Browned butter smells so delicious and adds such a great nutty flavor to whatever we're making that we've been seriously tempted to eat it by the spoonful at times. We toss it with pasta or drizzle it over vegetables, of course, but where we've really come to love it is in baked goods. Yes, even when the recipe doesn't call for it!
So many baking recipes already call for melted butter, so why not take it just a little further? Browning the butter doesn't change the way it functions in most recipes and it adds such an interesting depth of flavor! Even if the recipe just calls for room temperature butter, we'll brown it and then let it re-solidify before using it.
We've been doing this a lot lately with cookies, cakes, and quick breads - really, any recipe where that nutty flavor would be a welcome element.
Recipes like these have definitely been inspiration for us!
• Hazelnut Brown Butter Cake with Chocolate Ganache
• Rosemary-Walnut Brown Butter Cookies
• Brown Butter Ice Cream
• Brown Butter Plum Cake
Do you ever do this in your baking?
Related: 4 Ways to Re-Use Butter Wrappers
(Images: Emma Christensen)
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I have to keep making the same pumpkin cupcakes at my kids' school because they get so many requests -- kids, teachers and parents. They're a Martha recipe, and the "secret" (or, the "hook") is browned butter icing...
http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/pumpkin-cake-with-brown-butter-icing
Browned butter icing, SWOON. Ooh, and I bet some browned butter would be amazing mixed into a cream cheese frosting on those pumpkin cupcakes...
I am newly obsessed with browned butter--I can't believe I hadn't discovered it sooner. My most recent creation with it (off-topic, since it's not baking) is a rice pilaf made with browned butter, sage, shallots, and sliced almonds.
This may add a delicious flavor, but in many recipes, the particular chemical properties of butter are necessary for proper texture.
For recipes where solid butter is not required, could you also substitute ghee?
I always use browned butter on popcorn (Added after popping) - unlike ordinary melted butter, the browning process boils off the water content, so it won't make the popcorn soggy. Plus, it makes the BEST popcorn in the world!
smitten kitchen has a recipe for brown butter rice krispy bars. I used homemade marshmallows, too. Hijole! Tasty squared!
Brown butter is also really good to scramble or fry eggs in. *drool*
I won a jar of homemade brown butter at a white elephant party last holiday season. It was the best gift ever.
Though, I did try to make a tender little butter cake with it, and had it fail miserably. Some things really need the milk solids.
Can you do a how-to on browning butter (like what exactly to look for at each stage) and how long it takes? Or point us/me in the direction of some good how-to guides. Because I screwed it up and badly (I ruined a spoon _and_ a pan!) and am afraid to try again...
I just have to second the recommendation for SmittenKitchen's brown butter rice crispy treat. With a little bit of sea salt, they're salty-sweet-stretchy-crispy spectacular. Make them. Now. Go now. Go make them.