BUTTAH UPDATE; EASTER DINNER PICS

People are paying attention to Buttah! I am so thrilled that Aaron Adams, chef at Portobello Vegan Trattoria in Portland, OR, wrote to me: "Bryanna! We're working on perfecting production of your buttah for our restaurant...once we're up and running on it, we're done with EB and the other palm oil stuffola. Thanks for your hard work and dedication. It makes a huge difference." OMG!

AND, again in Portland, Grant Butler, writer for The Oregonian, included my palm oil-free vegan butter in his list of "hot topics" this week! 

The interest has exceeded my expectations, and we've had just about 5000 page hits on the recipe page at vegan.com! All of this makes me feel that the project was very worthwhile and I hope that it will not only give vegans and others an option to make a useful and delicious palm oil-free alternative to butter, low in saturated fat, in their own homes, but that vegan margarine producers will endeavor to change their formulas to exclude palm oil.

IMPORTANT NOTE: I just wanted to give you a heads-up that I will be adding some information to my Buttah recipe that I have just discovered. Forget measuring the melted cocoa butter! I, along with a few readers, have discovered that 109g/3.85 oz. does not always equal 1 cup when melted, for reasons that I have not yet discovered. This is confusing, but, in testing, I have found that it is the weight of the cocoa butter that matters, not the cup measure! I thought I would be giving people without a scale an option, but it's not that simple, obviously! (I recommend a digital kitchen scale for lots of kitchen uses anyway. Here's one for just over $15; here's one for under $10.) I will be revising the online recipe to reflect this.(THE PRINTABLE RECIPE IS ALREADY REVISED.)
All the best, Bryanna

I used Buttah in the cake I made for our Easter dessert-- in the cake itself and in the fluffy white frosting:

Butterfinger Cake (recipe here)

I have also made vegan "buttercream" frosting with Buttah, very successfully. It held up well even at room temperature:

Here is Buttah adorning the Colcannon (mashed potatoes with kale) served with our vegan Irish stew on St. Patrick's Day:

We've used it on vegan waffles:

and to brown vegan grilled cheese sandwiches and French toast (made with The Vegg, which I'll be experimenting with in various recipes soon!):

I've used buttah successfully also in scones, biscuits and pie dough, and I'm very happy with the taste and performance.

2012 EASTER DINNER

(For dessert, we had the Butterfinger Cake pictured above.)

Potato, Bulgur and Onion Kibbeh, Sweet Potato and Cranberry Mostarda (I didn't have squash, so I used sweet potatoes-- everyone loved it!)

My Seitan ham with the Mostarda

Rye crisp, raw veggies and dark Dutch pumpernickel bread with my hummous and a new smoked tofu spread that I developed for Alive magazine.

Delicious Brussels Sprout Slaw with mustard dressing and  candied pecans, recipe here.

Have a great week!