Because color equals flavor.
I used to think those words only applied to the way I cooked my food. Heavily searing a steak in a cast iron pan imparted a delicious caramelized flavor, while a pie crust baked golden brown tastes deliciously toasty. A beige steak or pale pastry didn’t necessarily mean the food didn’t taste good, just that it didn’t taste as flavorful as it could. Color equals flavor. I wanted the best flavor I could get. But I never considered that this statement might also apply to the actual ingredients in a recipe.
I love this recipe for Brown Butter Pecan Shortbread because the cookies are delicious, but also because it’s a masterclass for making sure that every ingredient you use gives up its maximum flavor value to the recipe.
The pecans:
I don’t know when I learned that, when cooking or baking with the nuts, whatever nut you’re using MUST be toasted. Almonds, fairly bland when raw, develop delicate roasted flavors. Walnuts, tending to taste tannic, toast into delicious warmth. Even nuts that are delicious eaten raw, like pecans or macadamia nuts, will blossom in flavor after 15 minutes in an oven.
You can put a toasted nut in almost anything—on top of sautéed vegetables, in a rice pilaf, in a raw green salad, over a meat stew—but they are particularly yummy in these cookies. And no, for everyone out there who will ask “why toast them before baking? They’re just going to go back in the oven,” you cannot count on heat from baking the cookies to toast your nuts for you. It’s just not the same. Toast them before you chop and mix them into the cookie dough. Twenty minutes in a 325 degree oven. It’s worth it.
The browned butter:
Before this recipe, I had never browned butter in my life, and I was pretty nervous to do it. After all, it’s not often that I melt an entire pound of butter in a pot and make it boil. Boiling fat? Frothing steam? And what was it actually doing under that foam? Yikes!
I had nothing to worry about. It turned out to be very simple.
Butter is primarily composed of three things: fat, water, and protein solids. When you brown butter, you are melting it down and then boiling off the water until only the fat and the protein solids remain. Once the water is gone, the protein solids will begin to brown and caramelize. Voila: brown butter! After the butter has reached your desired color (and you can take it pretty brown), just pour it off into a bowl and set aside to cool it down. If you use the refrigerator, you only have to wait a half hour before the butter is ready to use it in whatever recipe you would like. And I’m here to tell you, it made a terrific difference in these shortbread cookies!
Note: When you are adding brown butter to a baking recipe, you cannot just substitute it in for regular butter without considering the impact on the recipe. Baking is science, and brown butter contains less water than regular butter (as it has boiled off), effectively reducing the amount of liquid in the recipe. With this recipe, I found that I had to add two tablespoons of milk to my shortbread dough once I started using brown butter, just to smooth out the dough and help it hold together. If you are considering using it in one of your own cookie recipes, you might consider adding a bit of milk or even water back into the batch to compensate for the liquid lost.
The salt:
If you look at baking recipes from the 1980s and earlier, you’ll notice that they either call for “a pinch of salt” or leave it out altogether. Why? For centuries, chefs have recognized that salt is critical for developing flavors in savory dishes. Why would a sweet dish be any different?
Most pastry chefs and bakers today value salt in their baked goods and modern baking recipes usually contain a specific amount of salt that is more than a pinch. However, if you are using a recipe that only calls for a pinch, take a chance and add a little more. I guarantee you will taste the difference. You certainly will in these cookies!
These cookies taste delicious. The brown butter adds a nutty depth of flavor that marries perfectly with the toasty pecans, and the addition of salt balances the sweet richness of the shortbread. Color equals flavor, but it’s about more than just baking the cookies to a perfect golden brown. It’s about curating the ingredients before you even mix them together so they will offer up the most flavor to the finished cookie.
Color equals flavor. Never miss an opportunity to add flavor.
Enjoy!
Brown Butter Pecan Shortbread
(Makes 16 cookies)
60 grams raw pecans (~scant ½ cup)*
226 grams unsalted butter (~1 cup, 2 sticks)
110 grams granulated sugar (~generous ½ cup)
½ tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt
260 grams flour (~2 cups)
2 tbsp milk
Special equipment: hand blender, plastic wrap, baking sheet, parchment paper, wire rack
Method
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F with a rack in the middle position. Spread pecans out on a rimmed baking sheet (make sure that each one is touching the baking sheet. You don’t want any that are lying on top of each other). Toast for 20 minutes on the middle rack, shaking them about half way through to even out the toasting. Remove from the oven and cool, then chop into small pieces.
To brown the butter, cut butter into tablespoon-sized slices and place in a sauce pot. Heat on medium heat, stirring often, until the butter is completely melted. Increase the heat to medium-high and bring the butter to a boil. Cook, stirring, until the water has all cooked off and the butter begins to brown. Once it begins to really brown, it will froth up so that you won’t actually be able to see the color very well. You’ll know it is done when it smells nutty and you can kind of see that it is a deep golden brown color under the foam. Pour the butter immediately into a large bowl and set in the refrigerator to cool.
Once the butter has cooled, add the sugar to the bowl and cream butter and sugar together with a hand blender until the mixture has slightly lightened. Blend in the salt, then fold in the flour and chopped pecans in three batches, adding a tablespoon of milk after the first and second additions. You want the flour and pecans to be thoroughly blended, but you don’t want to over-mix the dough, or it will become tough!
Divide the dough into half. Scoop half the dough out onto a large rectangle of plastic wrap and shape into a log about the thickness of a large cucumber. The dough can be sticky, so use the plastic wrap to help you gently roll the dough into a smooth cylinder. Once you’re satisfied with the log of cookie dough, roll up completely in the plastic wrap and twirl the ends to seal. Repeat with the second half of the dough. Refrigerate the dough for at least 1 hour (overnight is better).
When you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Unwrap the logs of dough and slice into ½-inch rounds. Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet and refrigerate until the oven is preheated (this will keep the dough firm and prevent spreading).
Bake for 10 minutes, or until lightly golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow to sit on the baking sheet for a few minutes before transferring the cookies to a wire rack.
*Volumetric measurements are estimates based on general accepted equivalents. This recipe has not been tested with them.
Originally posted September 21, 2019.