Making soft butter

Butter is expensive. But our family really prefers butter over margarine, for several reasons. Butter is also rock-hard fresh out of the fridge. You know what I mean? Like when butter is so hard that it tears up a slice of bread. 

So, to address both problems (expense and spreadability), I make my own soft butter. 

Our cost for vegetable oil is quite low, about 69 cents per pound, when bought in an institutional-size container (for a post on buying in institutional-size quantities, see here). While real butter is around $1.90 per pound (on sale, and usually limited to one or two pounds, and only with a coupon). By blending vegetable oil into the butter (using about 1/3 cup of oil, for every 1 cup of butter), the cost of my soft butter is about $1.59/lb.

I have two methods for making soft butter. The ratios are the same, just a different technique mostly determined by the amount I want to make at one time.

The first is a simple process, using a spoon and dish or crock.
To make soft butter, I soften 2 sticks (1 cup) of butter on the counter for several hours. I mash it up with the back of a spoon, in a small crock, until soft and spreadable. Then I add 1/3 cup of vegetable oil, a tablespoon at a time, mixing in well.

When the oil is all mixed in, it looks quite soft  and sloppy (and will have some lumps of butter here and there. I'm not a perfectionist about this).

I cover and refrigerate. Within a couple of hours in the fridge, it will be firm, but spreadable.

The second method I use when I am making a pound or more of soft butter at a time. I use my hand mixer. I do this just prior to using my mixer to bake a cake or make a batch of cookie dough, and then use that buttery bowl afterwards for the baking batter/dough.

I put 1 or 2 pounds of butter into a large mixing bowl, and allow to soften on the counter for an hour or two. I then use my mixer to cream the butter, and add in the oil, in proportions of 3 parts butter to 1 part oil. I blend until all is incorporated, then scoop into containers for the fridge. My buttery bowl and mixer are then used to mix some cake batter/cookie dough -- no extra washing. (Obviously, this is a much more efficient method for making soft butter, than one crock at a time.)

Soft butter only takes a few minutes to make, but it really slows our consumption of an expensive ingredient.