GOLDEN WONDER
Brush up on butters before you buy, bake or cook
If you’re like most home cooks, you’ll be buying a lot of butter in the next few weeks. Butter, the versatile pale yellow reward that comes after churning cream, seems to enhance just about everything it touches, from pancakes and popcorn to burgers and fish. For holiday meals, entertaining and cookie baking, it’s practically indispensable. “Sales of butter do spike during the holidays as we all don our aprons and start baking,” said Jen Walsh of the Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin. In fact, U.S. retail butter sales for November and December can easily double compared with most months. For example, just under 49 million pounds of butter was sold during a four-week period ending Aug. 7, 2016, according to Walsh. Contrast that with a four-week period ending Nov. 27 of that same year when it jumped to over 103 million pounds of butter. December was right behind it with nearly 100 million pounds sold. That’s a lot of cutouts, spritzes and gingerbread. It’s time to go big and go buttery.
But if you’ve peeked in the dairy case lately, what about those new butter choices? Is it worth paying more for Amish-style or premium butter? What do sales trends say?
Last year, nearly 780 million pounds of butter was sold at the retail level in the U.S., according to Walsh. From 2011 to 2016, both salted and unsalted butter volume sales steadily rose, as well as sales of specialty butter. European/Irish type, sweet- and savory-flavored, sea salted, light and organic butters all substantially jumped in volume sales. Butter that is free of GMOs, hormones and preservatives also increased.
All of these choices means it’s become a little more complicated to pick up a pound of butter.
Good Wisconsin butter
Keep in mind we have it pretty good here in the Dairy State.
“Wisconsin has lots of butter available and has some of the best in the country. We are always in the top of the contests for butter,” according to Wisconsin butter maker Al Bekkum, owner of Nordic Creamery in Westby, southeast of La Crosse in Wisconsin’s Driftless Area.
The Bekkum family farmstead was established by his Norwegian ancestors in 1917, during the First World War.
Since then, Nordic Creamery has garnered many awards at U.S. and World Championship Cheese Contests for both its butter and cheese.
“I like to take a raw product (cream) and handcraft it into a work of art (butter) that people can enjoy,” Bekkum explained. This past spring, at the World Championship Cheese Contest, Nordic received a gold medal for its garlic and basil butter. The prior year at the U.S. Championship Cheese Contest, Nordic received gold medals for its cultured butter and cinnamon sugar butter.
Bekkum mentioned Organic Valley as another quality butter producer in Wisconsin. Overall, the fresher the butter
is, the better, he said, so check for expiration dates on labels.
The label’s dairy code is another helpful clue, especially if you like to buy Wisconsin butter. Just enter the dairy code printed on the package at whereismymilkfrom.com to see where the package of butter was made.
The dairy code locator works for many other products, too, including milk, yogurt, cottage cheese and ice cream. It’s especially helpful to find information on private-label and store-brand dairy products.
Cookie time
For butter, the culinary applications are just about endless: sweet or savory, within a recipe or just at the table.
Bekkum’s all-time favorite way to enjoy butter is simply spread on toast, followed by using it in chocolate chip cookies, then in shrimp or chicken entrées.
When baking, butter makes a big difference. “Yes, the butter flavor is the star of the show,” Bekkum said. “My favorite butter has to be our Summer Butter. Nothing beats a grass-based butter.”
The creamery’s summer butter is made when the grass is growing and its cows are on pasture. Late fall through spring, the creamery sells its Harvest Butter, made when the cows eat harvested hay and grains.
With plain bread, Bekkum likes cultured butter. “I add a live culture to the cream, which is allowed a day to incubate before being churned into butter. This creates a very flavorful butter, sweet and tangy and delicious.”
Cow breed does not seem to matter.
“I don’t think the breed of cow has as much to do with it as does what the cows are eating,” Bekkum said.
Some shoppers might bristle at the cost of artisan butter.
“Yes, handcrafted products generally have a higher price point,” he said. “But they carry a much greater value.”
