I am a butter lover . . . not quite in the same league as a certain Paula or Ina but I think it’s safe to say I could give them a run for their money . . . I’ll leave it up to you to decide if that’s good or bad . . .
My refrigerator is always well stocked with plenty of unsalted butter and I keep a few sticks tucked away in my freezer as well (for biscuits and scones!); but as anyone who has tried to spread a pat of stick butter across a slice of soft bread knows, the results are . . . shall we say, less than perfect. And that is where Kerrygold comes in because they now have two new spreadable butters on the market – Kerrygold Naturally Softer Pure Irish Butter and Kerrygold Reduced Fat butter which has 25 percent less fat and 50 percent less sodium.
No need to roll your eyes at the reduced fat butter . . . no seriously, side-by-side-taste-tests conducted here in the Smith Bites kitchen revealed surprising results – we couldn’t tell which was which!! Additionally, the reduced fat spreadable butter has no additives meaning . . . well, no additives . . . no oils, no chemicals, no preservatives . . . zip, zilch, nada . . . how do they do it? A proprietary process makes their softer milkfat into a spreadable butter.
By now you can deduce that we’ve been asked by Kerrygold to help spread the word (sorry, couldn’t resist) about these new butters and in fact, Kerrygold is holding a contest amongst several bloggers to come up with usage ideas. And of course we’d like to win but I will also state that if we didn’t use this product and believe in the quality of this product, you wouldn’t be reading this post . . . enough said . . . now on to the recipes!
NOTE: My mother-in-law passed along this recipe shortly after I married The Professor; it originally came from a community cookbook published more than 20 years ago. We’ve made these little lovelies too many times to count and they’re always a hit; we’ve tweaked the original recipe to come up with our own spin for this contest.
HOT HAM & CHEESE WITH WHOLE GRAIN MUSTARD COMPOUND BUTTER
Makes 4 Sandwiches
INGREDIENTS:
- ¼ cup spreadable Kerrygold reduced fat butter
- ¼ cup whole grain mustard
- ¼ cup minced shallot
- 4 round buns (we used pretzel buns (which were to-die-for!) but feel free to use your favorite)
- 1 pound shaved ham
- ½ pound sliced Gruyere or Swiss cheese
METHOD:
- Combine the butter, mustard and shallot; mix well and spread on both halves of each bun
- Add ham and slice of cheese to bottom bun; add top bun and wrap in foil
- Bake at 300 degrees for 30 minutes and serve immediately (we went a bit longer, around 40-45 minutes as the pretzel buns were larger)
- These can be made ahead and frozen
Our second recipe might seem simple enough and it absolutely is . . . however, method, the type of bread used as well as the cinnamon-to-sugar ratio is critical to the success of The Professor’s legendary cinnamon toast. I guess we should fess up and say that this is really ‘Big D’s’ (The Professor’s dad) recipe that he always made for The Professor when he was a little guy – thanks Dad!
NOTE: Most people place a regular slice of bread in a toaster, then spread with butter and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar; all fine and that is the way I ate it growing up in the little house on Ankeny Street. But using a good quality Brioche, Challah or Country French bread and replacing your average ground cinnamon with Saigon cinnamon (stronger cinnamon flavor) and getting the correct ratio of cinnamon-to-sugar makes all the difference in the world. We chose the full-on fat Kerrygold butter here because we like toast to taste decadent! Broiling the buttered cinnamon-sugar bread creates a crunchy, caramelized sugary top similar to a Panera Cinnamon Crunch bagel . . . and the bottom of the bread stays soft and tender . . . absolute nirvana!!
THE PROFESSOR’S CINNAMON TOAST
INGREDIENTS:
- Brioche, Challah, Country French or other soft bread, sliced approximately ½-inch thick
- Kerrygold Naturally Softer Pure Irish Butter
- 1/4 cup sugar (we use Baker’s sugar but granulated sugar works fine too)
- 1 Tablespoon Saigon Cinnamon (or cinnamon of your choice)
METHOD:
- Combine cinnamon and sugar; set aside
- Liberally, butter bread with Kerrygold Naturally Softer Pure Irish Butter
- Liberally, sprinkle with cinnamon sugar
- Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment and place under a broiler for approximately 5 minutes (depending on how close you are to the broiler) or just until the cinnamon-sugar caramelizes and the butter is melted
- Removed from oven and serve immediately
Official Disclosure: Kerrygold provided us with their Naturally Softer Pure Irish Butter and Reduced Fat Irish Butter to use in developing these tips as part of this contest. The opinions expressed here are strictly our own.
I have never seen the KerryGold spreadable butter. Will now be on the lookout. I {heart} butter, too!!!
All of this bread, butter, sweet and savory is making me very, very hungry before bed 🙂
Great post! You make the simple seem so exotic! Guess who had broiler
cinnamon toast for breakfast this morning.
I have been making the same ham sandwiches with that mixture for years Deb…strange coincidence that the other day I was wishing I knew where it came from and I know it’s a church or Junior League cookbook of some sort. The old fashioned way of how recipes spread from one part of the country to another!
I can attest to how wonderful they are…another great use of Kerrygold spreadable butters for sure.
Ohmygosh DEB!! This post has my poor belly GROWLING…
Okay, not so much growling as inciting a riot because I’ve not fed it yet this morning. I really need to see if I can find Kerrygold around here!!
My mom always made “hot ham and cheese” sandwiches just like that! I still do, in fact–a comfort food from childhood. I love the use of the pretzel buns, too.
The toast–I didn’t think you could improve good old cinnamon toast, but it looks like you guys have found a way. Lovely!
So I’m going to the store now, at 8pm, to buy some butter. Thank you.
My belly is growling, I need one of those ham sandwiches with some cinnamon toast for dessert. Love what you did with the Kerrygold butter! They are something!
Oh Deb – that sammie is calling me something fierce!! Wow. Yum. And any other word that describes this deliciousness!! Great post. 🙂
Heather