Orange Honey Butter is something that we make for those times when we want a little something special to go along with breakfast. It takes a touch of time to make it, but your effort is well rewarded when it comes to enjoying this treat on pancakes and waffles.
Ingredients
1 large orange, zested and juiced (prepared as directed)
1 1/3 cups store bought orange juice, optionally you can use all fresh squeezed orange juice
1 stick butter, slightly softened
1 1/2 tablespoons honey
1 dash salt, omit if using salted butter
Directions
- Zest the orange with a microplane zester; Set the zest aside.
- Juice the orange into a small sauce pan. [** See Note]
- Add the additional orange juice to the small saucepan set over medium-high heat. Reduce to 3 tablespoons, stirring frequently; 6-8 minutes
- Place the sticks of butter in a large bowl. Add the reduced orange juice and zest (if using), along with the honey and salt and mix with a hand beater or wooden spoon until fully combined.
- Taste and adjust to your liking. Mix in more honey, or add a touch more salt.
- Scoop into a large ramekin, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, about 2 hours.
Notes
**Note: The purpose of using a whole orange in the recipe is so that you can have some flecks of zest to add to the butter. If you want to be less fussy and have less work, you can skip this entirely. Additionally this works just as well with tangerines, clementines, mandarin oranges and so on.
Additionally, you can use whole oranges for all of the juice or do the combination of an orange and store bought orange juice as suggested; that is your preference.
In total you want to start with about 2 cups of orange juice which would be around 4-6 medium oranges, depending on the oranges you source. It takes about 2 to 3 oranges to get a single cup of orange juice.
Possibilities:
This recipe would work well with other citrus alternatives. Instead of using oranges you could use lemon, lime, and other citrus fruits. You might have to adjust the ratio of honey to compensate for the tartness of other fruits, but the possibilities of using other produce is completely viable.
