Butter Me Up

Mmmmm, butter! I love butter. You can bake it, saute it, fry it, dip it, whip it, melt it, clarify it, spread it . . .

Well that spreading thing takes some preplanning. If you want to go spreading buttery goodness around you've got to have room temperature butter.  The stuff that spreads well is that tub margarine. But the taste . . . is less than stellar. 

So let's make our own buttery spread, one that has ingredients found on first grade spelling lists! 

You'll need some unsalted butter . . . what? what was that? Why do I have fourteen pounds of butter in the freezer? I told you it's versatile! I wouldn't want to run out! What would I do if I ran out of butter? What if Paula Deen showed up on my doorstep and wanted to cook and I didn't have plenty of butter? She'd LEAVE! We wouldn't want that to happen! Always be prepared . . .

We've got to get it all room temperature.  So I threw it in a Ziploc bag in some tepid water.  It thawed out and was nice and soft in an hour.

I'm going to mix this up in my food processor but you can do it in a blender. I've even mixed it in a heavy mixing bowl with a whisk. 

Throw your butter in the mixing bowl. I like to mix up a pound at a time. 

Now if that isn't a vision of goodness I don't know what is.  It's practically bending under it's own weight!

Look at that color! Isn't it beautiful? One of my greatest disappointments is that I can't wear butter colored clothes. They make me look a sickly green color.  Oh well. 

Shove the butter down in there and add a little salt to it.

I always buy unsalted butter for two reasons. Most recipes call for unsalted butter.  The second reason is that butter makers leave the best tasting butter unsalted. They add salt to the butter that has funky flavors in it.  Why does butter get funky flavors? Well those darn cows occasionally run across funky things to eat in their grass such as spring onions. This can leave some "funky" flavors in their milk.  Funky flavors that American palates don't appreciate.  Salt balances out bitterness and our food producers know this!

Turn on the motor!

You're just trying to break it up a little and start the salt mixing in.  You're not going to whip it smooth at this point.  If you're doing this by hand you'll basically be spreading it all around the bowl at this point.

Use the vegetable oil of your choice. I don't care for canola because of the grease stains it leaves on our clothing so I stick with soybean generally.

As for the amount you add in? I vary it on the season.  I need my spread to stay somewhat solid for an entire dinner time. So, in the winter I add almost two cups of oil. In the heat of summer I knock it down to 1 1/4 cup of oil. If you make it regularly you can adjust it to your household's needs!

Add your oil in a smooth stream. When I do this by hand I add a 1/4 cup and then mix.

I stop and scrape the sides when I'm using a machine for the mixing.  Mmmm, butter chunks!

Blend it some more. It's a vision of creamy goodness at this point!

You're going to want to give it a taste.  It's silky, creamy, has a dairy sweetness, and has the slightest tang of salt. PERFECT!!!

Pour it in a couple of plastic storage cups. Heck! It looks store bought!

There were a few lumps of butter leftover but I just stirred them in with a fork.  I always get them but I never notice them in the spread when we use it.  Who doesn't like little lumps of butter?

Seal them up and throw them in your fridge.

Spreads beautiful! Looks beautiful! Tastes beautiful!

Of course, you can even cook with this stuff if you like, but I save it for the table.