Eat,  read

Making Butter Spreadable… and Healtheir

It’s been awhile since I took the time to take those cold hard-as-brick sticks of butter and put them into a spreadable form. Finally, I grew weary of seeing those sticks re-wrapped, clumsily, covered in crumbs stuck back on the shelf in the fridge.

It took so little time, too. Why did I wait to long? Here’s how I do it:


I use real butter. Most of the ” healthy spreads” are full of hydrogenated oils, so I feel safer using butter. Plus, butter tastes good; I use it, a lot, and I hate it when the butter is hard, and it rips your bread when you try to spread it around. Here’s how to cut some of the fat, without spoiling butter’s perfect taste.

This tip was in one of my favorite cooking manuals, by Sally Schneider, A New Way to Cook (notice I said manual not book. It’s a manual, because it has so many amazing tips and formulas for transforming food.) Sally calls this “margarine”, and it was devised by Sally’s sister Susy. (OK, that’s the real reason I like this.)

Right before you make your next batch of cookies, preferably in the mixer of food processor, pull out a stick (8oz.) of real butter (softened), 1/2 cup grapeseed, canola, or mild extra-virgin olive oil, (always in a glass bottle, as plastic reacts with oil), and 3/4 teaspoon of kosher salt. Mix until completely creamy.

Transfer to a container, cover and refrigerate. It keeps for several weeks. I usually double the batch, because we go through a lot of pancakes.

I came up with the cookie idea — I mean you’re going to be filling that bowl with butter anyway, so you might as well make some cookies, right?

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