just a thought on using browned butter: the flavor sounds like a great variation on shortbread, but i'd think that heating the butter long enough to brown it would cook off a lot of the water in the butter (usually 20%). The lost moisture could account for the change in texture Nickolina experienced. If you remeasure the butter after browning you should be able to see any loss and compensate with water if needed. I seem to remember when i made ghee (removing the water and milk solids) a pound of butter only yielded about 12oz of butterfat. Excellent point, Kirsten. You'd need to compensate for that somehow - I think I might add cream rather than water, as I'm thinking water would yield a hard cookie, where cream would make one that's more delicately crunchy. But it would be interesting to try it both ways - thanks so much for your input - PJH

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