Brown Butter Cornmeal Shortbread Cookies

I love and adore shortbread cookies. It was a love that started when I was a child. Maybe it’s because I grew up in a home that had a pot of hot tea every afternoon, usually accompanied with one or two cookies. OR, maybe it’s because butter is one of my honest-to-god soulmates. Who knows how it ultimately began, but it’s a love affair that has only ever brought joy (despite the protests of my bathroom scale).

Fall and winter are brimming over with months that should always be punctuated with shortbread. These cold darker days need the crisp melt in your mouth comfort and coziness found in every bite of these special cookies. More butter than any human should ever consume, mixed together with some flour and sugar - what more could you want?!

A couple months ago, I started piecing together this recipe. It took a few batches of delicious research, but I got there in the end. It all began when I bought cornmeal over the summer to make a cornmeal shortbread-like crumble for a recipe I had bookmarked. It immediately led to daydreaming about cornmeal shortbread cookies.

Naturally, brown butter became a part of the madness - who in their right mind would deny brown butter an opportunity like this?! The nutty creaminess of brown butter, the hearty texture of cornmeal, a generous spoonful of salt, and the caramel-like smell and taste of brown sugar all got tangled up in this beautiful creature I’m presenting to you today.

When making the dough, the creamy caramel smell kept reminding me of Cowtails. If you’re not from the south, then you probably don’t know what these candies are, and for that I am deeply sorry. To sum it up, they’re a long caramel tube filled with a cream-like paste. I’m not sure how much justice that description does to how yummy they actually are… But if you get the chance, try a Cowtail. Anyways. The dough smelled like Cowtails, and it had that same dreamy melty sensation that eating those candies does.

You might freak out when you see the ingredient list calls for 1 whole tablespoon of salt, but the slight saltiness is pure magic with the heaps of butter and the rich combo of sugars. These aren’t caramel cookies, but there is so much caramel flavor - and is there anything that goes better with caramel than salt? The answer I’m looking for is: NO.

I really don’t know what else to say about these golden nuggets of shortbread treasure. I even had one friend that doesn’t really like shortbread say that she would eat these. So make them. Eat them. Make them again. I’ll just be here, waiting for my Nobel Peace Prize. Because if these cookies don’t lead to world peace, I don’t know what will.

Brown Butter Cornmeal Cookies 

Makes 24 to 28 cookies

Ingredients

2 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 cup powdered sugar

⅓ cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste OR pure vanilla extract

1 ½ cups flour

1 cup cornstarch

½ cup cornmeal

1 tablespoon kosher salt (if using sea salt or table salt, use 2 teaspoons)

Instructions

Place 1 1/2 sticks of butter into a standing mixer with a paddle attachment. In a separate medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour cornstarch, cornmeal, and salt. 

*Brown remaining stick of butter. If you haven’t browned butter before, it’s very easy! Place stick of butter in a small skillet over medium heat. Once it’s fully melted, get your whisk ready. When you see tiny light gold specks starting to cling to the bottom of the pan, begin to whisk (and don’t stop!). More flecks will appear and they’ll become a perfectly rich golden brown - once you hit that place, pull it off the heat immediately so it doesn’t burn! 

Pour browned butter over the butter in the mixing bowl, and add the powdered sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla. Beat together on a medium speed for about 2 minutes - since the hot butter prevents any “fluffing” like typical cookie recipes, you just want to ensure the sugar and butter are thoroughly combined.

Still beating on a medium speed, begin to add the flour mixture to the bowl. A few spoonfuls at a time until it’s fully incorporated. 

Divide dough into two portions, and place on a strip of plastic wrap, then roll each portion into a log shape, and place in the refrigerator to chill for at least 2 hours.

At time of cooking, preheat oven to 375 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Cut logs into cookies that are about a quarter inch to 1 centimeter thick. Line on baking sheet (they don’t grow a lot like most cookies, so you don’t have to leave as much room in between each cookie).  

Place in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes. I like to set my oven for at least 10 minutes, and then check on them in 2 minute intervals after that if they need more time. Every oven is different, so I don’t like to risk leaving in them in too long. 

How you’ll know they’re done: they will be just slightly golden brown on the very bottom of the cookie. Shortbread is tricky since it doesn’t really change shape and hardly changes color, so just look for golden brown on the side touching the baking sheet! 

Allow to cool for several minutes before gobbling them up! They’ll be a little softer when still pretty warm, but then they get more biscuit-like snap as they cool to room temperature. Both are delicious!

*If you still feel insecure about browning butter, just hop over to youtube and search “how to make browned butter” so you can get a visual step by step!