How To Make A Butter Candle For Sourdough Bread
Learn how to make a butter candle for sourdough bread or any kind of artisan style fresh bread. Butter candles are fun and easy to make and add a fancy touch to any party. Essentially, you're making a candle out of butter that you can place in a loaf of bread, and once lit it will slowly melt the butter allowing you to dip your bread into it. If you've wanted to make the viral butter candle you may have seen online, this butter candle recipe will give you step by step instructions. You can make herbal butter candles with garlic, rosemary, or other herbs or the butter candle can just be left plain. Butter candles are perfect for holiday parties, charcuterie boards or centerpieces. The best part is they don't take very long to make, and everyone will think you went to a lot of work when you didn't.
Equipment
- 1 Paper cup - I like to use small bathroom sized paper cups, but you can use whatever size you'd like
- 1 Food-Safe Wicks & Stickers - most cotton wicks are food safe, but it's a good idea to buy specifically food safe wicks and wick stickers. You can order organic hemp wicks or a beeswax wick on Amazon or look for them at your local craft store. A great thing to keep on hand for anytime you need to add something fancy to a meal.
- 1 Freezer - for getting the butter candle cold
Ingredients
- ½ cup butter use high quality butter
- 1 teaspoon herbs Garlic, rosemary, or other herbs, optional - for flavoring the butter
Instructions
- Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium-low heat.
- While the butter is melting, attach the wick to the middle of the bottom of the paper cup with the wick sticker. If your wick isn't very rigid you can use a wick holder to keep the wick in the center of the cup. If you don't have a wick holder, you can also use a clothespin and run the wick through the hole in the middle of the clothespin and then balance the clothespin on the top of the cup.
- If you want to make a flavored butter candle, you can add some salt, roasted garlic, or herbs to the melted butter.
- Then pour the melted butter mixture into the paper cup, filling it as full as you'd like.
- Place the cup in the freezer until the butter is firm. You could even make several of these butter candles ahead of time and just store them in the freezer for whenever you need a last minute gift or a quick appetizer.
- When ready to serve, cut a hole in the top of your bread that is approximately the same size as your butter candle. You can pre-slice the bread while leaving the bottom of the loaf intact to make it easier to tear off a chunk of bread, or just leave the loaf whole.
- Gently tear the paper cup off of the outside of the butter candle and press the frozen butter candle down into the bread.
- You can also just serve the butter candle on a plate surrounded by sliced bread if you like that presentation better.
- Light the candle wick and dip bread into the butter as it melts. Enjoy the coziness of the candlelight and the delicious bread.
Notes
If you use unsalted butter, you may want to add some salt to the melted butter
If you have a bunch of these butter candles and loaves of sourdough bread in the freezer, you can quickly and easily take an appetizer to a last minute party or add this special looking bread to a simple meal of soup and bread on a weeknight and really wow your family
Use a high quality butter to make this butter candle. Margarine or low quality butters will not make as nice of a candle.
