| Photo by Christina Hoheisel (PS: Christina not only did a fantastic job photographing the Buttah, but went out and found the ingredients, ordered the molds and tackled the recipe, mastering it on the first try! Thank you so much, Christina!) |
You may wonder why a food writer like me, who advocates very moderate use of fat in the diet, would take the time to develop a full-fat homemade vegan buttery spread.
About 2 1/2 years ago (was it really that long ago?) a woman whom I have admired from afar for years wrote to me. Her name is Kay Bushnell and I have read her vegan cooking column, Cooking Green, in the Loma Prietan Sierra Club Newsletter for years. Kay asked me if there was an alternative to vegan margarines utilizing palm oil and outlined the reasons why she was asking.
I’m ashamed to admit that it took me so long to act on what Kay was telling me. However, I never forgot about what Kay told me, or her request. When 2012 arrived, with my new book finally launched, I decided that this would be my first project for the New Year, and I wrote to Kay to let her know that I was committing to developing an alternative product. She signed on as a tester, and I later recruited a few more.
I have been working on this recipe since the beginning of January 2012. I wanted it to look and taste and behave much like dairy butter. I wanted to be able to use it in baking. I wanted it to be easy and quick to make, with minimal equipment required. I wanted it to cost no more than the most popular vegan margarine. I wanted options to make it with organic and even fair trade ingredients. And I wanted—no, required-- it to have a healthy balance of saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, with the monounsaturated fat playing the starring role—and that meant that my recipe would NOT be coconut oil-based.
I’m happy to say that I have succeeded on all counts! Organic fair trade cocoa butter mixed with oil high in monounsaturated fat proved to be the answer, along with a few other simple ingredients. (You can read about the qualities of cocoa butter in the material below.) I tested it in vegan icing, pie crust, cake, scones and biscuits, with no problems at all.
Buttah is really delicious and, besides proving itself in the baking department, it has passed the taste-test with two picky 12-year-old granddaughters (not vegan), a table-full of omni dinner guests who nearly finished off a whole batch, and a mixed bag of tasters at a cocktail party. So, I’m proud to put my name on a homemade product which, as Erik Marcus of vegan.com says, is “… a butter recipe capable of destroying your cravings for dairy products.”
YOU WON’T FIND THE ACTUAL RECIPE HERE ON THIS BLOG, THOUGH…Erik Marcus of vegan.com has provided me with a platform larger than my own to introduce my recipe to the vegan community-- here is the recipe link. But, before you jump over to the recipe, please bear with me for a few minutes. Though the recipe itself is simple and quick to make, you’ll have greater success with it if you read the information I have compiled on a dedicated Buttah page on this blog concerning ingredients, molds and equipment, where to purchase them, nutrition, and fat breakdown. In addition, there is material on the palm oil question and the threat to orangutans at the end of that page.
So, good readers, before you jump over to vegan.com for the recipe and get started, please read the important information on my dedicated Buttah page... and then have fun making your own vegan Buttah!
Thank you for your patience in waiting for the recipe and in reading through all of my information. I sincerely hope that you enjoy making and using Buttah, and pass on the palm oil info to others, including food companies. In fact, let's write to our favorite food companies and let them know that we love their vegan product(s), but could they please find an alternative to palm oil, because....
| Photo by Christina Hoheisel (PS: Christina not only did a fantastic job photographing the Buttah, but went out and found the ingredients, ordered the molds and tackled the recipe, mastering it on the first try! Thank you so much, Christina!) |
PS: A BIG “THANK YOU”, BTW, to Mattie at veganbaking.net for his ground-breaking recipe for "Vegan Butter", which provided a launching pad for developing my own recipe. Mattie provides so many details about how butter works and how the ingredients in his recipe work. I was aiming for a product with much less saturated fat, but his work is invaluable.)
PPS: If you have any questions about the recipe, ingredients, etc., please don’t bother Erik-- contact me. You're welcome to link to Erik's page or this page--we encourage sharing-- but I prefer that you do not reproduce the recipe. The development of this recipe took me much time and effort, and 2+ months of testing, and I'm quite proud of it. I'm sharing it for no remuneration, so I hope that everyone will respect this simple request and send people to back this page if they like the recipe. Thank you very much!
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On Mango Trifle with Indian Spices, from my new book, 
On a peach shortcake
", and Portland's 
") for the first time. It is a bit of a blur with all the new faces! 
Bruno
Zelda
Me, Fran Costigan, Dynise Balcavage, Julie Hasson and Bianca Phillips
Having lunch at Native Bowl-- Julie(with Zelda), Dynise, Me, Fran
As Dynise says: "4 VFF in LBD"--At the Galarama Saturday night (Dynise and Julie in the back, Gail and me in front)
Susan Voisin with Gail Davis-- 2 wonderful vegan women!
Kittee Berns and Joanna Vaught
Ginny Messina with Julie and Susan Voisin
The 3 tired organizers, Jess, Michelle and Vanessa, ready to collapse as we all took our leave!
My two younger daughters: Sarah on the L, with her youngest daughter, and Justine on the R, with her son, at the Denman Is. Blackberry Faire on Sunday.
The very 1st tomato from out garden, with a colander-full of fresh basil from the pots on our back deck.
Cherry tomatoes, both red and black, are coming now, along with yellow pattypan squash.
Grilled Peach Salad with Almost-Blue-Cheese Dressing
, crumbled 
(or with an immersion blender
) until smooth, scrape into a covered jar, and refrigerate. 
-- you could try gently rinsing the chili brine off of it if that's the only kind you can get). You want the kind with just soybeans, salt, water and wine, but if all you can find is the one with sesame oil in it, that will do. SEE MORE ABOUT THIS PRODUCT AT THIS POST.
Vegan "Fried Chickn" Salad with Agave-Mustard Dressing
Ringo and Sadie waiting for their dinner.
New recipe for luscious Blueberry Vinaigrette (see below)
Blueberry Shortcake with lemon juice and zest in the filling, along with organic sugar; a bit of corn flour in the shortcake, and my homemade Almond Cream Whipped Topping from my new book, "World Vegan Feast
"
or Old Bay Seasoning
)
. When hot, add the floured "breasts and brown them over medium-high heat on both sides. Remove them from the skillet and add the onion and garlic, salting lightly. Saute them until softened over medium-high heat, stirring often and adding a splash of water when necessary to keep from sticking. (ALTERNATIVE METHOD: While the "breasts" brown, place the onion and garlic in a microwave-safe casserole or Pyrex pie plate, salt lightly, cover and microwave for 5 to 7 minutes on High power-- or until they have softened. Remove the "breasts" from the skillet and scoop the cooked onion and garlic into the same skillet. )
A plateful of flavor!
My 2 latest cookbook purchases
Spicy mixed vegetables
Vegan vegetable raita
Got the original of the raita recipe from this book
Little poppadams crisped in the microwave with no fat
or paste of choice 
(pimenton) (you could use chipotle powder
for more heat)
)
, or warm them in a covered casserole in the oven, OR in the microwave for a minute or two (if you use the microwave, heat them AFTER the Filling is done). Here's some
s. You can also wrap them in foil and use the oven. You could wrap them in cloth and use a bamboo or other steamer
. Here is a page with examples of the many ways to heat soft tortillas: 
