A friend and I were just discussing the virtues of butter. To be more precise, I was oozing with my love for butter and in a mission to convince her (friend, not butter) that it is worth the sacrifice of fat when it comes to baking. Forget about the fat, think of the flavor! Omg, do it for the children. [Hmmm...children of the dairy fat?] Jokes aside, I told her I would rather use real butter and eat in moderation than let the integrity of the recipe suffer.
Oh, here it comes….words I would have to eat.
After all my Hail Butter! Hail Butter! I found another test of my love for it. Imagine seeing the LA Times recipe for Water Kringle and searching for the butter in the recipe and being face-planted with more than half a pound of…M-MM…M-Margarine. And not a single trace of butter. Oh, my.
What’s a girl who’s never bought it or touched it in over a decade to do? Run out for some before her midnight baking spree? I put on my stubborn hat and told the recipe that it will have to do with butter. And while I was at it, I also took the liberty of omitting the vanilla custard or thick custard crème. Just because…
Sometimes I offer my sacred flours to failure experimentation. Behold, Exhibit A:
Water Kringle Deconstructed
Lightly flavored cinnamon bread with delicious brown butter cinnamon praline never looked so good, yet disappointing and humbling. I didn’t even continue to make the frosting and proceeded to gnaw at my defeat with a cup of coffee. Yes, the filling escaped! ACK!
All the hard work and mess of a counter looked so promising, too.
This weekend, we shall meet again, Danish pastry. I’ll come armed with margarine and custard. If you guys want to bake along with me, the recipe is here.
So what are you planning to make this weekend? Are you trying to conquer a particular recipe like I am?
I do have to say that Becel margarine with olive oil rivals butter… hey, have you thought of using I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter?! Though I do love butter. Mmm.
This weekend I’m hoping to make black sticky rice pudding, but I’ve put it off for so long that I’ll probably keep putting it off. Sick anyways :(
Sandy´s last [type] ..cough cough splutter
This will make me sound like a snob, but I’ve never even tried Becel because I refused to touch it. LOL. I saw ICBINB in my mom’s fridge and was mortified, but I did try it and didn’t like it. I bought 3 pounds of butter so I will be making this again tomorrow.
I don’t think I’ve ever tried black sticky rice pudding — is it an Asian dish? Hope you feel better birthday, girl!
“Do it for the children!” Hehe! You totally crack me up! I’ll definitely have to try this recipe. Even if it does call for margarine.
Margarine or not I think that looks lovely.Your hard work definetly shows and I bet it tastes delicious!
Look on the bright side, Joy: you managed to get not only a beautiful photo, but a post out of this experiment as well. I made hamantaschen last week and ran out of homemade apricot filling halfway through, so I filled the rest with jelly from my fridge. When I took them out, the jelly had seeped out, glued itself to the silpat, and burnt to a black, bitter crisp. Um, oops?
Good luck with the next batch!
cheryl´s last [type] ..Confessions of a Cart-Stalker