Real Butter. How to Butter Up Your Holiday Season

They say everything is better with butter. Whoever they are, I think they’re right. Nothing blends, browns or adds quite the same rich mouth feel . The next time you look for something that will add a buttery flavor to whatever you are cooking, just go for the real deal.

Butter is a natural dairy product made from heavy cream. It starts with fresh, whole milk. The cream is separated from the milk and pasteurized before being churned into the golden goodness that gives all our food that extra something special. So when you buy the real thing, you are supporting the dairy industry in our country and in our community and that circles back to another wonderful way to support local farmers.

My local go-to for butter is Una Alla Volta in Charlotte. Cheese maker Zack Gadberry makes his own from local dairy and sells it every week – along with a variety of delicious cheeses – at the Matthews Farmers Market. Its a popular commodity in his line up, so if you are interested, I suggest you order ahead.

You’ll also find lots of Amish butters available in North Carolina, look for them in the Charlotte area at the Charlotte Regional Farmers Market and at other grocery stores or markets around the state who carry local dairy.

Don’t Sweat It

If you are worried about fat, don’t be. At least don’t beat yourself up about it. A teaspoon of butter weighs in at 34 calories and 4 grams of fat. Don’t feel guilty about adding it to your favorite recipes. Remember, whatever the amount called for in the recipe, you are not going to eat the whole thing.

Real butter can easily fit into an overall nutritionally balanced diet. The key is to be mindful of the portions and of all the other things you eat in a day. I would easily give up a processed candy bar or any other high calorie, high fat processed food in exchange for cooking with real butter.

Lactose intolerant? No problem. Butter can be a lactose intolerance friendly option. With .003 g lactose, a teaspoon of butter contains little to no lactose.

Taking It To The Airways in South Carolina

It was my pleasure to appear with my friend morning co-host, Jamarcus Gaston at WSPA-TV in Greenville SC, on Monday December 11 to talk about several ways to Butter Up Your Holiday Season. When we took this pic, the background for the next segment was already up on the screen.

But, you gotta love the backdrop the station set up for me! Missed it? You know I have you covered – here is the link, you can watch the segment right here. Give it a watch and let me know what you think!

The result of the segment is this quick list of delicious recipes. Enjoy them for the holidays, but use them all year long.

How to Soften Real Butter

Since we are all doing a lot of baking during the holiday season, let’s start with how to soften butter for cookies, cakes and buttercream icing. Softening is not the same thing as melting. When you melt, you go from a solid to a liquid. When you soften, you go from a solid, to a softer solid. Think about it like selecting a perfect peach or avocado. Your want the butter to yield slightly to the touch when you press into the stick with your finger or thumb.

To that end, here is the easiest way to soften a solid stick – forget the microwave – all you need is an empty jar. First, warm the jar up by filling it with hot water – from your sink or from your kettle. Let the hot water sit in the jar for 30 seconds or so and then pour it out. Meanwhile, stand a firm wrapped stick of butter on one end. Place the warm jar over the stick of butter on your counter or cutting board. Let stand for a couple of minutes. Remove the jar and your butter will be soft enough to spread on toast. blend into a compounded condiment ( see below) or whip into a sweet buttercream frosting.

How to Make Buttercream Frosting or Icing

Making homemade buttercream is so incredibly easy. A stand mixer with a paddle attachment makes it even easier, but you can do it with a hand held mixer or a food processor as well. Its simply a blend of softened butter, powdered sugar a bit of heavy cream and a flavoring.

For a basic recipe, use 1 cup of softened butter and 3 cups of powdered sugar. Blend the two together until all of the powdered sugar is absorbed into the butter. Add a tablespoon or two of real milk, cream or half-and-half to smooth the mix out a bit and then add a flavoring. Vanilla extract maybe the go-to for most; but don’t be afraid to get creative. I love adding in Muddy River Carolina Coffee Rum, or you can use any other liqueur or non-alcoholic syrup.

Or follow the lead of Asheville-based pastry chef Whitney King, who cooked this fabulous sweet potato bundt cake with me at the NC Mountain State Fair cooking stage. Whitney boiled down several cans of Sarilla Tea ( based in Asheville) to make a DIY syrup in place of the vanilla. And, instead of adding the cream or milk to smooth the mix out a bit, add a tablespoon of mashed sweet potato or pumpkin puree.

How to Make Your Own Butter

This is a fun one. And, You kids are going to love lending a hand. Simply pour heavy cream into a clean glass jar. Now shake it. Shake it for the next 4-5 minutes.

In the process first the cream will whip and then it will start to separate. The separation is what we want. After 5 minutes or so you will have curds and whey – just like Miss Muffet. The curds are butter. The whey is the liquid that remains from the butter making process. Pull the clump of butter our of the jar. Season it with a bit of salt if you would like. Shape into a ball, disc or log and refrigerate until cold and firm. The serve or use in a recipe as you would like.

