Brown Butter is my secret weapon when I am baking sweets for my friends. It is so simple, takes a little extra time, and makes every dessert taste delicious. Brown Butter will add rich flavor to your sweets with hints of toffee in your cookie or cake. See my brown butter chocolate chip cookies or blondies to use this technique!
Anyone can make brown butter. All you need is a pot or saucepan and unsalted butter. You can also make this in advance and let it sit in your fridge for about a week or two.
Serving size: 2 cups of butter
2 sticks unsalted butter
Step 1: Add 2 sticks of butter to a saucepan over medium-high heat. After 1-2 minutes, I will slice up the butter into tiny pieces. However, you can pre-slice the butter to melt the butter faster.
Step 2: After 2 minutes the butter should be almost completely melted. You should be always watching the pot because it is easy to burn the butter.
Step 3: After 4 minutes the butter should be white foam on the surface. You can whisk the butter at this point however, it still needs time to brown. Whisking helps see through the foam to identify if brown bits have formed.
Step 4: After 5-6 minutes the foam should reduce and become more clear. There will be still white foam just not as much. You should start lightly whisking the butter always checking to see if brown bits are forming at the bottom of the pan. You should begin to see a change in color. The butter will become lightly browned and give off a nutty aroma. At this point, I like to turn off the heat and let it cook a little more. Scraping the brown bits off the sides. You want the butter to be a perfect golden brown color.
Step 5: Set aside the butter in a bowl. You can use this right away or put it in a jar to store up to 2 weeks. Make sure the butter is completely cool before mixing in other ingredients.
*Tip: Don't worry if you end up burning your butter! Most of the time it is salvageable. You can strain the dark burnt bits out of the butter and still use the liquid butter. To check if the butter is completely useless. Pour the "burnt" butter into a bowl and smell the butter to see if it smells completely burnt/charred. It might appear to be burnt but browned butter can be a very dark color. You can probably still use your butter, it will just add an extra rich flavor to your baked good.
Comments