For cookie-specific baking, America’s Test Kitchen recommends only regular unsalted butter in its book, “The Perfect Cookie Book” (2017). Land O Lakes unsalted butter received top ratings in the test kitchen’s taste tests for its clean dairy flavor. The raters did not think higher-fat butter was worth the extra money when used in baking.
With cookies, butter adds a rich flavor and helps determine how tender or crumbly the cookie is. The butter temperature at the time of mixing will affect the finished cookies. If a recipe calls for softened butter, let it sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes. The stick should easily bend without breaking.
Some home cooks substitute less-expensive shortening for half the butter in cookies. This produces a taller, more cakelike and less-sprawling cookie. But if you want the richest flavor with moderate chew, stick Here are both sweet and savory recipes to help satisfy your need for creamy butter flavor until the pie and cookie baking commences.
Enjoy homemade buttermilk biscuits with this nonfussy recipe.
Buttermilk Biscuits
Makes 9 biscuits
2 cups flour (may substitute up to 1⁄2 cup whole-wheat flour)
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1⁄2 teaspoon baking soda
1⁄2 cup (1 stick) cold butter
1 cup buttermilk (whole or reduced-fat)
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder and baking soda. Using a pastry blender, two knives or your fingertips, cut butter into flour mixture until small lumps of butter still remain. Stir in all but about 1 tablespoon of the buttermilk until a rough dough forms. Knead 6 times.
On a lightly-floured surface, press dough flat with your hands so dough is about 3⁄4 inch thick. Cut with a 2 1⁄2-inch round biscuit cutter and place biscuits about 1⁄2 inch apart on a lined baking sheet. Lightly brush tops with remaining 1 tablespoon buttermilk.
Bake in preheated oven 18 to 20 minutes or until slightly browned. Cool on a wire rack at least 10 minutes before serving. with all butter.
Melting the butter will deliver maximum chewiness and spreading, if that’s your goal; just remember to slightly cool the butter so you don’t heat up the other ingredients in the bowl.
For storing, refrigerate butter up to a month. For longer keeping, go ahead and freeze. Ditch the awkward cardboard box most stick butter comes in and pop into a zipper-lock bag, recommends America’s Test Kitchen. This lets you quickly assess your butter situation with a glance and prevents any odor or flavor transference from last night’s chili stored in the refrigerator.
Jennifer Rude Klett is a Wisconsin freelance writer of history, food, and Midwestern life. Contact her at jrudeklett.com. This recipe for Ina Garten’s Coconut Cupcakes produces fluffy mounds of buttery flavor and texture. European-style butter was used to boost the creamy butterfat appeal.
Coconut Cupcakes
Makes 14 cupcakes
Cupcakes:
1 1⁄ cups flour
2
1⁄2 teaspoon baking powder
1⁄4 teaspoon baking soda
1⁄4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
3⁄4 cup (1 1⁄2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
3 eggs
3⁄4 teaspoon vanilla extract
3⁄4 teaspoon almond extract 1⁄2 cup buttermilk (whole is best, but reduced-fat may be substituted)
1 bag (7 ounces) shredded sweetened coconut (divided)
Cream cheese icing:
6 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1⁄2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1⁄2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1⁄4 teaspoon almond extract
2 1⁄2 cups powdered sugar
Make cupcakes: Insert 14 paper cups into 2 1⁄2-inch muffin cups. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
In a large mixing bowl using an electric mixer, beat sugar and butter on medium speed 3 minutes or until light and fluffy. Reduce mixer speed to low and add eggs one at a time, beating 1 minute after each egg. Add vanilla and almond extracts and mix well. Beat on low speed while alternatively adding flour mixture and buttermilk until just combined. Fold in 1 ⁄3 cups of the coconut.
1
Fill muffin cups almost full with batter. Bake in preheated oven 23 to 28 minutes or until tops are golden. Remove cupcakes from pan to a wire rack to cool completely.
Make cream cheese icing: In a large mixing bowl, beat together cream cheese, butter and vanilla and almond extracts until light and fluffy. Gradually add powdered sugar and beat well.
Frost cupcakes with icing and sprinkle with remaining coconut to serve.