Why this matters
Brown butter (beurre noisette, "hazelnut butter") is regular butter cooked until the milk solids toast and the water cooks off. It tastes like caramel and toasted nuts and is the difference between a good cookie and a cookie that you can't stop eating. It works in sweet and savory contexts, takes 8 minutes, and requires zero specialized equipment.
The reason most home cooks get it wrong is the same reason most home cooks get it right next time: they stop paying attention right when it matters.
Step by step
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Put the butter -- you want at least 4 tablespoons; less than that browns too fast to control -- in a saucepan with a light-colored bottom (stainless or enameled, not dark non-stick). The light bottom is critical because you need to see the color of the milk solids changing.
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Heat over medium. The butter will melt, then start foaming. The foam is water evaporating. This is normal.
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Swirl the pan occasionally. After 3-4 minutes the foam will subside, and you'll see specks at the bottom of the pan. Those are the milk solids. They will turn pale tan, then golden, then deep amber. You are watching for amber.
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The moment the specks hit deep amber and the butter smells distinctly nutty (not like generic 'melted butter' anymore -- you'll know), pull it off the heat. Do not wait. The pan retains enough heat to push amber to scorched in 15 seconds.
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Pour the butter -- brown bits and all, that's the whole point -- into a heatproof bowl or jar. Use it warm, or let it cool and use it like solid butter.
Brown butter shows up in our cornmeal cake and in roughly thirty other recipes here. Once you have it down, it stops being a technique and starts being an ingredient.