How To Substitute Browned Butter Into Almost Any Baking Recipe

Want to take cookies, brownies, and cakes from great to mind-blowing? Browned butter is a warmed-up, toasty option that can be your ticket to richer flavors. While you can find plenty of recipes that rely on the fragrant flavor of browned butter (like Martha Stewart's apple pie recipe), you can also (usually) sub it in for standard butter in recipes to take flavors to a new level. That being said, it's not as easy as a one-to-one swap — there are a few things you'll want to keep in mind if your recipe calls for standard butter and you'd prefer to add some richness to your baked goods with browned butter instead.

When you go through the process of browning butter on your stovetop, you're doing more than adding richness to your recipe — you're actually evaporating some of the water and increasing the fat percentage of your butter. This means that you may be losing a bit of moisture in your recipe that you'll need to add back in to get both a moist dessert and the delicious, toasty flavor of browned butter. The solution is simple: You'll need to add a bit of water to the recipe to make up for the moisture loss. Use about a tablespoon of water per stick of browned butter to even out your recipe's moisture ratio.

Another important note: Only use melted browned butter if that's what your recipe calls for. If your recipe calls for room-temperature or chilled butter, be sure to let your recently browned butter rest until it hits the appropriate consistency. Using too-warm butter in baked goods can lead to flat results.

If you're ready to give browned butter a go in your own kitchen, you'll find that it's a pretty easy process. Simply place a pan on the stove over medium heat, add butter, and let the magic happen. You'll notice a nutty scent shortly, and you'll get to watch as your butter turns from pale yellow to deep amber. 

A few things that you'll want to keep in mind when you're browning butter in your kitchen: First, this isn't a totally hands-off task. You'll need to stir your browning butter regularly to stop it from burning. Usually, you can move from melted butter to perfectly browned goodness pretty quickly — it shouldn't take you more than 10 minutes or so to get to the end result (you'll know it's done when the butter is dark brown and smells like hazelnuts). While you can use browned butter right away, you don't have to — you can also place it in the fridge or even in the freezer to use another time (just be sure to put it in an airtight container to keep it from absorbing the smells of foods in the fridge).