Brown Butter Milk Chocolate Ganache
Brown Butter Milk Chocolate Ganache
This brown butter milk chocolate ganache recipe is a great alternative to traditional chocolate ganache. The addition of brown butter gives it a lovely nutty flavour, and the flakey sea salt gives a great contrast to the sweet chocolate – it literally melts in the mouth!
It’s perfect for piping on top of brownies or chocolate cakes, and it makes a great filling for macarons (or wedged between chocolate chip cookies!).
Making chocolate ganache is so simple, and once you’ve mastered it you’ll want to use it in all your desserts! One tip when it comes to your chocolate ganache ingredients is to always use good quality chocolate, I make sure I do this in whatever I’m baking and it makes such a difference to overall result.
I really hope you enjoy my recipe for milk chocolate ganache! If you’re looking for other ganache flavours check out my Whipped Ganache 101 video and recipes.
Ingredients
Method
Into a small saucepan, add the unsalted butter. Cook it over a medium low heat, stirring occasionally until it reaches a deep golden brown colour and smells nutty. It should take around 4-5 minutes.
Pour this into a small bowl and allow it to set to room temperature so that it is the consistency of soft butter. This can take quite a while if you leave it at room temperature, but you can speed this up by placing it in the fridge and stirring it every few minutes until it thickens. If it sets slightly firmer than soft butter that's fine.
Scoop the soft brown butter into a separate dish and weigh 65g of it.
Into a tall jug, add the chopped chocolate and set it to one side.
Into a small saucepan over medium heat, add the cream and glucose (or honey if using) and stir it gently until it is steaming, and the glucose/honey has dissolved.
Once hot, pour this immediately over the chocolate and let it sit for 2 minutes.
Blend until smooth, then add in the weighed brown butter and blend again.
Pour it into a bowl and then stir through the sea salt flakes (not fine table salt). Cover the surface directly with cling film. Chill in the fridge for 3 hours.
Once chilled, use a hand whisk to whisk it to a medium peak. It will whip up quite quickly, so be very careful not to over whip it. Use it immediately.
This was insanely good and my new favourite ganache! I piped this on top of a shortbread cookie and it was a hit. Thank you for sharing the recipe!
So glad!
Hi Matt,
If I need to use Gelatin Powder in this recipe as a stabilizer! How much in grams do I need to use gelatin powder and at which step should I add the gelatin?
Probably only about 2g with 12g of cold water. Add it at the end to the hot mixture and blend!
Hey Matt,
Huge fan of your whipped ganache recipes. I use your vanilla bean whipped ganache from your 101 post all the time.
In your Whipped Ganache 101 post you use gelatine as a stabiliser and that’s why I love it so much because I use it in between cake layers and it holds up so nicely.
How would I be able to adapt this recipe to use gelatine? Would it be simply adding it to the cream and glucose in the pot on the stove? Just want to get your thoughts 🙂
Thank you in advance!
Sorry Lora do you mean without gelatin??
I have been wanting to make this and finally did so today. It was absolutely divine. Texture was perfect and the flavor was another level with the brown butter! I piped it over a brown butter shortbread and the combination blew away my guests. Thank you for sharing this recipe!
So glad!!
In Canada, its hard to find double cream. Where its available, its extremely expensive for small quantities (170g). If we had to use 35%, should we increase butterfat ratio? any advice?
I haven’t tested it at that fat percentage but I would try a straight 1:1 swap and just see how you get on!
I made this ganache and it was absolutely delicious! I used it as a filling for macarons (French method) and initially they were great! About 36 hours later the macaron shells were mush because I think the ganache is too moist of a filling. I may try using this filling again, but costing the bottom of the shells with a thin layer of melted chocolate to act as a barrier.
Oh I’m so glad!
Hi! Great recipe! 🙂 Weird question – is it possible to use the unwhipped ganache as a cookie filling(sandwich cookies/cookies with a small concave on top for filling)? Also, could I freeze the unwhipped ganache for longer storage period and defrost when needed to fill the cookies in future?
It would be quite soft if you didn’t whip it so I would recommend whipping it then piping it into your cookie. I don’t love freezing cream based ganaches so I’m afraid I haven’t tried
Hi Matt,
Can I dip this ganache for donuts? Was thinking of dip donuts to this ganache recipe while it’s still lukewarm around 30°C ish. Or should I reduce the cream? By how much?
It would be too thick to dip I’m afraid. But you could increase the quantity of cream to make it much thinner!
Hi Matt. I did try this recipe. BUT, I should confess I used white chocolate and honey. My family loved it. I then put it on a chocolate cake. I also left it overnight and then used a hand beater. Thanks for sharing
So glad!!
Hey, you said you wouldn’t use this ganache for decorating a cake. How about for piping rosettes on top of an iced cake?
Yes should be good for that!
Can you use this for a chocolate truffle?
I’m afraid I haven’t tried – worth a go!
Hey Matt great recipe. Making a large batch of this ganache, do you reckon after whisking and separating into small piping bags, would it keep the nice texture after a few days? Currently using namelaka, but looking for a better alternative
I wouldn’t recommend storing it after mixing as the texture will gradually deteriorate. Needs to be whisked and piped fresh!