Wine or chocolates are generally my go to gift when attending a holiday function at someone’s house. In most cases you can’t go wrong with one or both of those. But sometimes it’s nice to think outside the box because, well, everyone else brings wine and chocolate too. This little quartette of sweet an savoury butters, along with a loaf or two of hearty crusty bread makes a wonderful, and tasty hostess or host already has a full spread with no room for extra goodies they can save them for themselves. The sweet butters also go great on toast, bagels or pancakes and the savoury butters are perfect on meat or vegetable dishes.
Whipped Butter Four Ways
Ingredients (basic whipped butter):
- 2 cups (1 pound) of butter at room temperature- I used salted butter but unsalted works too, you may just have to add a little salt to taste depending on your preference
Directions:
You are going to want to break out your stand mixer for this with the whisk attachment.
If you don’t have a stand mixer with a whisk you can use a hand mixer with beaters. It might not turn out quite as light and fluffy but it will do in a pinch.
Cut your butter into pieces and put into the mixing bowl.
Whip at hight speed until light and fluffy. Depending on the size of your bowl you will probably want to stop a few times and scrape the sides of the bowl to ensure all of the butter gets whipped.
Divide the butter into four even portions.
Jam Butter
Ingredients:
- 1/4 of the whipped butter from above
- 2 tablespoons of your favourite jam (not jelly) – I used some homemade Saskatoon berry jam
- 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon
Directions:
Place the portion of whipped butter into a medium sized bowl. Add the jam and stir well to incorporate.
Toffee Butter
Ingredients:
- 1/4 of the whipped butter from above
- 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon of brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon of Skor bits or other crushed caramel candy
Directions:
Place all of the ingredients in a medium size bowl and mix until incorporated. If you used unsalted butter you will probably want to add a grind or two of sea salt to bring out the sweetness in this butter.
Roasted Red Pepper Butter
Ingredients:
- 1/4 of the whipped butter from above
- 2 tablespoons of roasted red peppers diced into fine pieces
- 1 teaspoon of dried rosemary OR 2 teaspoons of fresh rosemary minced
- 1 teaspoon of balsamic vinegar
Directions:
Place all of the ingredients in a medium size bowl and stir until well incorporated.
Sun Dried Tomato Butter
Ingredients:
- 1/4 of the whipped butter from above
- 1 tablespoon of diced sun dried tomatoes
- 1/4 teaspoon of minced garlic
Directions:
This one you are going to do a little differently than the rest because sun dried tomatoes tend to be a little on the tough side.
Place all of the ingredients into a food processor, blender, or whatever suitable appliance you have and pulse until well combined.
If you are making these up ahead of time store them in the fridge (up to a couple of days in air tight containers or jars) until a couple of hours before you need them and give them a quick stir to incorporate air back into them and fluff them up a bit. Scoop them into jam jars to take to your party.
