{"id":196,"date":"2012-04-17T04:42:00","date_gmt":"2012-04-17T04:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/memoirmunchies.com\/?p=196"},"modified":"2012-04-17T04:42:00","modified_gmt":"2012-04-17T04:42:00","slug":"fancy-schmancy-butter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/memoirmunchies.com\/?p=196","title":{"rendered":"Fancy Schmancy Butter"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Lemon dill butter (top)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Remember having honey butter on warm biscuits or cornbread at your great aunt’s house? Oo, I do.
\u00a0I think she bought it in a jar, but I have made it since and was surprised at how EASY it is.<\/p>\n

My first introduction to a COMPOUND BUTTER<\/span> was that silky, drippy honey butter that got all over my fingers, the tablecloth, and my shirts as a child. I don’t eat a lot of butter and have reduced it significantly in baking\/cooking, so I don’t think of making butter<\/i> recipes<\/i> as a healthy practice in my attempt to eat whole foods. HOWEVER<\/span>, in small amounts, a bit of a compound butter can significantly kick up the flavor in mashed potatoes, a fish dish, or other meal. They add moisture and a bit of creaminess to leftover chicken, rice and pastas, as well. My photo examples aren’t the prettiest, which means practice makes perfect, but they taste pretty darn good. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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Strawberry butter<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Varieties<\/span> of compound butters and their parings:<\/p>\n

Honey Nut Butter (2 sticks butter, 3 TB chopped nuts, 4 TB honey): on toast, waffles, pancakes, or English muffins<\/p>\n

Berry Butter (1 stick butter, 2-3 TB berry jam): on toast, in oatmeal (a dab!), on crackers, rolls, waffles or pastries<\/p>\n

Pesto Butter (1 stick butter + 2 TB pesto spread): on chicken, fish, pork, in rice, pasta, on a baguette, roll, or breadstick, onto corn on the cob, broccoli, asparagus, add in olive oil- or broth-based sauces<\/p>\n

Citrus Butter (2 sticks butter + zest of 1 lemon and 1 lime): on fish, scones, biscuits, in rice, risotto, on cornbread or pastries, on veggies<\/p>\n

Lemon-Dill Butter (2 sticks butter + 1\/4 cup fresh chopped dill + zest of 1 lemon + 2 TB lemon juice + dash of salt and pepper): on fish, chicken (adds moisture to leftovers!), pork, pasta, breads, and veggies, add in olive oil- or broth-based sauces, on baked potatoes and in mashed potatoes<\/p>\n

Honey-Sage Butter (1 stick butter + 2 TB honey + 1 1\/2 TB dried sage): on fish, pork, breads, carrots…experiment with this one, which is a little different!<\/p>\n

Directions for all varieties:<\/span><\/p>\n

Step One and Only: Soften butter, don’t melt it. In a bowl, combine all ingredients and use the back of a large spoon to work the toppings into the butter until all blended.<\/p>\n

Storage: Keep in a sealed container OR wrap in wax paper and store in a small box container (butter will mold into the shape of the container) OR wrap in wax paper and roll into round logs.<\/p>\n

Fridge or Freeze? Either one works well. With the recipes with fruits or fresh herbs, I’d freeze them and just slice of a TB or so when you need it. If you (or your kids) are a lover of plain jane noodles, add a pat of the pesto or lemon-dill butter for a little kick of flavor. <\/p>\n

Compound butter (in little jars or in wax paper “sticks”) make great gifts for dinner party guests.<\/p>\n

Special thanks <\/span>to these folks for the ideas and lessons on compound butter:
A beautiful mess<\/a>
Alton Brown<\/a>
Serious eats<\/a>
Simple bites<\/a><\/p>\n

I’m in Waco this week, in the next-to-last week of my formal education career. Hope you’re having fun wherever you are!<\/p>\n

Happy eating!
Laurel<\/div>\n

~Laurel~<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lemon dill butter (top) Remember having honey butter on warm biscuits or cornbread at your great aunt’s house? Oo, I do.\u00a0I think she bought it in a jar, but I have made it since and was surprised at how EASY … Continue reading →<\/span><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[146,77,152,106,153],"class_list":["post-196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-berries","tag-butter","tag-jam","tag-lemon","tag-pesto"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/memoirmunchies.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/memoirmunchies.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/memoirmunchies.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/memoirmunchies.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/memoirmunchies.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=196"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/memoirmunchies.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/memoirmunchies.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/memoirmunchies.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/memoirmunchies.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}