I made these cookies dairy free with earth balance vegan butter (and I shorted the brown butter by the amount used toasting the pecan pieces), and gluten free with a mix of sorghum flour, tapioca starch (about 1/2 cup), and xanthan gum (1/4 t). I'm not sure I browned the butter long enough, but I didn't fully trust it to act like dairy and wanted to avoid burning it. It definitely did get foamy as described and gave off some lovely smells, so I decided it was close enough. I started in the afternoon, so the dough was in the fridge overnight before baking. It was quite stiff and took some effort to scoop, but got easier as it warmed up a little while I worked. I rolled the scoops into neat balls, and it was almost exactly 2 dozen cookies (rare for me to come this close to the number indicated, even following size instructions). My cookies had minimal spread and look much puffier than expected from the photos, which might be the different flour. I baked them for 15 mins each sheet as they looked undercooked at 12 (I suspect my oven runs a bit cool). The important part is that they're delicious and hold together well. They're much richer and sweeter than I typically choose, but it's national pecan cookie day, so I'm calling it a special occasion. 😜
