Cookaholics Bulletin Board

How do all of you add flavors to butter and make it smooth and creamy? I added some maple syrup to some softened butter for some Blackberry Cornmeal muffins and it looks almost curdly. I have added herbs with no problem, but always have a problem with liquids like syrups, orange juice etc.

Any tricks?

Laurie

The butter has to be soft, and you can't add too much liquid. I would add orange zest and a bit of orange oil or extract. For maple try maple sugar instead of syrup.
Other wise, you just have to keep working it until it gets smooth again. A food processor can be better than a mixer for this-it adds less air.

Laurie
I keep the stick of butter on the counter overnight before I try to add flavor. Dry or moist ingredients work best, but when I do need to add a liquid, like lime juice, I do add just a little to very warm butter and beat it like crazy. When I worked at BAgel Nosh and we made "whipped butter" we put very soft butter in the big mixer added a couple of ice cubes and beat it forever. We ended up with nice aerated butter....creamy and fluffy. I don't know the science behind it, but it worked....it took forever to get it right. I've often wondered what would happen if I melted a stick of butter, then added the liquid and let it reconstitute to its spreadable texture.
ilene

Thanks Becky and Ilene.

My butter sat our all day at least 6-8 hours and I beat the crap out of it..lol. It came out OK, but not like what you may get in a restauant. I think I do such small amounts, it is an issue. If I was doing more, I would use the KA. It still tasted great.

Laurie