SAGE-INFUSED BROWN BUTTER

While this recipe is destined for sweet sweet sweet, it is also an EPIC base for fried gnocchi! Or leave out the sage and just keep a good stock of brown butter in the fridge for other baking—replace basic-bitch butter in a recipe with this next-level nutty-depth-of-flavour brown butter.

I am OBSESSED—I was literally eating this butter straight out of the bowl it was cooling in . . . actually dipping my finger into it as soon as it had set and eating it. DO NOT JUDGE ME.

TIMING

COOKING 5–10 mins

MAKES approx. 200 g (7 oz)

INGREDIENTS

10 fresh sage leaves

300 g (10½ oz) salted butter, roughly cubed

METHOD

Before you start—are you using this for one of my other recipes or for a recipe that requires a specific quantity of finished brown butter? If it’s for another recipe, keep in mind how much you need, as the amount of brown butter you get is quite a bit less than the amount of butter you started with. When making the brown butter, some of the water content of the butter will evaporate so you will lose some of the weight in the cooking process.

For this it is best to use a light-coloured pot or deep frying pan so you can see the colour of the butter change. This is the fastest cook in the history of time, so don’t diddle around or walk away from the stove—it will go from brown butter to black butter in the space of 20 seconds.

Crush your sage leaves by smooshing them between the palms of your hands and twisting gently; this will release the aromatics from the leaf. Now chuck ’em in the pot.

Add the butter and mix together with the sage on a low to medium heat. When the butter is fully melted and looks a little bubbly and frothy, turn the heat to low. The milk solids will be at the bottom of the pan and this is what you are browning. Move the butter around with a wooden spoon so you can keep an eye on the milk solids colour. The darker the colour, the nuttier the taste.

When it reaches a light brown colour, remove from the heat—it will keep browning after it’s removed, so it is important to remove it at this lighter brown stage.

Using a fork or tongs, remove the pieces of sage leaves and set aside on a paper towel. These can be used to decorate cakes, or seriously just snack on them—THEY ARE FREAKEN DELICIOUS, like INSANELY EPIC! Like a godly version of kale chips!

Transfer to a heatproof bowl and allow to cool completely before using in the cake/buttercream recipes.

Here’s my technique for cooling because I think this will be hugely helpful. Allow to cool slightly on the bench, then move it to the fridge. When your butter starts to solidify around the outside and across the bottom, stir it together and leave to chill some more. When it reaches a consistency where it’s half solid bits and half liquid, remove it from the fridge and use a stick blender to blend it together until smooth. It will lighten in colour, too. It should be the consistency of very soft room-temp butter, and will have speckles of the browned milk solids through it which give it the nutty flavour. GO ON—SMELL IT!

Store the butter in a container or jar at room temp. If it is summer, you may need to store it in the fridge as you would normal butter. Allow it to come to room temp before using.