Brown Butter Sugar Cookie Squirrels (And How To Properly Brown Butter)

To make brown butter you only need one ingredient. Can you guess what it is?

 I’ll wait.

Okay. Okay. 

……..It’s butter. I KNOW. Plot twist. 

Brown butter is so easy to make, but it really packs a punch of flavor, especially in these cookies (but I also use it for other baked goods). I haven’t tried it in banana bread yet, but that’s a baking adventure for another day. 

So what does it mean to brown butter? Essentially, you cook any excess water out of the butter, and then the milk solids caramelize. Once this happens, you end up with a nutty and caramel-y flavor. 

While brown butter is a one-ingredient wonder, it does require some love and attention because it takes only half a second between a lovely, nutty smell and a gut-wrenching, burning, acrid smoke plume that stinks up your whole kitchen. 

Steps to browning butter

1. Use a light colored pan: Using a light colored pan will make it possible for you to see when your butter is browning. If you use a non-stick or a dark-coated pan, it is nearly impossible to see when your butter has browned. 

2. Cut the butter into small pieces: This helps it melt faster and also cooks more consistently and evenly. 

3. Stir your butter: I use a heat-proof rubber spatula to stir the whole time my butter is browning, which helps get even temperature distribution to your butter. When the moisture is evaporating out, there will be a white foam on top. That is normal. You know when your brown butter is almost done when the foam is gone, it smells nutty, and you can see that your curds are brown. 

4. Have a heat-proof bowl or measuring cup handy: Like I mentioned before, it doesn’t take long for your butter to burn. Having this bowl nearby lets you stop the cooking process by pouring your butter into the container whenever it is ready. 

5. Use more butter than the recipe calls for: Because you are cooking the butter, the excess moisture that is in the butter evaporates, so you are left with less butter than when you started. If a recipe calls for 1 cup, and you use exactly 1 cup of butter to make your brown butter, you won’t have enough. When the excess moisture boils out, you might lose even a few tablespoons of what you had measured before. I always like to make more brown butter than I need for this reason. Any that I do not use goes into the freezer to be used later. Brown butter can also be used for savory cooking. My favorite way to use leftover brown butter is in a cream-based soup, like corn chowder but you can basically use it in any way you use regular butter.

Brown Butter Sugar Cookie Squirrels

I made my Brown Butter Sugar Cookies into the shape of squirrels! I love fun cookie cutters and this one was given to me by a friend about five years ago. When I make these cookies I like to press either a walnut or a pecan into their little paws for added cuteness.

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Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 11 minutes mins

To Brown Butter: (Plus time to solidify) 8 minutes mins

Course Dessert

Servings 12 Cookies

Ingredients

  

• 3/4 Cup Brown Butter You will need one cup of butter to make 3/4 cup of brown butter.
• 1/2 Cup Powdered Sugar
• 1/2 Cup Granulated Sugar
• 2 Eggs
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• 2 1/2 Cups All-Purpose Flour
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt

Instructions

 

• Place 1 cup of cubed butter butter in a small, light-bottomed pan and brown (see above blog post about tips and tricks to accomplish brown butter). Melt the butter on medium heat and use a heat-proof spatula to stir consistently. It will start to foam, but keep stirring. It will be done when there is no more white foam, the milk solids are brown, and it will have a nutty smell. When this happens immediately transfer it to a heat-proof container. Let cool slightly. Place in fridge and chill until mostly solid but still soft. If you poke it with your finger, you should be able to make an indentation.
• Using your mixer, cream together the brown butter, confectioners sugar and granulated sugar using the paddle attachment on medium speed.
• Beat in your eggs and vanilla. If it starts to look separated, don’t panic! Turn your mixer up to a higher speed and combine until it comes together. Turn back the speed to medium.
• With the mixer on medium, add in the flour and salt. Mix until combined.
• Take your dough out of your mixing bowl, and wrap the dough in plastic wrap. Place in fridge and chill for at least one hour. I let mine chill overnight.
• Pre-heat your oven to 325° when your dough is chilled and you are ready to bake.
• Roll out the chilled dough on a lightly floured surface so that your dough is around 1/4 inch thick. Cut into desired shapes with a cookie cutter. Place cookies on a parchment-lined cookie sheet about an inch apart. If you are making squirrel cookies like I did, you can press a nut into dough where his little paws would be.
• Bake 10-12 minutes until the bottoms of your cookies are slightly brown.
• Let cool.