When I was little, I used to get in trouble for eating butter… like straight up, not with anything, butter. Back then I wasn’t even eating good butter.
It’s probably fair to say old habits die hard. Not that I’m going around eating butter straight up still, but I have finally found a butter worth the occasional finger dip. KerryGold Irish Butter is something I’ve raved about before on my blog and it is a product that has become a regular staple on our grocery list. Their original Irish butter is great for baking, but their newest Irish Butters, KerryGold Naturally Softer Pure Irish Butter and KerryGold Reduced Fat Irish Butter make it possible for us to have KerryGold butter out on our table to spread on bread and biscuits (or to dip your finger in and swipe a taste).
I was given the chance to test out the new KerryGold butters for a contest they are having. I was tasked with creating a recipe using both their Naturally Softer and Reduced Fat Irish Butters. Although I think KerryGold Irish butters taste marvelous on their own, it was fun to jazz them both up some, turning them into flavored compound butters. 
For the Naturally Softer Irish Butter, I took 1/2 cup butter and added 3 tablespoons shredded KerryGold Blarney Castle cheese, 1 teaspoon garlic salt and 1 teaspoon cracked black pepper and blended it together. I then spread this delicious combination on some slices of French baguette. I placed it in the oven at 450 for a few minutes until it was slightly toasted. I then added a combination of items sauteed in the same butter compound… artichoke hearts, halved grape tomatoes, minced garlic and diced onion. I placed the sauteed mixture evenly on top of each baguette slice, shredded a bit more Blarney Castle cheese on top, put it back in the oven, and let it bake for an additional 3 minutes, until the cheese was melted. During my photo shoot I got a bit hungry and just couldn’t help taking a nibble… or two or three.
The star of my recipe development had to be my sweet butter creation. I took 1/2 cup of the reduced fat Irish Butter and added 2-3 tablespoons of Bailey’s Irish Cream. I blended it together to create a sweet and delicious butter, which would be perfect on biscuits, cornbread or anything similar! I chose to spread some of the Bailey’s Irish Cream compound butter on a few flour tortilla strips, sprinkled them with cinnamon and baked them in the oven at 450 degrees for about 8 minutes. The taste of the butter compound on the tortilla strips was prominent and so good. I’ll admit… I went one step further and dipped the baked tortilla strips into the butter for even more Bailey’s flavor.
Playing around with butter is a fairly rough job. Special thanks to KerryGold for reaching out to me to give their new butters a try. I hope you’ll pick up some of the new KerryGold softer butters for yourself and see if you can resist the occasional finger dip. I know I can’t!
Disclosure: KerryGold provided the butter for the recipe development.
I received some KG butter recently too. I made raw cookie dough candy corn bites with it (no eggs)…cookie dough + candy corn + pretzels. I LOVE your idea of just adding Baileys. I am such a big Baileys fan.
Love the story about you just eating butter straight up as a kid. lol
Just bought a tub of the regular softer butter at Costco and it’s great! I hope they start carrying the reduced fat version, too!
It sure sounds delicious! I’m not familiar with this butter as I’m guessing it’s not for sale in these parts but pairing the butter with baileys… Now that’s a great idea!
I was a closet butter dipper, especially when my mom was mixing up the garlic spread for spaghetti night. Ugh, garlic salt hell, but I loved it. I bet your compound butter with artichokes and tomatoes would be delish over chicken too, I’m going to have to give it a go.
Oh my goodness Bailey’s and butter is inspired!
Am a butter fan, hope one day I get chance to taste this one too 🙂
Wow, Bailey’s Butter?! How do you come up with this stuff?? That sounds amazing!
Oooooo compound butter is my faaaavooorriiiitteeee. And the idea of adding Bailey’s just sent me over the edge.
The good, good edge.
I’ve never seen Kerrygold here in Arkansas but I continue to seek it out. Love what you did with it, especially the Bailey’s!!
We are really high on Kerrygold Garlic & Herb Butter in my house. We’ve started planning our dinners around what would go with garlic bread…!
OH MY! Baileys in butter……..you know me too well!! I MUST try this!
i love the idea of the Bailey’s butter on biscuits! yum.
weird “now that you mention it” moment … I really don’t like butter at all without the right thing under it. But I’ll mix it into a lot more things that most people. I love a bagel with both butter and cream cheese, or toast with a butter/cheese combo.
Cheers!
Hahaha, my boyfriend says he used to straight-up eat butter, too–I’ll let him know he’s not alone with his weirdo tendencies! 😉
Kerrygold is the best of the best! My sister used to get caught dipping her fingers in the butter tub, she loved the stuff too!
I used to do the same thing. I’d sneak in the fridge and stick my finger in the butter. Too bad we didn’t have KerryGold back then. ; )
That first photo is gorgeous!!!
I am amazed that you can make something as simple (yet, as awesome) as butter look so delicious! I must try this.
Looks and sounds amazing, Kristen! I love seeing what everyone has created!
We sometimes can get Kerrygold butter down here in the RGV and I’m thinking Hot Buttered Rum would be very good with this butter. Your recipes sound delish. Glad to find they are doing the reduced fat kind. Hope it will be down here soon.
I had to laugh when I read this… It reminded me of one time a friend dared me to eat a whole stick of butter. I did it, and then both of us got in quite a bit of trouble when our parents found out what we were up to.
I, too, have stopped eating butter straight up… But, I am loving the idea to add Bailey’s. YUM!
I love making compound butters and need to try making them with some higher quality butter. Lovely recipes and photos!