Flavored Butters for the Holidays

How’s your holiday shopping coming along? Do you need some last-minute gift ideas? Well, people are saying that Flavored Butters would make a great gift. Check out these reader reviews. Get the cook or foodie in your life a copy of the cookbook critics call “wizardry”, “festive and flavorful”, “inspiring”, and “the perfect answer for taking common dishes and kicking them up a notch”.

And how about whipping up some of the recipes in the book and giving them as hostess gifts? A basket containing a log of homemade flavored butter with a pretty butter dish and spreader would be perfect to take to at any holiday get-together.

In the spirit of the season, here’s a new flavored butter based on the Bed & Breakfast Butter recipe in the book.

Enjoy and happy holidays to you and yours!

Cranberry Bed & Breakfast Butter
Printable Recipe

4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
¼ cup Jellied Cranberry Sauce, at room temperature

Blend together the butter and cranberry sauce in a medium bowl. Form into a log and refrigerate until firm before slicing and serving, or use another shaping method described in Flavored Butters.

Makes 8 servings. Serve with muffins, scones, pancakes, waffles, toast, or other breakfast fare.

Chocolate Sand Cookies

Here's a recipe for a cookie that's fantastic to bake and give. These cookies are named for their unique sandy texture. Package them with loose leaf tea for a lovely gift.


Chocolate Sand Cookies
Printable Recipe

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
¼ cup cornstarch
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
6 ounces (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons milk, at room temperature
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Whisk together the flour, ¼ cup of the cocoa powder, cornstarch, and salt in a medium bowl. In a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat together the butter and 1/3 cup of the powdered sugar on medium until creamy. Add the milk and vanilla and mix on low until blended. Add the dry ingredients and mix on low until the dough comes together, stopping the mixer once or twice to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Scoop the dough by the tablespoonful onto parchment-lined baking trays, roll each scoop of dough into a ball, and arrange the balls about an inch apart. Bake for 16 to 18 minutes, or until the edges are firm. Transfer cookies to a rack and let cool for about half an hour, or until barely warm. Sift together the remaining 2/3 cup of powdered sugar and 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder. Roll each cookie in the powdered sugar mixture to coat.

Makes 32 to 34 cookies. Cookies keep for several days in a tightly sealed container in a cool, dry place. Perfect with a cup of Earl Grey tea.

Chocolate and Vanilla Houses

We live in a cute little chocolate house. There’s a cute little vanilla house next door. We never got to know our neighbors very well because the owner was a military man, and he was sent overseas. By some unusual coincidence, his wife and child were from Uzbekistan, which is where I was born. I was pretty excited to have a neighbor I could speak Russian with, but to my disappointment, they stayed in Uzbekistan while he was away. When they all finally seemed to settle into the vanilla house, he found out that the military was moving him to a different base, and the vanilla house went up for sale. So things have been pretty quiet over at the cute little vanilla house most of the last few years.

But I’m really happy because we finally have new neighbors! They seem like good, friendly people. They moved here from Texas, which is where we came from. So I guess that means we can speak Texan with them…which, if you’re wondering, means talk barbeque. Anyway, I wanted to welcome them to the neighborhood. So I baked them a little housewarming gift. I hope they like it!


Hazelnut, Spice & Brown Butter Muffins
Printable Recipe

4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter, diced
Nonstick pan spray, optional
3 ounces hazelnuts
2 ½ ounces sugar
2 ½ ounces light brown sugar
8 ounces all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 large eggs, at room temperature
8 ounces milk, at room temperature
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Heat a small, heavy saucepan over medium heat until very hot but not smoking. Add the butter and cook, stirring constantly, for 5 to 6 minutes, or until browned. Transfer the butter to a medium bowl and let cool.

Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Grease a standard 12-cup muffin pan with nonstick pan spray or line with paper liners. Combine the hazelnuts, sugar, and brown sugar in a food processor and pulse until finely ground. Whisk together the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder, salt, and hazelnut mixture in a large bowl. Whisk the eggs, milk, and vanilla into the butter. Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture and stir until just combined. Divide the batter among the muffin cups. Bake for 28 to 30 minutes, or until the edges of the muffins start to shrink away from the pan and a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. Let the muffins cool in the pan for about 10 minutes. Invert onto a cooling rack and finish cooling completely.

Makes 1 dozen muffins. The brown butter should be cooled but still melted when you mix the muffin batter.

Gifts

I sent my dad homemade cookies for Father’s Day. I made three types—pecan sandies, chocolate-hazelnut cookies, and French macarons. I carefully wrapped each cookie and boxed them with an ice pack so that the ganache filling in the chocolate macarons wouldn’t melt. I mailed the cookies overnight. Mom was in on the surprise, she had to be home to receive the package. But she said, “You never send me cookies.”

That, I didn’t expect, “You don’t even like cookies. What kind of cookies do you like?” My mother is the only human on the planet Earth who dislikes cookies, and she especially dislikes chocolate chip cookies. “None,” she said. Now why would I send her cookies?

So I sent her three types of Pâte de Fruit for her birthday. I made raspberry, peach, and sour cherry. I had done some intelligence gathering about her favorite fruit flavors. As soon as she received the package, Mom called to say thank you and how much she liked the candy. She thought it was store-bought at first, she can be silly that way. Then she lectured me about how I shouldn’t spend money on her for overnight shipping.

Pâte de Fruit
Printable Recipe

¾ ounce pure apple pectin
1 pound 5 ¼ ounces sugar, plus more for coating
¼ teaspoon citric acid
1 pound 2 ounces fruit puree
4 ounces glucose
1/3 ounce Kirsch

Whisk together the pectin and 2 ¼ ounces of the sugar in a small bowl. Combine the citric acid and ¼ teaspoon of water in another small bowl and stir until dissolved.

Heat the fruit puree in a large saucepan to 105˚F. Whisk in the pectin mixture and bring to a boil, whisking constantly. Whisk in the glucose and the remaining 1 pound 3 ounces of sugar. Boil, stirring constantly with a heatproof spoon, until it reaches 224˚F. Stir in the citric acid mixture and Kirsch.

Immediately pour into a candy frame on a silpat or a silpat-lined quarter sheet pan.


Let cool for a couple of hours, or until firm. Invert onto a cutting board and cut into 1-inch squares.


A few at a time, transfer to a plate of sugar and turn to coat.


Shake off any excess sugar and enjoy!

Makes a whole lot of candy, about a couple of pounds. I prefer my candies tart, so I add citric acid to the coating sugar to taste. Keeps for a couple of weeks in a tightly sealed container in a cool, dry place. Apple pectin, glucose, and citric acid are available at L’Epicerie. (Both pure apple pectin and citric acid come in powdered form.)