Merry Christmas, Now Make Fancy Butter!

We were invited to a big family Christmas Eve dinner and were supposed to bring an appetizer. We had an antipasto tray ready to go, but that wasn’t experimental enough, so we decided to make a “flight” of fancy butters to go along with the bread we knew would be there. They were a big hit, and really easy to make (it took longer to clean the mixing bowl and the whisk attachment than to make the butter). Here’s what we made:

Sweet Orange Butter – This is amazing. Sweet, very orange-rich, and would be amazing on biscuits, waffles or pancakes.

Garlic-Herb Butter

I think because we had lasagna, this one went the fastest.

• 1/2 pound of softened butter
• 3-4 sprigs of thyme
• 2 sprigs of rosemary
• 10-12 chive stalks
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic

Instructions:

1. Remove the rosemary and thyme leaves from their stalks
2. Pulse all the herbs in the food process until they’re finely diced but before they turn into pesto.
3. Throw everything in the mixer
4. Whisk on low for a minute
5. Whisk on high for a minute or two until everything is mixed in
6. Refrigerate to firm it back up.

Sriracha Honey Butter

This one was an experiment, mostly because I love adding Sriracha to things. It turned out really well. I’m not sure what the food science is behind mixing fat and Sriracha together that turns things into deliciousness, but I love it. This ended up with just a tiny bit of heat (kids were eating it and not crying, that’s how little heat there is), but with a great smokey pepper flavor that worked really well with the honey.

• 1/2 pound of softened butter
• 2 tablespoons of Sriracha
• 3 tablespoons of honey

Instructions:

1. You don’t really need to measure things. I’m guessing as to how much I put in there, but it was basically those proportions – slightly more honey than Sriracha
2. Throw it all the mixer
3. Whisk on low for a minute
4. Whisk on high until everything’s combined.
5. Refrigerate to firm it back up.

We put them in creme brulee ramekins to serve (1/2 pound of butter ended up filling two ramekins, so you might want to halve the recipes for a smaller party).

I didn’t think making crazy butter would be so easy, or be so well-received. I’m going to have to try some more!