The Better Rosemary Honey Butter

In my household, milk was purchased from the local chain grocery store and there was always a tub of margarine rather than butter on the third shelf of our fridge. As a result, my appreciation for high-quality dairy didn't begin until I was in high school and well entrenched in my cooking love affair. Getting my drivers license was a sweet, blissful milestone because it meant drives to the farmers market were within my reach and no longer dependent upon my mother's schedule. Between the sundry booths of the South Pasadena farmer's market, I learned that fresh eggs are golden and unprocessed cream is liquid heaven.  

squeezing water/buttermilk from the butter

This was the starting point of my fascination with homemade butter. Not only did I get to collect the bragging rights for butter that I made myself, but the taste was worth so much more than the energy it took to flip the switch on my Kitchen-Aid stand mixer. Spread on hearty slices of home baked bread, its delicious. Combined with a touch of maple syrup to glaze carrots, it’s marvelous. But what gets me the most excited is aerating it into pillowy folds as I brown sugar to make a batch of cookies. That is priceless. 

plain butter

I have been so satisfied with making unsalted and lightly salted butter that I never even bothered to think of the other possibilities. Butter is just as blank a canvas as a plate of pasta, (ooh rosemary buttered pasta...) and there are so many possibilities to make something unique. Nothing beats the savory, resinous flavor of rosemary combined with a touch of honey.

mixed with rosemary, salt, and honey

buttered toast

placed in jars to be given to friends

Be warned that if you make this butter, naturally you'll want to make a loaf of bread to go with it. And once you have the bread you'll insist on making yourself some stone fruit preserves. It really just all spirals out of control in a very If-You-Give-a-Pig-a-Pancake-esque sort of manner.

RECIPE

ingredients

• 1-pint heavy cream

• 1½ teaspoon salt

• 1/2 generous teaspoon minced rosemary

• 2 tbsp honey 

DIRECTIONS

1.  Pour cream into a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment.  
2.  Mix cream on high for 10 minutes. (Cream should form stiff peaks, then begin to turn lumpy and moderately sketchy looking).
3.  Pour the watery lumps of butter into a towel and squeeze off as much water as possible (save this water because it's buttermilk!)
4.  Put the butter back into the stand mixer, but this time fitted with a paddle. Whip for a few minutes at a medium speed. 
5.  Once again put butter into a towel and squeeze off the last traces of buttermilk. 
6.  Place butter into a dry stand mixer fitted with the paddle and add salt, rosemary, and honey. Whip until ingredients are well distributed.
7.  Remove from bowl and place into jars.