Butter Up - Part 1

"It took me years to figure out that you don't fall into a tub of butter, you jump for it." - Claudette Colbert

Imagine an evening where butter was the focal point and you had a chef, let's say one like Lynn Crawford, churning out (pardon the buttery pun) oodles of little bits and bites all consisting of butter. Someone please pinch me, am I dreaming or is this my dream come true?

Last Monday a small hoard of butter loving people gathered at Ruby Watchco to give Stirling Creamery butter a go 'round. I would say, that for the first time in my life I think I might have actually come close to feeling like a human version of foie gras. You think I'm joking?


Jose Arato of Pimenton tweeted to me "Where are you in here?" I tweeted back "I'm in the corner, in a coma, call the EMTs". The butter sweats have set in. Hey, what can I say. Sometimes you just gotta take one for the team. If I had to attend this event all over again I'd suggest to Mary Luz Mejia of Sizzling Communications that they have defibulators on hand. I'm only now wiping the last trickles of butter sweat off my brow.

It was a great evening where you could get a chance to actually churn some butter. It was an even greater evening when you could chuff down all the incredible tastes that focused on butter as its driving force. Ok, check out the pics for yourself. Highlights include a signature cocktail that contained brown butter and my fave tasty tidbits of the night, the deep friend pound cake (obviously made with butter), topped with butter and some crispy little potato croquettes that came with a honey butter dip. Oh lord, this is heaven on earth.

Stirling Creamery, located in Stirling (Ontario) has developed five different styles of butter: Unsalted Butter, ideal for baking & pie crusts; Salted Butter, ideal for those right out of the oven scones or for your beloved grilled cheese sammies; European Style Butter, with less water, this butter is is for the croissant lovers in all of us; Whey Butter, made to slather your morning toast and finally Goat's Milk Butter, perfect for canapes, making fudge or anywhere a hint of chevre might just raise the level on a dish. Just for fun, Stirling Creamery is also producing butter balls. Ummmm....I just love these balls.

Get outta my way because I'm making a quantum leap for that bag of butter that Stirling Creamery bestowed upon me as a parting gift for attending their butter extravaganza. This bag contained 6 lbs. of butter. Yes, you read that right, I wrote 6 lbs. Gawd bless 'em and pass me a butter knife please.

Which brings me to Part 2 on this bit about butter.....

Just to really put Stirling Creamery to the test I'm going to use my "simply divas" committee, which will be meeting this coming Monday night, as taste testers where I will feed them what I consider one of the ultimate butter litmus tests, my Mother's Shortbread. I will make two batches, one with the Stirling Unsalted Butter and the other with Lactantia butter. I'll let them tell me which butter makes it better. Personally I think this is a perfect group to use for this ultimate taste test because Stirling Creamery has generously supplied the "simply divas" event with the butter for their chefs. This year the official diva cake, custom designed and constructed by the ultimate divas of cake super stardom, CakeStar will be using 30 lbs. of Stirling Creamery butter in the cake. Stirling Creamery isn't just another creamery, this is a creamery with a big heart! So stay tuned for the outcome of this ultimate butter tasting smackdown.

Ok, one small caveat before I sign off. If any of the pics on this posting are blurry please lay the blame solely at the feet of Stirling Creamery as I'm pretty sure my hands were shaking as I snapped my happies. Thank you to Sizzling Communications, MaryLuz Mejia, Mario Stojanac & Stirling Creamery for such an aorta clogging evening of butter fun!