Adventures in Vegan Butter Making

I love Earth Balance. It’s a great nondairy butter that you can cook and bake with (and it’s great on toast). But, it can be expensive – upwards of $4.50 for 15 ounces. So, I decided to try my hand at making vegan butter myself. 

I turned to Professor Google and found a number of recipes. Some were ridiculously complicated and involved nut (milk) sacks (insert joke here). I wanted something relatively simple with uncomplicated ingredients. Most nondairy butters contain Palm or Soy oils which are not the best choices given GMOs (Soy) and rainforest destruction (Palm). Even Safflower has been genetically modified to be used as an industrial lubricant. So, whatever plant oil you’re going to use, go for organic or labeled “non-GMO” to avoid that.

The following recipe was the one out of five recipes I looked at and decided to try. It does contain soy lecithin, an emulsifier, but you can buy non-GMO granules from Now Foods and Swanson and other companies. Some folks may have a problem with soy lecithin, but I’m not worried about 2 ¼ teaspoons in one pound of butter.

Another ingredient is xanthan gum. You might be thinking, “What the heck is this?” You will probably find it in the list of ingredients in some of your baked goods. It’s basically a thickener and it’s used frequently in gluten-free baking to substitute for gluten. It helps keep oil droplets from sticking together and separating and solid particles from settling to the bottom. In a nutshell, it keeps your mix "mixed." It can be expensive, so look for it in a bulk bin and only buy a few ounces at a time.

Original recipe:

¼ cup + 2 teaspoons soy milk

1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

¼ - ½ teaspoon salt

½ cup + 2 Tablespoons + 1 teaspoon refined coconut oil, melted

1 Tablespoon canola oil, safflower oil or sunflower oil

1 teaspoon liquid soy lecithin -or- liquid sunflower lecithin -or- 2 ¼ teaspoons  soy lecithin granules

¼ teaspoon xanthan gum

Directions

1) Place the soy milk, apple cider vinegar, and salt in a small cup and whisk together with a fork. Let it sit for about 10 minutes so the mixture curdles.

2) Melt the coconut oil in a microwave so it's barely melted and as close to room temperature as possible. Measure it and add it and the canola oil to a food processor. Making smooth vegan butter is dependent on the mixture solidifying as quickly as possible after it's mixed. This is why it's important to make sure your coconut oil is as close to room temperature as possible before you mix it with the rest of the ingredients.

3) Add the soy milk mixture, soy lecithin and xanthan gum to the food processor. Process for 2 minutes, scraping down the sides halfway through the duration. Pour the mixture into a mold and place it in the freezer to solidify. (I used a silicone mold so they’d pop out easy.)

The vegan butter should be ready to use in about an hour. Store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 month or wrapped in plastic wrap in the freezer for up to 1 year. Makes 1 cup (215 grams), or the equivalent of 2 sticks vegan butter.

This recipe created an interesting taste. You can definitely taste the coconut flavor from the oil. It needed a tad more salt, just a pinch. It’s not something I would want to put on bread because of the strong coconut flavor, but you can certainly use it to bake with. The coconut flavor should bake out, especially if you use a strong flavor like cocoa or chocolate chips in the recipe. I’m not sold on the fact that it made one pound of butter. I didn’t weigh it, but visually it looked more than a stick and a half.

Using this recipe, I decided to switch up the oils. I added Safflower and Sunflower. Here’s the new recipe:

¼ cup + 2 teaspoons soy milk

1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

½ teaspoon salt

3 Tablespoons Canola oil

¼ cup Safflower Oil

¼ cup Coconut Oil

1 tsp Sunflower oil

1 teaspoon liquid soy lecithin -or- liquid sunflower lecithin -or- 2 ¼ teaspoons soy lecithin granules (I rounded to 1 Tablespoon of soy lecithin – it’s close enough)

¼ teaspoon xanthan gum

Mix everything together like you did with the other recipe. If you fill your ice cube tray to the top, it will take closer to 2 hours to solidify. I also let my milk mixture “curdle” for longer than 10 minutes as I was in the middle of baking cupcakes. Not sure how much of a difference it made, but it “blobbed” up pretty good in that amount of time.

I have to say I am very happy with this recipe. It is “buttery” tasting but not overpowering. I may still tweak it occasionally until I get it just right. But, this is certainly a decent, and cheaper, stand-in for store bought brands.

*Note: If you’re going to play around with the oils, make sure you pick one that solidifies when cold, otherwise, once your frozen butter softens it will become liquid. Make that oil (such as olive oil) the main oil so that it stays solid when chilled. 

Low Fat Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes

Recipe adapted from The Happy Herbivore

Ingredients

1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup raw sugar
1 cup chocolate nondairy milk (or plain)
1 tsp mint extract (or vanilla)
1 1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup vegan chocolate chips

Directions

1.     Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease a muffin tin or spray paper liners with cooking spray. 

2.     In a large bowl, combine applesauce, sugar, nondairy milk, and extract. 

3.     In another bowl, whisk flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt together. Add flour mixture to wet mixture in 3 to 4 batches, until almost combined. 

4.     Add chips and stir until just combined. 

5.     Spoon batter into cups 3/4 full and bake 15-25 minutes. 

6.     Meanwhile, prepare the icing. Combine 1 cup Confectioners’ sugar with a few drops of food coloring, 1/4 tsp vanilla or mint extract, and a splash of plain nondairy milk or water, and mix until a nice paste-like icing results. (Add more sugar for thickness, more liquid to thin it out) Adjust food coloring. Once cupcakes are cool, slather icing and garnish with holiday candy.

I made these cupcakes twice. The first time I made them, I used paper liners and forgot to spray them with cooking spray. Big mistake. Because there’s no oil in the cupcakes, the batter stuck to the liners and it made it near impossible to separate the cake from the liner. 

I also had an issue with the huge range of cooking time. Fifteen to twenty-five minutes is a big gap. I went the full 25 minutes and that was definitely too long for my oven. Because you have chocolate chips in the recipe, sticking a toothpick in the center will not come out clean and you may over bake. It’s better to tap the top of the cupcake to check for firmness/doneness.

The second time I baked them, I used liners with foil. This worked out much better and there wasn't a need to spray the liners. I also cut the cooking time to 22 minutes. This was the perfect amount of time. 

I tried twice to make the icing and failed miserably. The first time I made the icing, it was too wet (which, ironically, I prefer). The second time, I added a lot more sugar to get the "paste-like" texture and that was too thick. It was hard to pipe and without any fat, it separated and "melted." 

I would definitely recommend the cupcake recipe but not the frosting. You're better off with a buttercream frosting or adding a little corn syrup to the recipe.