I haven't been doing anything adventurous in the kitchen (or anywhere else) lately, but this handy trick for making easy-to-spread butter is something I've been doing for months and have been meaning to share.
For years I assumed the pricey "spreadable butter" on the market is blended with oils in some sort of fancy industrial process. And it probably is. It never occurred to me to try to make it myself.
This simple and effective method comes from Nancy Birtwhistle, a Great British Bake Off champion and author of four books on "green living." She generously shares loads of recipes and tips online, including this one, so I think it's okay to describe it here.
Nancy recommends using a handheld "electric whisk" - not sure what that is but I have a handheld mixer and use that - to cream butter for a couple of minutes. Then gradually add an oil (in a bit more than 1/3 the weight/volume of the butter), whisking constantly to emulsify. So far I've used grapeseed oil, canola oil, and olive oil. So far they have all been delicious.
The whole process takes just a few minutes, including transferring the mixture into containers for refrigeration or use. The clean-up actually takes longer for me, in part because I make a pot of bulgur at the same time and when the spreadable butter is done I "pre-wash" the buttery beaters by sinking them briefly in the hot bulgur so not a bit of the butter will be wasted.
I love butter but I don't love trying to scrape hard butter across a piece of bread. This has been a very helpful tip for me. Maybe for you, too?
p.s. Just found an Instagram post from Nancy last year, demonstrating her technique. Fingers crossed the link works - I don't know much about IG.
p.p.s. Turns out I do have an "electric whisk" - every day's a school day!
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