Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Spreadable Country Butter

Otherwise known as I-Can't-Believe-It's-Not-Margarine, this is a great way to stretch butter a little further, while making it softer and easier to spread.

Slather it on youf toast, pancake or biscuit straight from the refrigerator, no waiting for it to soften. Country Butter can also be frozen for up to 1 year.

No special container or crock is needed. If you will be storing it in the refrigerator, a pretty glass dish with a lid is particularly nice. I generally use plastic containers for the freezer.

So simple... only 3 ingredients. Whip the butter and oil first until very smooth, then add in the buttermilk and continue mixing. And no, you can't taste the buttermilk! Trust me, there are those amongst us who would not let it cross their lips if they could taste the buttermilk :)

Since we typically don't use buttermilk for anything else, I increase the recipe until I use up the whole quart. Then we have enough country butter to last many months in the freezer (and no wasted buttermilk).

Pour the creamy country butter into your containers. They can be enormous or minuscule...whatever best fits the size of your family. Even though this is a freezer recipe, it's not just for large families!


And here they are, ready for their trip to the freezer.
Country Butter
1 pound butter, softened
1 cup vegetable oil (your preference)
1 cup buttermilk
The butter must be very soft, but not melted. Whip together the butter and oil until smooth and glossy. Add the buttermilk and continue mixing until creamy. Store in tightly covered containers. Keeps in the refrigerator 2 months and freezes for up to 1 year.
Country Butter works for me. See what works for others at Works For Me Wednesday.
Visit Kitchen Stewardship for more Healthy Fat Recipes as part of the October Fest Carnival of Super Foods.

11 comments:

Cheryl said...

I have to try this, thanks! I would give some of it away though.

Anonymous said...

can you use it like butter in recipes?

Shelley said...

It is very similar to I can't believe it's not butter or tub margarine in texture. So you could use it in any recipe that one of those would work in. We mainly use it as a spread for toast, biscuits, baked potatoes and the like ;o)

Rosemary said...

What a great idea! My youngest son is forever complaining that he missing the days when we ate margarine because he can't spread our "real" butter on toast. Hooray, this will make him so happy- thanks for posting this!

Rosemary said...

Hooray! I tried this recipe this morning and it got rave reviews. The kids immediately asked me to make toast so they could "slather" it all over the bread!

I made a much smaller scale version because I was low on butter. I used 8 TBS butter, 8 TBS buttermilk, 8 TBS mild tasting Olive oil. I almost tried the coconut oil instead, but I was afraid that my husband would figure out the coconut was in it and he wouldn't touch it (since it was unrefined coconut oil).

There is one happy little boy at my house right now. No more complaints about "hard butter". Hooray!

Shelley said...

Thanks for the update Rosemary! Good to know it works on a smaller scale too...and that it makes little boys happy ;o)

SnoWhite said...

Thanks! Can you make it with olive oil?

Rachel R. said...

I don't think I would use it for baking. The reason spreads don't work well for baking is that they have had air whipped into them, which interferes with the measurement of them, as well as adding additional air to the recipe. My guess is that this would have similar problems in baking.

Shelley said...

Hi Rachel- Yeah, it's not for baking and is meant for table use...toast, biscuits, pancakes, etc. It just makes butter soft and spreadable, like tub margarine. Except it's butter, which is better for you :)

Anne said...

I have tried something similar, except without the buttermilk. I'll have to try it with buttermilk!

Kitchen Stewardship said...

This is super cool! Did you know you can make yr own buttermilk? Just put a 1/4 cup into a quart of milk and leave it on the counter for 24 hours. Ta da! Buttermilk. You can freeze a little and never have to buy it again!

Thanks for linking into the October Fest carnival,
Katie

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