Sharing Mini - Orange and Huckleberry Honey Butter

Yum

I'm back with another little mini post, and once again it's a compound butter! Possibilities really are endless out there for compound butters, and I'll have more here and there in the future as I use up previous ones! This time we have a bit of a cheater, but it's a good one. This recipe combines the flavors of honey, huckleberry and orange into one nice little spread. You could use huckleberry jam for a concentrated huckleberry flavor, but in this version here we're hitting two birds with one stone and using a pre-made huckleberry honey butter to make this even easier!

---------------------------------------
Special Tools Alert!


You will need something to get orange zest with for this recipe. I have a Microplane grater, but any grater/shredder that has a "fine" option will work.

Ingredients

1/2 Cup Butter (1 stick)
1/2 Cup Huckleberry Honey
 2 Oranges (for zest)

---------------------------------------

Directions

1. Make sure your butter is softened before starting
2. Zest your two oranges into a small bowl
3. In a small mixing bowl, combine softened butter with zest and huckleberry honey. Whisk to combine.
4. Really whip it with that whisk. Store in an airtight container in the fridge for longest shelf life. Otherwise, enjoy within about two weeks at room temp!

---------------------------------------

Tips/Tricks

Once again with compound butters, almost anything is possible. Toast up a Tablespoon of pecans or walnuts and then chop them up and you have yourself an even more complex and interesting whipped butter.

Perfect for breakfasts on toast or english muffins. A great topper for pancakes or waffles if you have a berry syrup to accompany it.

If you wanted to use huckleberry jam instead, use 1/4th Cup Jam and 1/4th Cup Honey to keep the proportions about the same.

---------------------------------------

Sharing Mini - Roasted Red Pepper Cream Cheese Dip with Sriracha and Garlic

Yum
Serves 6-12, takes about 5 minutes

Another mini post here, a quick, easy and delicious cream cheese based dip that's perfect for chips and crackers. I make this just about every time I host a party at my place, and it's always a hit. Roasted red bell peppers make the dip slightly sweet and smoky, while the sriracha adds some heat that is well-balanced out by the cream cheese. You'll know it's there, but it's not gonna hurt you.


----------------------------------------

For this recipe, you will need a food processor or mixer; hand or stand with whip attachment. Doing this by hand would be tedious and exhausting. I used a food processor.

----------------------------------------

Ingredients

8oz. Cream Cheese (1 block)
4 oz. Roasted Red Bell Peppers
1 Tbsp of your favorite Sriracha
1 tsp. minced garlic (2 cloves)

----------------------------------------

Directions

1. If Cream Cheese is from a block, cut into cubes so it will blend easier. Add cream cheese to processor bowl.
2. Add Roasted Peppers, Sriracha and garlic.
3. Pulse to combine. Once it looks like it's come together, use a rubber spatula to clean down the sides and push everything to the center of the bowl, then pulse until thoroughly combined.
4. Use rubber spatula to remove all the dip from the bowl into a resealable container and enjoy!

----------------------------------------

Tips/Tricks

This will last about 2 weeks in the refrigerator, but it will harden up sitting in there. So if making in advance or saving leftovers, take out about 15 minutes before you expect to use it.
You can use any sriracha sauce. I used a barrel-aged sriracha that is less hot but more sweet than your average bottle of Huy-Fong.

Sharing Mini - Cinnamon Honey Butter

Yum

Originally I intended this to be part of a larger series of compound butters, but it didn't come together in time. Instead, I decided I'd break these compound butters down into their own mini posts as I make them, so that I don't have like...6 different butters in my fridge at one time.

So today's recipe is very easy and delicious. A butter infused with cinnamon, vanilla and honey. Compound butters, sweet and savory, are an easy way to impart flavor on something without doing much work. Make the butter ahead of time and wham! you have it ready to use whenever you feeling like adding some to a meal. This butter, a cinnamon and honey butter, is my most made and used, as my breakfast most weeks includes English Muffins. Perfect as a topping for my Mexican Chocolate Banana Bread as well as cornbread and even melted and tossed with carrots. Without further ado, let's get down to it.

----------------------------------------

Ingredients

1 8oz Stick Butter, room temp
1/4th Cup Honey
1/2 tsp. Cinnamon
1/2 tsp. Pure Vanilla Extract

----------------------------------------

Directions

1. Take your room temp Butter and place it in a small mixing bowl and whisk
2. Once butter is broken down a bit and whipped up, add your Honey, Cinnamon and Vanilla
3. Whisk together to combine, making sure no butter has gone un-mixed
4. Transfer your butter to a sealable container. Can be stored room temp for about two weeks or in the fridge for about a month.

----------------------------------------

What Could I Do Differently

Really in this case, you can play around with what kind of honey you're using to great effect, as each one has it's own flavor. I'm using a hyper-local wildflower honey, made about 7 miles from my house. Want more floral notes, use a lavender infused honey. Want more citrus notes, use an orange blossom variety
.