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:
- Remove the rosemary and thyme leaves from their stalks
- Pulse all the herbs in the food process until they’re finely diced but before they turn into pesto.
- Throw everything in the mixer
- Whisk on low for a minute
- Whisk on high for a minute or two until everything is mixed in
- 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:
- 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
- Throw it all the mixer
- Whisk on low for a minute
- Whisk on high until everything’s combined.
- 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!