, stirring often, until it's completely smooth. Stir vigorously until the chocolate is smooth and slightly cooled; stirring makes it glossier.
• Drizzle 1/2 of each cookie with just enough chocolate to coat it.

Steps:

• Melt butter in saucepan over medium heat and do not take your eyes off it. Watch it carefully as it begins to separate and brown and smell richly nutty. Immediately remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature.
• Cream the cooled butter and make sure to include all the rich goodness from the bottom of the saucepan.
• Add the icing sugar and slowly cream together.
• Add the flour and mix just until incorporated.
• Add the ginger and mix just until evenly distributed in dough.
• Turn the dough out onto an 18" x 12" sheet of parchment paper. Form into an 18" long and 1 1/2" diameter round or rectangular log. Wrap in the parchment paper and refrigerate for 2 hours.
• Working fairly quickly, remove from parchment paper and with a sharp knife slice into 1/4" disks or rectangles and place 1/2" apart on parchment papered baking sheets.
• Bake 8-10 min at 375°F (190°C) until bottoms are just turning golden.
• Cool on rack and keep in airtight container or freeze and serve as needed.

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.

Steps:

• Butter an 8 1/2-inch cake or springform pan; set aside. Sift together flour and salt into a small bowl; set aside. Place butter in bowl of electric mixer fitted with paddle attachment. Cream until fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes. Add sugar, and continue to beat until very light in color and fluffy, occasionally scraping down the sides of the bowl with a spatula, about 2 minutes more. Add vanilla, if using. Add flour mixture, and combine on low speed, scraping with spatula if necessary, until flour is just incorporated and dough sticks together when squeezed with fingers.
• Pat dough into prepared pan. If rolling out dough to cut into shapes, form into a flat disk; wrap in plastic. Chill until firm, at least 1 hour.
• Sift 1 teaspoon ground ginger, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, a pinch of ground cloves, and a pinch of pepper with flour and salt. Roll dough on lightly floured surface to 1/2 inch thick. Cut out gingerbread men using a 3-inch cutter; sprinkle with crystal sugar; chill.
• Heat oven to 325 degrees. Bake until firm, about 30 minutes.

Steps:

• Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350°F. Lightly butter a 9 1/2-inch springform pan.
• In a medium bowl, using a hand-held electric mixer at high speed, beat the butter until creamy, about 1 minute. Add the sugar and beat until the mixture is light in color and texture, about 2 minutes. Using a wooden spoon, stir in the flour, rice flour, and ground ginger to make a soft dough. Stir in the crystallized ginger. Press the dough evenly into the prepared pan. Using the tines of a fork, press around the perimeter of the dough. Prick the dough, reaching down to the bottom of the pan, into 12 wedges.
• Bake until lightly browned, about 30 minutes. Cool completely in the pan. Remove the sides of the pan. Cut or break the shortbread into wedges, following the perforations in the dough. (The shortbread can be prepared up to 5 days ahead, stored in an airtight container at room temperature.)

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• In a heavy two-quart saucepan, melt all the butter over low heat. Cook butter 8 to 12 minutes, stirring consistently, until butter solids at bottom of pan are a rich brown color and butter has a nutty aroma. Be careful not to burn the butter.
• Pour browned butter into a bowl; refrigerate until almost firm, about a half hour.
• In large bowl, with mixer at medium speed, beat sugar with cooled browned butter.
• Mix flour and salt into butter mixture by hand -- don't overwork the dough. It will be crumbly.
• Pat shortbread crumbs into pan of choice. I like to use a square pan.
• Bake shortbread 40 to 45 minutes, until browned around the edge. Watch carefully lest they burn. Let cool in pan on wire rack 10 minutes.
• Remove shortbread from pan to cutting board. While still warm, cut the whole in half, in half again, and in half again until you have small squares. These are rich, and shouldn't be large.

Steps:

• In a medium saucepan over medium, melt butter until foamy, about 3 minutes. Continue cooking butter, stirring and scraping frequently with a stiff silicone spatula, until the sputtering has subsided and the butter solids look deeply browned, 3 to 5 minutes. Remove from heat, then whisk in the fresh ginger and ground spices. Scrape the butter and any brown bits at the bottom into the bowl of a stand mixer (or into a large bowl if using a hand mixer). Set aside until cool, slightly solid, but still creamy, about 20 minutes in the refrigerator or 2 hours at room temperature.
• Add confectioners' sugar, molasses, vanilla, salt and baking soda to the cooled butter. Mix on low with the paddle attachment, stopping once to scrape the bowl and paddle, until creamy and combined, about 1 minute.
• Add the egg and mix on medium until pale and fluffy, stopping once to scrape the bowl and paddle, about 2 minutes. Add flour and mix until evenly combined, about 30 seconds. Cover and chill for at least 2 hours and up to 3 days before baking.
• Prepare the sugar coating: In a small bowl, stir together the sugar and ground ginger. Line two sheet pans with parchment paper, arrange the racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven, and heat oven to 375 degrees.
• Using a #40 cookie scoop or two spoons, scoop the cookie dough into 2-tablespoon portions (30 grams). Roll the portioned cookie dough into balls and coat in the ginger sugar. Arrange on the sheet tray at least 1 inch apart and bake until set and lightly browned around the edges, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.