How to Make Homemade Boursin Cheese

Here’s a fun and easy cheesy appetizer to make during the holiday season and throughout the rest of the year as well. The base is simply butter and real whole milk cream cheese. For the holidays you can take that same old – same old cheese ball up a notch, and shape this into a wreath or a tree to serve to guests with your favorite local crackers. You’ll find the recipe in a blog post all its own, right here.

Making Compounded Butters

The prep here is super simple. And the presentation is sure to wow all of your dinner guests no matter the time of year. Start with a stick of softened butter and then use a fork or a food processor to mash in your favorite flavoring. Here I used tomato powder from the Savory Spice Shop in Charlotte to make a tomato butter. A quarter cup of so of fresh minced parsley and a teaspoon or so of dried Herbs De Provence to make a green herb butter; and some finely minced kalamata olives to make an olive butter. You can present the butters in these tiny ceramic ramekins and present the trio at each place setting. You can find them here, in my Amazon store in the section on great cooking gadgets and fun for entertaining.

Knives are for Spreading; Spoons are for Basting

When you serve you compounded butters you’ll also want to have small butter knives for each guest at each place setting. But when you are cooking with butter and say, butter basting a steak or butter poaching some root veggies, you’ll want to use a spoon.

Find a metal spoon that you love. One with a deep bowl like a large soup spoon or serving spoon. And then pull out your favorite cast iron pan. If you know me, you know I love the local line up of cast iron from my friends at Carolina Cooker.

Now, all you need is some fresh herbs. I like to use springs of fresh rosemary, sage and thyme plus some fresh bay leaves from my bay tree.

And then you’ll need the steaks. Lots of great local options here. For this post and the TV segment I sourced a NY Strip and a Ribeye from Shelley Eagan of Proffitt Family Farms in Kings Mountain. Shelley sells at the Matthews Community Farmers Market every other week. She’ll be back there on December 30. Or, buy from her at the farm store. Get all the details here.

Or, Look to Colfax Creek Farm in Bostic NC or Underwood Family Farm in Lawndale NC, both in Building A at the Charlotte Regional Farmers Market on Saturdays. Or order online for home delivery from Shipley Farms Beef or BFR Meats, both in Boone. If, you’d like to try some local Wagyu beef, check out Wilders Wagyu in Turkey NC and order online here.

How to Butter Baste a Steak

I watched chefs do this for years and once I tried it myself, I don’t think I’ll ever cook a steak any other way again. Its so simply. Just season the steaks on both sides with salt and pepper. Then, heat the cast iron pan on high heat, melt a stick of butter and add the herbs to the pan. The add the steaks, You want them to sizzle when you add them. I know you’ll want to turn down the heat, but don’t. Instead. Tilt the pan toward you with one hand and with the other use the spoon to scoop of the now herb-infused butter and baste it over the steaks. Keep basting over and over again.

After a couple of minutes, turn the steaks and then contine to butter baste. Shouldn’t take longer than 4-5 minutes in all ( that’s just a minute or two on each side) for lovely medium rare results.

Remove the pan from the heat and allow the steaks to sit and rest in the herb butter for a minute or so. Remove the steaks from the pan and allow to rest for another 2-3 minutes to secure the juices. Then slice and serve alongside potatoes or rice napped with the herb butter. Oh My!

Butter poached veggies

You can use the same technique with fish or veggies. Root veggies like these locally sourced Easter Egg Radishes, Hakurie turnips, Watermelon radishes and carrots all combine to make a lovely side dish. For the best presentation cut the tiny radishes and turnips in half leaving on a bit of their green stems for color. Peel and cut the carrots into one or two bite-sized, 1-inch chunks.

Simply melt butter in a cast-iron pan over high heat. Add the veggies and season with salt and pepper. Allow the veggies to caramelize (aka brown) in the hot butter. Then add about a half cup of water or chicken or veggie stock the hot pan; cover and allow to steam for a minute or so. Serve hot sprinkled with a bit of fresh parsley.

Finally, The Infamous Butter Candle

I know, I know. if you’ve been scrolling social media feeds, you’ve probably seen this viral trend. But, I think I made it better.

If you can melt butter, you can make this candle. Melt butter on the stovetop or microwave.

For best results, clarify the butter by spooning off the white foam on the surface. Pour the clear golden melted butter into a pretty ceramic serving bowl or a small copper saucepan. Stop pouring when you get to the white-ish whey at the bottom of the clarified butter. If you’d like you can add a local honey or a mustard to the butter to up the game just a bit. I love this butter mixed with a bit of Turmeric Zone Ceylon Cinnamon & Cloves Honey.

Make wicks for your candle out of kitchen twine. Secure the wicks with a chipstick. Pour in the melted butter and refrigerate it till set. Cut the wicks off of the chopstick. Sprinkly a little sea salt across the surface of the butter. Or you can fancy it up a bit with light dusting of edible glitter. Serve with the bread course at your next dinner. Simply light the wicks to melt the butter and guest can dip in their bread and enjoy.

I wish I had a link for the cute copper pans I used here. But truth is I found them last year at my local Aldi and haven’t seen them since. But here is a link to another I think will work very nicely. You’ll find the edible glitter in the same spot.