Adam Liaw’s brown butter pecan shortbread

Name: Adam Liaw’s brown butter pecan shortbread
Cook time: 1 h 30 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Contemporary
Ingredients: 200g unsalted butter; 300g plain flour; 50g cornflour; 1 tsp baking powder; 1 tsp flake salt; 100g caster sugar; 50g dark brown sugar; 75g pecans, roughly chopped; 2 tbsp demerara sugar

Adam Liaw

April 27, 2026

Brown butter pecan shortbread.William Meppem

easyTime:1-2 hoursServes:4

Nut-brown butter adds an extra dimension to this delicious and simple shortbread.

Ingredients

200g unsalted butter
300g plain flour
50g cornflour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp flake salt
100g caster sugar
50g dark brown sugar
75g pecans, roughly chopped
2 tbsp demerara sugar

Method

Step 1
Place the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Heat the butter until it turns nut brown, then remove from the pot and refrigerate, mixing every 15 minutes or so, until the butter just solidifies but is still soft.
Step 2
Combine and mix the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, salt, caster sugar and dark brown sugar. Add the butter to the dry ingredients and mix together, using a spatula in a squashing motion to form a dough. Mix in the pecans.
Step 3
Flatten the dough onto a greased 20cm-square slice tin, scatter with the demerara sugar and lightly press it into the top of the shortbread. Use a fork to prick holes in the top of the shortbread, then bake for 40 minutes. Allow to cool, then cut the shortbread into your desired shape.

Adam’s tip: Brown butter is beurre noisette in French, meaning “hazelnut butter”. The name is a guide: the butter should be as brown as the skin of hazelnuts.

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