Serves: n/a
Approx cost: €0.90
Approx calories (per one teaspoon): ~40
Approx preparation and cooking time: ~5 minutes
[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #0B0B61;”]Yeah – that’s right – today I’m posting perhaps the easiest recipe known to mankind :). I wanted to post something festive but not long and drawn out. I wanted something which could, in theory, be whipped up by someone lacking a certain “je ne sais quoi” for the Christmas table and not have it wreck their meal planning for the day and after a bit of thought I decided that Brandy Butter was the perfect candidate. The dish, also called “Hard Sauce“, which I didn’t know until recently after a comment Kelly left here, is basically butter, sugar and some sort of hard liquor – usually brandy or rum. Despite sounding a bit… odd… it’s actually delicious and Brits usually eat an abundance of it at Christmas time, as an accompaniment to their mince pies or Christmas pudding!
In other news, this will be my last post before my vacation. I’m off to northern Sweden in a couple of days for a relaxing break with my wife at her parents’ home. It will be wonderful to get away – escaping from it all for a couple of weeks – and especially exciting for me because this will be my first winter up there. I’ve been quite a few times before but always between late April – September so it will be interesting to see how I fare. It’s actually not too cold there right now: -6 degrees Celsius. Considering a typical winter is usually at least -20 degrees Celsius or lower it should hopefully not be too bad. I look forward to sharing some photos with you during my trip, as well as on my return :). There’s also a delightful little shop in the town selling locally produced, hand-made crafts. I hope to pick up a couple and then have a giveaway or two on my blog when I’m back! As for my blogging during my time away – fear not, dear reader! Despite the Christmas fervour recently going on in my kitchen, I did find the time to whip up a couple of things to post during my absence. You’ll have to excuse the photography – it’s particularly bad – but I hope you won’t hold that against me!
In other news, thanks should go to Jen from Zestybeandog for awarding me the “Versatile Blogger Award”! You can check out the “Seven things about me” from this post. Additionally, thank you to The Orange Bee for her “Liebster” Blog Award in a recent post – It’s not my first time, but it’s always an honour to know that someone is thinking of me. Thank you both so much!
Everyone – have a wonderful Christmas, and as long as we don’t suddenly get 6 metres of snow in France which cause all the flights to be cancelled, the next time I post I’ll be in Sweden!
Ingredients
- ~100g Butter
- ~10 tbsps Icing Sugar (variable – really depends how sweet you want it)
- ~1 tbsp Brandy
Instructions
- Start off by softening the butter. I find the easiest way to do this is to blast it in the microwave on high for about 3-5 seconds. Next, dump the sugar and brandy into a bowl and mix until it is well blended together. For the French speakers among you, and also as a “did you know?” little fact, yep, I know – I put the wrong sugar out in the ingredients photo. Sucre poudre is not, despite it’s name, Icing/Confectioner’s sugar. It’s actually Caster Sugar. Icing sugar in French is Sucre Glace.
- Once you’ve achieved a result which looks roughly like the above picture, transfer to a serving dish. You can obviously refrigerate it, but ensure it’s removed and allowed to warm up prior to serving or else it will really be to hard to enjoy. Spread it over your mince pies and Christmas pud, or indeed anything else you feel like, and enjoy!
Merry Christmas, Charles! Wish u all the best, hope u and your wife will have an amazing vacation!
I wish we had at least some snow here( they promised some in the Munich area – and nothing!
You too Marianna! When do you come back? I should think it’s about time you stopped slacking on holiday by now and got back to work anyway 😉
Hehe) i will be at work on 29th, dont worry) though I will have really busy days – my friends are coming over for 10 days, also I will need to get ready for the New year dinner!
you did a christmas entry too!!! brandy butter sounds lovely! MERRY CHRISTMAS CHARLES (: hohoho
Thanks Shuhan! Hope you had a fantastic day! 🙂
There's nothing like brandy butter on Christmas :). I hope you have a wonderful Christmas my friend 🙂
Thank you Kay! Hope you had a relaxing day with your family!
What a tasty addition to an already mouthwatering pastry. Nothing like gilding the lily! 🙂
Merry Xmas, Happy Hanukkah and a Happy New Year one and all!
Hehe, thanks A_Boleyn, and the same to you! I hope you had a wonderful day 🙂
I wish I had seen this post earlier, Charles, this would have been outstanding with our freshly baked croissants! Hope you have a great holiday and I look forward to seeing your photos of Sweden. Stay warm.
Oh my, freshly baked croissants! I read this comment earlier and remember feeling outrageously jealous… reading it again now I still feel outrageously jealous, haha 😀 Gosh, what I wouldn’t give for a fresh croissant now!
You’re lucky Charles, you live in the land of freshly baked croissants, you’ll just have to wait until you get home!
