Safety Butter

When you really love butter, but it's bad for your health, sometimes you can just have a little bit now and then.

I made these "safe" frozen portions of butter from a regular block, so the butter is there for those special occasions, safely stored and not sitting in the butter dish, tempting you with it's tasty buttery goodness, all the time. That's why I call it "Safety Butter", and not "Individual Portions Of Butter".

The idea is you can just get one out when your diet allows it, and not worry about the rest of the block going rancid - so it's "safety butter" for that reason too.

I used waxed paper from a kitchen shop, but ordinary greaseproof would do. Cut out squares about 4" to a side. Get a freezer safe container ready to put the portions in.

The butter needs to be chilled first. For a normal (UK) sized and shaped block, mark out 8 even slices across the wider side of the block. When you are happy with the width of the slices, cut them, then cut down the length of the block, so you get 16 pieces. (I actually did 12 because I didn't want to freeze all the butter).

I used a knife with a serrated edge for this, as it seems to be better for cutting butter with.

Work quickly and don't handle the butter too much - since it's now in small pieces it will soften very easily. Lay each piece of butter in the middle of a square of paper, and wrap the paper round it lengthways, then fold the ends over. I tried wrapping a few so the ends were triangular, which is cute, but doesn't work as well (the paper is too springy).

Put the butter portions in your freezer container.

Don't pack the butter tightly in the container, you need to be able to get it out easily (otherwise, it wouldn't be Safety Butter, it would be Pain In The Neck Butter).  Put the lid on, label with date and contents, freeze.

Now when you have a butter emergency, you have Safety Butter!