I love baking for many reasons. For one, the methodical process of gathering ingredients, weighing flour, whisking eggs, kneading dough, and measuring vanilla extract is a balm to my overtaxed mind. For another, offering the people I love a freshly baked scone or a brown butter blondie always brings a smile to their faces. But the main reason is that I love to indulge my sweet tooth.
A French chef recommends the Le Creuset Stoneware Butter Crock for soft, spreadable butter on demand.
A layer of water creates a barrier between the butter and the air, keeping it from going rancid at room temperature.
It’s available in three colors at Amazon.
While I’m typically pretty good at planning ahead, my fatal flaw is never remembering to take my butter out of my refrigerator to soften. Upon realizing my mistake, I’m either forced to delay my baking plans by a few hours or risk a huge mess in my microwave. Since neither option is great, I asked the French chef Olivier Gaupin of Loews Hotels for a better solution. His response? The Le Creuset Stoneware Butter Crock at Amazon.
Le Creuset Stoneware Butter Crock
Amazon
“The dish consists of two parts: The bottom section is where you pour fresh water, and the top section is where you pack the butter,” he wrote. “After placing the butter in the top part, you turn it upside down so that the butter makes contact with the water. This setup not only protects the butter from the environment, but also keeps it fresh.”
Upon doing more research about preservation methods, I learned that oxygen is the culprit behind most spoilage. It’s for this reason that most expert-loved containers — including coffee canisters, wine stoppers, and herb keepers — are designed to minimize an ingredient’s exposure to air.
Le Creuset’s butter dish is no different, relying on the water to act as a barrier between the butter inside and the air outside. As Gaupin explained, all you have to do is spoon up to 6 ounces (or one and a half sticks) of softened butter into the cup-shaped lid, before filling the base about one third of the way with cold water. You then flip the lid upside down, place it inside the crock, and leave it in a shaded spot on your counter. As long as you replace the water every few days (or more often if your kitchen is very hot), the butter will stay fresh, soft, and spreadable for up to a month.
Gaupin isn’t alone in his adoration of Le Creuset’s butter crock. It has thousands of five-star ratings at Amazon and a comment section that reads like a love letter. While one shopper called it an “elegant and practical addition to any kitchen,” a second described it as a “convenient, easy, and attractive” solution to the problem of preserving softened butter.
Not that I needed more convincing to buy this butter dish, but it’s also dishwasher-safe for easy cleaning and available in three colors at Amazon. With my holiday baking list growing longer by the day, I can already tell that the Le Creuset Stoneware Butter Crock will be a game-changer in my kitchen.
Shop More Butter Dishes at Amazon
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At the time of publishing, the price was $45.
Dining and Cooking