Thursday, January 1, 2009


A Butter World; The Blog Is Born!

Welcome to A Butter World; The Blog! Take a ride on the journey of My Love Affair with Butter! Join the fun & shenanigans as we create a “Butter” World one recipe at a time. I’ll introduce you to my family & friends as we explore the wonderful world of delicious, creamy, cow created, 100% butter! If you love butter you are in the right place; PLUS you are my new best friend!

Anyone who has ever asked me for a recipe will tell you it usually begins with “A Stick of Butter.” I say this with no apology or shame ( several years in therapy helped.) Truth told I say it proudly; here, online, millions of viewers ( a broad can dream) I love butter!!! No margarine or some chemical derived make believe butter; no way! I want the real deal, cow to the churn; give me butter!

I began cooking around age 5; that would be some 40+ years ago..... Around our house I was known as the “Famous Child Cooker.” My Daddy at 80 years young still calls me that! I loved whipping up French Toast. A favorite part of my Saturday morning ritual was melting the butter & heating up the syrup to serve in gravy bowls. As I recall I thought for sure I would end up Julia Child's assistant at the very least when I thought that up.....

While my tastes have matured I still love me some French Toast. To kick things off I want to share a recipe from my good friend Boo Parker from Raleigh, NC who serves up “Company French Toast” whenever she has overnight Guest. A perfect “Do Ahead Dish” for the holidays. This a definite keeper and loved by all; kid’s included. Now Boo wanted me to be sure and tell you to have your finest linen napkins handy to wipe the butter & syrup from those chins; pleezzz no paper napkins. She is a one fine Southern Lady and Hostess who prides herself that every Guest in her home deserves the finest. Go on make her proud!


Boo Parker's Company French Toast
Serves 8/10

Step I
1 Large Loaf day old French Bread* - slice thick; about 1½”

Step II
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
¼ cup orange juice
2 Tablespoon light corn syrup

Step III
1 ½ cups whole milk
6 eggs
1 tablespoon orange juice or Grand Manier
½ tsp. cinnamon
¼ tsp. nutmeg
¼ tsp. orange rind
¼ tsp. salt

Combine ingredients from Step II in a heavy small pan. Stir mixture over medium low heat until butter melts and sugar dissolves. Bring to a boil. Pour into a 13×9 casserole dish. Tilt dish to coat bottom evenly, cool.

Arrange the bread slices in the dish; if they don't all fit make some croutons!

Whisk Step III ingredients in a bowl to blend. Pour over the bread. Cover and chill overnight.

Preheat oven to 350F. Bake uncovered until bread is puffed and slightly golden brown, about 40-45 min. Let stand 5 minutes and cut into serving portions. Take a large decorative platter & cover dish & invert onto platter; caramel side will end facing up.

* if bread is fresh slice earlier then you plan to begin & leave on the counter for several hours till crusty.

Serving Suggestions
Melt 1/2 stick of butter & serve in gravy boat! For those “die hards” you may want to include some heated maple syrup. If you are into appearances arrange orange slices decoratively around platter. Serve with lots of crispy bacon & large glasses of milk.
Enjoy!

Come back often!

XO
Butterball

2 comments:

  1. I'm a blogging virgin... This is my third attempt at adding this comment. Won't bore you with the details, I'm no teckie...

    Anyway, this sounds wonderful and a great breakfast dish for a brunch. Bet it would be terrific with country link sausage. Some of the best you'll ever find is at a Red & White grocery found just north of Rocky Mount, NC the Red Oak exit off I95. Can't wait to try it. My brother made a similar one, but used regular loaf bread with blueberries. I'm not a huge fan of the blueberry, but even with blueberries it was yummy.

    Look forward to trying this one with strawberries in late spring then even better-peaches this summer...yumm

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  2. Hi Butterball

    I just stumbled upon your blog today, there is a lot good recipes on this blog I want to try. I just printed out the french toast recipe and the print is small. Is there any way I can reprint it to make the letters bigger. Thank You

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