Avocados can be simply eaten as a healthy and delicious snack, but if you're looking for a new way to make avocados a part of your life, why not mix avocado puree with butter and other ingredients for a delicious butter alternative? Avocado butter is perfect for sandwiches, toast, crackers, dipping sauces, and can be used as a spread for just about anything! All you need is a ripe avocado, then mix it with butter and your favorite seasoning.
Ingredients
- 2 small ripe avocados – or approx. 170g avocado flesh
- 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 4 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
- 1 tbsp fresh coriander leaves, finely chopped
- 2 tsp cumin, freshly roasted and finely ground
- Salt (to taste)
- Freshly ground black pepper (to taste)
Step
Part 1 of 3: Choosing Ingredients
Step 1. Buy only two small ripe avocados
You can find it in supermarkets, traditional markets, and fruit shops. Choose avocados that are firm, flawless, and evenly colored in red/green. Consider the following qualities to determine if an avocado is ripe:
- Check the color and appearance of the avocado: Choose avocados without dark spots or deep indentations in the skin. Ripe Mega Murapi avocado is dark green in color with butter yellow flesh; If it's light green, chances are the avocado isn't ripe. On the other hand, Mega Gagauan Avocado has a slightly smooth and reddish skin surface, the shape of the fruit is slightly round with thick yellow flesh, slightly fluffier.
- Taste the avocado by hand to see if it's ripe: Squeeze the avocado gently to check for firmness. Don't press too hard with your fingertips as you can bruise the fruit. Ripe avocados are soft, so the pressure of your fingers can cause them to dent. Unripe avocados will be firm and firm; Overripe avocados will feel soft to the touch, and are often not smooth.
- Check where the stem meets the fruit: Use your fingernails to pry off the remaining circular rods. A small hole will appear in the skin of the fruit and through that hole you can see the color of the avocado. If the avocado "flesh" is green, it means the fruit is ripe or starting to ripen. If the inside of the avocado looks brown, black, or some other color, it means it's overripe or moldy.
Step 2. Buy ripe, ready-to-eat avocados if you plan on turning them straight into avocado butter
Buy avocados raw, and firm if you plan to cook them in a few days. Store unripe avocados in a paper bag at room temperature between 18 - 24 degrees Celsius for about 5 days or until the fruit is ripe.
If you want to slow down the ripening process, store avocados in the refrigerator. Only ripe or soft avocados should be refrigerated. Ripe fruit can be stored in the refrigerator until it's time to eat, and it usually lasts at least two more days
Step 3. Use a tablespoon of fresh lemon juice
Citric acid can add a tangy taste, but its main function is to preserve the avocado butter so it lasts longer. The citric acid also prevents the avocado butter from oxidizing so it doesn't turn brown. If you don't add a squeeze of lemon, the avocado butter will begin to brown within a few hours of being made.
- If you don't have a supply of lemons, you can use other citrus juices such as lime, orange, grapefruit, etc. In general, the more acidic a fruit tastes, the more citric acid it contains. You can even use bottled lemon or lime juice.
- Avoid using orange juice that has been sweetened, pasteurized, or mixed with chemical additives. Only use orange concentrate.
Step 4. Use four tablespoons of butter at room temperature
You can also use margarine instead of butter, or cup of olive oil. Butter that is warm or at room temperature is much softer and easier to mix evenly than cold butter. Since butter is softer at room temperature, it will be easier to mix it into the avocado butter. If you store butter in the refrigerator, move it to room temperature and allow the butter to "melt" before you use it.
If you don't want to use butter, you can crush the avocado along with all the other ingredients. This butterless "avocado butter" won't have the same texture as the buttered version, but you can still use it for all the same purposes
Step 5. Choose the spices you like
The heart of this recipe is avocado, butter, and citric acid – so any other ingredients you add are just flavor-enhancing. Try adding a clove of minced garlic, a tablespoon of finely chopped cilantro, two teaspoons of ground cumin, and salt and pepper to taste.
You're free if you want to use less seasoning to make a simpler avocado butter, or add more complex ingredients for a more spice-rich butter. Try using different combinations of spices to find the flavor that best suits your taste buds
Part 2 of 3: Preparing Avocado Butter
Step 1. Wash the fruit before processing it
Rinse each avocado under running water, and make sure you wash it thoroughly. It doesn't matter whether you pick the avocado from a tree you grew yourself or find it lying on the side of the road, it's important that you wash it to remove any chemicals or bacteria from the fruit before you eat it.
