Blending butter with oils?

[eridani]

I was thinking for spreadability and adding some unsaturated fats, especially since I'm finding butter on sale for $1 or $1.50 a pound. The Canola Harvest brand I ususally get is $2.40 - $2.99 a pound, so the butter is cheaper. Do any of you do this? With what oils? (I'm ruling out olive for starters.)

[elleng]

1. Dunno, but I heard about low price of butter.

Whats up with that?

[Tesha]

2. when I was having problems with milk products

I moved to Olivio -

It's made with olive oil, no transfats and tastes good... this goes on bread and in sauteing..
for baking it's always unsalted butter...

[Lucinda]

3. Sorry, I'm no help. Olive would have been my suggestion.

I don't use any other oil, except as flavoring (like a splash of sesame at the end of cooking).

[Warpy]

4. "Laurel's Kitchen" had a recipe for "better butter"

that combined butter, unsaturated oil, lecithin and either milk or water for a half strength, spreadable butter. It worked very well and I've done it during periods of poverty for many years. The only caveat is to keep it securely in the fridge because it will separate at room temperature.

USA Today ran a recipe using half butter, half oil, but it's not as stable as the "better butter" using lecithin and a little water. As I recall, it was a teaspoon of lecithin, a tablespoon of milk or water, and a half cup each of butter and oil.

Lecithin is available in both liquid and granulated form in health food stores. A mixture of half liquid lecithin and half oil makes a mixture that will render any baking pan nonstick.

On edit: use a mild oil, either refined olive or preferably safflower. Even generic, cheap vegetable oil will work.

[Arkansas Granny]

5. I have used the Land o Lakes spreadable butter with canola oil, but I don't

know what the proportions are, butter to oil. I don't use it for cooking, only for spreading, and it does spread nicely right out of the fridge. I have put it on hot vegetables and found that it doesn't melt as quickly as butter.

[eridani]

6. Found the original recipe, and it turned out to be pretty good

I doubled the recipe for a pound of butter. Left out the salt, as it was salted butter. 32 oz organic safflower was $6.39, and a couple of lecithin capsules turns out to be 1/2 tsp. I just poked holes in them and squeezed the lecithin out. The product was runny and pourable, but after putting it in two margarine containers and leaving it in the fridge for 30 min, it was solidified but spreadable. Tastes pretty good. Not all that much cheaper, though. $1 for a pound of butter, and about half of the bottle of safflower works out to $2.23 per pound of blend. Better than the regular price of $2.99, but not that much more than the $2.39 it is on sales sometimes.


Better Butter

INGREDIENTS

1 cup butter (1/2 pound) at room temperature
1 cup safflower oil
2 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons powdered non-fat milk
1/4 teaspoon lecithin
1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)


INSTRUCTIONS
Place all the ingredients in a blender or food processor. Process until smooth. Pour into containers and store in the refrigerator.