Like Butta.

Paula Dean, eat your heart out.

A few months ago, I saw a Bon Appetit piece about DIY flavored butter.  Oh yeah.  Every flavor they featured looked delicious - they each had great color, the flavors sounded amazing. So when it was time to serve up some bread at a recent dinner party, I thought I'd get creative.

My goal became orange bourbon butter - and I was delighted to find that the process was not too hard. You want the stick(s) of butter to be soft to mix in whatever you choose to flavor it with. I think salted butter is nice to add a boost of flavor in addition to whatever you add. You can leave the butter out at room temperature for a while to soften it, or put it in the microwave. It is soooo easy to overheat it, so be aware that you really only need to soften it for 5-10 seconds.

On a cutting board, lay down a piece of wax paper and get your mix-ins ready.  I finely chopped a fresh orange and added about an ounce of Buillet Bourbon to the butter and mixed it together with a spoon. Then I rolled up the butter in the paper like a Tootsie Roll and put it in the fridge to harden back into a more firm form.  You should do this early before parties so that the butter can return to a spreadable form.  This could even be an hour early, but you can do it days before if you choose because the butter will save if sealed well.

I got lucky and got the results I wanted that satisfied the dinner crowd.  Salty, sweet, and of course, like butta.  If anything, guests commented, there should be more Bourbon.

Isn't that basically always true?