Dry the avocado with a clean towel afterward to remove any remaining debris
Step 2. Split the avocado in half
Use a sharp knife to slice the avocado lengthwise. Carefully hold the avocado in your hands or place it on a cutting board, and start splitting the avocado from the top. Rotate the avocado and knife until the avocado is completely split and the knife stops where you made the incision. Then hold the two halves of the avocado and twist in opposite directions to open the fruit.
Step 3. Remove the avocado seeds
Use a sharp, strong knife and hold the avocado halves with the seeds in one hand. Punch the knife firmly into the avocado seed (about 0.5 – 1 cm deep) so that the knife does not wobble. Then, hold the avocado firmly and twist the knife (and the seeds stuck in the knife) until the seeds come off the fruit. Tap or remove the seeds from the knife into the trash or compost bin.
- Be careful when using a knife. If you don't want to use a knife, you can scoop out the seeds with a spoon.
- If you're using a spoon, try to slip the tip of the spoon under the seeds and separate them from the flesh that surrounds them, after which you can scoop out the seeds and remove them.
Step 4. Peel your avocado
Now that you have two avocado halves, cut the avocado in half again, so you have 4 pieces. Then peel off the dark outer skin of the green flesh. Peel the fruit by sliding your thumb between the skin and the flesh, and separate the skin from the flesh by pulling.
- If you split the avocado and scoop out the flesh with a spoon, you don't need to peel the skin off. However, many people prefer to peel off the skin of an avocado because this will allow them to retain the nutrient-rich, dark green flesh layer closest to the outer skin.
- Consider cutting off the hard part where the stem meets the fruit. If you don't cut it now, you might find it later in your avocado butter!
Step 5. Mix and mash the avocado with the other ingredients
You can crush the pulp in the bowl by hand, or you can grind it in a food processor. Whichever method you choose, mash the avocado until smooth.
- If you are crushing avocados by hand, use a fork or mortar and pestle. Cut the avocado first to make it easier for you to crush the flesh. You want a creamy mixture like guacamole.
- If you're using a blender or food processor, put the avocado slices in the machine, add all the other ingredients, and put the lid on. Grind all ingredients until smooth. This method works best if you're making a large amount of avocado butter – it's easier to use this method than manually crushing the avocado.
Part 3 of 3: Eating and Storing
Step 1. Eat your avocado butter
Avocado butter is at its freshest if you eat it as soon as you finish cooking it. If you like the chilled version, consider refrigerating it for 1-4 hours (in a covered bowl, or wrapped in parchment paper) before eating it. Consider these ideas for eating your avocado butter:
- Spread avocado butter on toast. You can spread it thickly on bread, English muffins, tortillas or any food you normally eat with plain butter.
- Use avocado butter for sandwiches. You can use a large amount of avocado butter as the main ingredient, or simply spread it thinly on bread for flavor. Note that the more servings of butter you use to make avocado butter, you may not want to eat it all at once.
- Mix the avocado butter into the salad. That way you can make a delicious salad dressing. Serve separately, or mix directly into salads.
- Enjoy avocado butter with a variety of snacks. Dip in chips or saltine crackers; spread on deviled egg; dip your fries into it; or you can eat it directly.
Step 2. Store the remaining avocado butter in the refrigerator
You will need to store the avocado butter in an airtight container. To keep the avocado green, you can place a layer of plastic wrap over the avocado butter (until it hits the top surface).
Fresh avocado butter can be stored for three days in the refrigerator or a week in the freezer
Step 3. If you didn't add citric acid to the recipe, make sure you add it before storage
Avocados will begin to brown within a few hours if not protected with a squeeze of lemon, lime, orange, or grapefruit. Just add a few drops – too much will spoil the taste of the avocado butter.
Tips
- If you don't want to use butter in a recipe, you can still mash your avocado and call it avocado butter. Thick, pure avocado can replace butter for many purposes.
- If your avocado butter turns brown after a few hours, don't worry – you can still eat it safely. However, you can reverse this natural reaction by mixing avocados with citric acid and storing them in an airtight container.
Warning
- Don't use avocado butter for cakes or other baked goods as a substitute for butter. The avocado will interfere with the recipe, and the baked product won't taste the same.
- Be careful when using a knife.
