This recipe is for really garlicy butter. Not much more to be said about it, other than it’s based on a Bon Appetit recipe.
As a quick note on the butter, spend the money on the more expensive “European” or Kerrygold-style butter. Yes, it’s more expensive, but well worth it for both buttering bread and baking.
A few words about food safety: It’s well documented that garlic added to olive oil will develop botulism. As such, making garlic oil at home needs to be done with caution. Garlic butter appears to be a lot safer, but after spending some time looking online, I found a wide variety of durations listed for which garlic butter is safe, ranging from 5 days to 1 month. The majority of web pages on the topic settled on about a week of refrigerated garlic butter is a safe lifespan.
What you’ll need
- 0.5 cups (1 stick) salted butter
- 1 head of garlic (about 11 cloves)
- About 1T chives, finely chopped (optional)
- Freshly ground black pepper or red chili flakes (optional)
What to do
Cut the butter into 8 tablespoon pieces. Put 6 of them in a small bowl and let them get to room temperature. Set the other 2 aside.
Separate the head of garlic into cloves, then flatten each clove with the side of a large knife or similar tool, and peel.
Of the garlic cloves, mince or finely grate 1 of them and add it to the 6T of softened butter. Finely chop the remaining cloves.
Now add the 2 remaining tablespoons of butter to a small nonstick frypan set over medium heat. When the butter has melted, add the finely chopped garlic. Cook, stirring often, until the garlic just starts to turn golden—this happens within a couple minutes, so pay close attention.
Transfer the melted butter and garlic to a small bowl and let it cool to room temperature. You can put it in the refrigerator for a bit to speed its cooling.
Add the room-temperature butter-garlic to the bowl of softened butter, using a fork to mash the two butters together. If adding chives, black pepper or chili flakes, do that now by mixing them into the butter.
Shape into a log and wrap in plastic or add the butter to a small, covered container. Keep chilled, and it should be safe to eat for about a week.
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