What an unusual recipe! I have never heard about it! It sounds terrific and confirms what I have always thought: British cuisine (especially the sweet part) is full of extraordinary surprises.
(If I lived in France I would be more scared of strikes than snow! Hahaha! I allow myself to make this joke only because the airport strikes have just ended in France, otherwise I wouldn't find it funny to scare you 😉 )
Have a lovely time with your Swedish family and Happy Holidays once more!
Thanks so much Sissi! Unfortunately for those who live in France it’s something one must accept. People will choose to strike at the moments when they know they can cripple the country the most, and to hell with peoples’ holiday plans and so forth. It’s been a relatively strike free year though… at least around my area. I remember late 2010 and early 2011 there seemed to be strikes literally every other week :/
I hope you are having a wonderful Christmas in Sweden and wish all the best to you and your family. I love your recipe and have always known this as hard sauce. which by any name, is wonderful.
Thanks so much Karen 🙂 Isn’t it funny… I’d never once in all my life heard the name “hard sauce”, and this is a real British favourite!
Happy Holidays Charles! I hope you have fun in Sweden. How jealous I am! I’m stuck at home, sick.
Thanks Kyleen 🙂 I’ll be sure to post pictures! 🙂
This looks fantastic. Hope you had a great Christmas.
Cheers Greg – Hope you and Katherine both had a wonderful time too!
Just when I thought butter couldn’t get any better…I’ve never heard of this. Fabulous Charles. I hope that you had a very Merry Christmas and are off to a wonderful vacation! I can’t wait to see pictures. Enjoy the time together, bundling up in the cold. 🙂 Happy Holidays!!!!
Thanks so much Kristy! I’ve always been a huge fan of this, although that’s not hard considering I love butter so much :p I strongly recommend a try though!
Hi Charles, I hope you’re enjoying your time in Sweden… how wonderful for you and your wife. So this is the famous British hard sauce… I’m so glad you posted it. It looks fabulous and pleasantly achievable too! I don’t think I’ve ever tasted butter with liquor before; how delicious! Looking forward to your pictures Charles; enjoy your time away.
Thanks Kelly… I strongly suspect I might have gained a whole load of weight when I come back :/ Need to try and “calm down” on the whole eating front 😉
Never heard of Brandy Butter but sounds fabulous!! Have a great time in Sweden and looking forward to photos..
Thanks Malli! I’m looking forward to sharing them 🙂
Awesome collection of pictures of food and great and much helpful information shared about food photography.
Thanks Loveforfood! Hope you can try it 🙂
Thanks for sharing this. Hope you had a good Christmas and that you are enjoying your vacation! look forward to seeing the photos. Congratulations on your blogger awards!
Cheers bakingaddict! It’s really nice to get away! Hope I can build a snow-man soon too! 🙂
Brandy butter!?!! Oh dear, that sounds spectacular. I’d be tempted to spread that on everything. Hope you had a wonderful Christmas, and that you have a great vacation with your wife! I can’t wait to see photos. 🙂
Thanks Caroline – I wonder what a “Baileys Butter” would be like 😀
Hope you had a very Merry Christmas, Charles!
I’ve never heard of brandy butter before. These look so yummy!!!
Thanks Kiran – hope you had a wonderful Christmas too! You should try this butter… it’s definitely worth a go!
Hope you had a marvelous Christmas!!! Love this Brandy Butter! I can easily see it spread on a homemade biscuit this weekend. Have a wonderful trip and Happy New Year!
Hi MJ – Home-made biscuits covered in brandy butter… now that sounds darn nice! Eeesh, wish I had some of those right now 😀
I like to make a “flavored” butter to compliment entres using various add ins. I think it adds a special nice touch. This sounds heavenly; I like the addition of brandy 🙂 My warmest wishes to you for a wonderful holiday season. Enjoy your vacation.
Thanks Linda – what sort of flavoured butters do you make? I love garlic butter, herb butter and parsley butter, but aside from brandy, I’ve never really made other ones. I’d love to hear your “blends” 🙂 Have a wonderful new year!
Charles,
I went to dinner with Eva and her husband (JT) last night and we were talking about my mom’s plum pudding and all of the different ways that this is prepared. I said that when I stayed with friends years ago in British Columbia (Canada’s west coast) they served theirs with brandy butter. She mentioned that you just posted a recipe — talk about karma. I love it when that happens. (I must admit that I’ve been a little behind in my reading over the holidays.) Thanks for sharing, as I’ve always wondered how it is made. Enjoy your time in Sweden.
Aaaah, your plum pudding! I saw that today and my goodness it looks good! I bet it would indeed have gone rather well with the butter. I think I’m going to make a point of trying yours next Christmas! Just a little one perhaps 😀
Have a wonderful new year 🙂