Dark Chocolate Clementine and Pinoli Compound Butter

Are you looking for an easy way to impress your guests with barely any work? I'll share my secret with you: Compound butter. Compound butter is a clever and delicious culinary shortcut.

You may have never made a compound butter thinking maybe it is something complicated or difficult to make. I'll tell you exactly what it is: It is soft butter plus something yummy to make it even more yummy. That is it. Extra yummy butter.

That something yummy can be fresh or dried herbs or some sweet dried fruits. All you have to do is mix softened butter with whatever you like. It's as simple as that! It could be savory to accent the flavor of something you are cooking for dinner. It could be sweet to spread on something wonderful you just baked. If you make a larger batch of compound butter you can roll it in parchment paper and store in the refrigerator for a few days.

I recently have been cutting back on butter in my baking. It's been a year of lots of butter in my recipes and it was always with Kerrygold butter. Kerrygold has always been my favorite butter. The flavor surpasses any other butter I've tried.

When I was offered a chance to try some of Kerrygold's new spreadable butters I couldn't wait for the package to arrive! Kerrygold has developed some new products: Kerrygold Naturally Softer Pure Irish Butter & Kerrygold Reduced Fat Irish Butter which has 25 percent less fat and 50 percent less sodium.

Their butter is made in Ireland with milk from grass fed cows that graze on small family farms. The color is golden and the flavor is rich. Now you are probably wondering how is the flavor in the new spreadable butters? It is simply delicious!

I had just made a rockin' cinnamon swirl pumpkin bread.Since my taste-testers claim I never bake with chocolate, I thought I'd appease them with a chocolate compound butter to spread on top of their pumpkin bread.

My mom said it tasted sort of like Nutella. I love the combination of citrus with dark chocolate. The toasted pinoli flavor in this compound butter is subtle and addictive.

Look for the cinnamon swirl pumpkin bread recipe in a post this coming week!

Disclaimer: Kerrygold provided me with samples of the butter to try. Kerrygold is hosting a contest between a few bloggers to see who has the best use of the butter. Yes, I would be thrilled to win the contest but I would not participate if I weren't a Kerrygold fan. All opinions are my own. I was not compensated for this post.

Dark Chocolate Clementine Pinoli Butter

4 ounces (½ tub) Kerrygold Naturally Softer Pure Irish Butter, room temperature
1 ounce dark chocolate, chopped
2 tbsps toasted and ground pinoli
1 teaspoon grated clementine zest
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
3-4 tbsps confectioner's sugar (depending on your sweetness preference)

Using a double boiler, place chocolate in top bowl, stirring frequently until just melted. Remove pan from the eat and let cool.

In a medium sized mixing bowl, whip the butter with an electric mixer on medium speed until creamy. On low speed, mix in the melted dark chocolate, pinoli, clementine zest, cocoa powder, and confectioner's sugar until combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula and mix gently to combine all the ingredients.

Cover with plastic wrap until ready to serve. We obviously couldn't wait for it to chill and served it immediately. Stays fresh for up to 3 days in the refrigerator. Freeze for up to 1 month.

Thank you for your kind comments and support! What's baking in your world these days? 🙂