Vanilla Bean Whipped Brown Butter

I’ve been bitten by a TikTok food trend… and if you haven’t already, you must try this one. I first saw this via TikTok users @thomas_straker and @margie_nomura ; Thomas’ video from last April showed him making it with lemon zest and some sea salt. Margie shares that she made hers in her restaurant days and customers would go wild for it. 

It seemed simple enough – I’ve whipped brown butter for my brown butter chocolate chip cookies many times – but I’ve never actually eaten it plain & before it was baked into something (it does taste amazing in the dough though!). 

I discovered that as it is – whipped brown butter by itself without any additions is… good, you get that nuttiness that only brown butter imparts. But personally, I could also just taste too much err, butter, alongside it which I didn’t love. So I decided if this was going on bread, it needed some flavorings to make it more oh my god. 

Instead of a simple browning and whipping, I’ll ask you to do what I have you do in this vanilla bean brown butter cake and this brown butter chocolate pie and toss a vanilla bean in the butter as it browns. Then, we’re going to enhance the flavor even more with a bit of sea salt and some lovely brown sugar. 

Guys, oh my god, this is so good! And so easy! Give it a go, yeah?

Notes on making vanilla bean whipped brown butter 

Note #1: most of the recipes I’ve seen have you place the butter over a bowl of ice and whipping by hand. I set mine in the freezer instead and use a hand mixer. You could also use a whisk, it’ll just take longer. 

Note #2: It’s okay if you over whip the butter slightly – you’ll know this because it will get thick, have lots of bubbles, and be difficult to spread. Some heavy cream will help it come back together. 

Note #3: This is very customizable depending on your taste. You’ll want to sample it as you whip  – do you want more salt? Add ¼ tsp at a time. More vanilla? Add ½ tsp at a time.

Note #4: You might notice a difference in color between some of the whipped butters pictured, the one with a yellower tint was made with european style butter (higher butterfat percentage).

Vanilla Whipped Brown Butter

Butter is browned with a freshly scraped vanilla bean and whipped into a creamy spread.

Prep Time: 5 minutes mins

Cook Time: 10 minutes mins

Chill Time: 1 hour hr

5 from 2 votes

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Ingredients

• 226g or 1 cup butter, unsalted two sticks
• 1 vanilla bean or 1-2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar dark or light
• ½ teaspoon fine sea salt if using a different salt, start with ¼, taste it to see how much more you want to add
• ½-1 teaspoon cinnamon optional

Method

• In a large shallow frying pan, add the butter and turn the heat to medium low - if using the vanilla bean, scrape it and add it now (the scrapings can be added into the butter or put in the bowl you’ll be whipping the butter in - if you are working in low light, too many scrapings in the pan make it hard to see how well the milk solids are browning).
• Cook, stirring as needed to get the bits on the edges, as it melts.
• Continue to cook and stir as the butter begins to sputter and spit, then foams. As it foams you’ll notice the bits in the center separating (these are the milk solids) then beginning to brown.
• When they are a golden brown (see the video for visual aid) stir to ensure that all the milk solids are nicely toasted. Then pour it into a heatproof bowl, scraping off all the brown bits from the pan.
• Set it in the freezer for about 30-45 minutes, until most of it is solid and creamy.
• With a hand mixer, beat the butter until light colored and creamy adding the remaining ingredients as you whip. Scrape the bowl as needed so all the butter gets whipped evenly.
• If the butter is rather thick and hard to spread, add a little heavy cream (no more than 2 tablespoons) and stir it in.
• Store in the fridge in an airtight container.

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