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Healthier Spreadable Butter－Soft, spreadable butter is easy to make, and thanks to a healthy dose of Omega-3s, so much healthier, too

Healthier Spreadable Butter

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This easy-to-make condiment adds spreadable convenience and a dose of heart healthy Omega-3s to good old butter. Spread it on toast, muffins, baked potatoes, and more.
Yield: ¾ cup
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Ingredients
 

  • 8 tablespoons (½ cup/1 stick) butter
  • ¼ cup (60ml) flax oil (clear, not the kind with lignans; see notes)
  • Salt

Instructions

  1. Soften the butter to room temperature. (To expedite this process, you can chop or slice the butter into small pieces.)
  2. Blend the butter and oil at medium speed until well combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed, and then beat at high speed for a minute or so to ensure the mixture is smooth and creamy. (A hand mixer works well for this job. In a pinch you could briskly beat with a fork or small whisk.)
  3. Salt to taste. (See notes for details.)
  4. At this point, the mixture will seem a little runny. Refrigerate until it reaches a spreadable consistency. Flax butter should be stored, tightly covered or in an airtight container, in the refrigerator where it will maintain its freshness for several months.

Notes

You want to buy standard, clear flaxseed oil, not the high-lignan version, to which some of the ground flaxseeds have been added back. This can create a gritty sludge at the bottom of the bottle, and mixing that into your recipe will detract from the smooth texture and introduce a stronger, nuttier, more bitter flavor that will likely overpower the pure taste of the butter. The flavor of standard flaxseed oil is lighter, more neutral, and will keep your buttery blend perfectly silky and completely mild.
You could substitute olive oil, although the mixture will be firmer once refrigerated as olive oil becomes semi-hard when refrigerated. A coconut oil/butter mixture may sound appealing to some, but coconut oil hardens when cold so the finished product would not be spreadable.
You may start with salted or unsalted butter and add salt accordingly to mimic salted butter if desired. (Or totally omit it if preferred.) A pound of salted butter typically contains 1¼ teaspoon of salt, or a little over ¼ teaspoon per stick. So for this spread, when I start with a stick of salted butter and a quarter cup of oil, I add a lightly rounded ⅛ teaspoon of salt to mimic salted butter. You can certainly adjust to taste, using kosher, sea, or table salt as desired. When spreading on toast, I especially enjoy the flavor of this spread when salted.
 
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