Butter Candle · i am a food blog

Move over to the butter boards, the butter candle is here!

They add light, ambiance and, of course, butter to any table, making serving bread, steak or whatever you like dipping in butter a fun and interactive experience. If you like hot butter and fresh bread, or if you like butter boardsyou will love the butter candle.

What is a butter candle?

It’s exactly what it sounds like: a candle made from butter. A food-safe wick is lit at the table and the butter slowly softens, making it melty, dipable or pourable. Butter candles are usually served with bread, but you can also serve them with anything you like with butter. For dipping, you can accompany: seafood, vegetables or meats. And for serving, think: mashed potatoes, rice, popcorn – the list goes on. Is there anything that doesn’t taste better with butter?

Who invented butter candles?

To be honest, butter candles are a modern take on the deliciously retro tallow candles, which are candles made from beef fat. Tallow candles have been around for ages, since ancient Rome in fact. Lately, adventurous restaurants have started serving steaks with very tasty edible tallow candles. The resulting hot, melting beef fat is poured over the steak or served with potatoes. Really, it’s not that big of a deal to switch to homemade butter candles for bread. The first version I saw on Tiktok was from Soozie the greedy who serves his with bread. The other one I see over and over is the Steak Butter Candle from ONLY. These two TikToks are perfect examples of the two different ways to make butter candles.

How to make a butter candle

There are two ways to make a butter candle: hand shaping and pouring. Both work well, but shaping by hand is a little more rustic and if you don’t have food safety gloves, I recommend going the pouring route.

Hand Pour Butter Candle

This is definitely the easiest way to make a butter candle. Melt the butter, make a wick with food twine, pour the butter into a container and wait for it to set. That’s it!

1. Melt the butter. You can do this in a small saucepan over low heat on the stove, or in 20 second increments in the microwave, stirring each time you reset the microwave.
2. Make the wick. Cut a piece of food twine and dip it in the melted butter to create a food wick.
3. Place the wick into the mold. Tie the buttered string around a stick or chopstick and place the stick on top of your buttered candle mold, making sure the string touches the bottom of the mold.
4. Pour in the butter. Pour the melted butter into the mold, making sure the wick is in the center of the candle.
5. Let the candle set. Place the butter candle in the refrigerator until firm, at least 1 hour minimum.
6. Light your butter candle and enjoy. When it’s time to enjoy, remove the stick and trim the wick so that it is about 1/4 to 1/2 inch above the candle. Use a match or lighter to light the wick and let the butter melt. Enjoy the melted butter by dipping or pouring it!

To shape a butter candle by hand

Start with slightly soft spreadable butter. Ideally, take your butter out of the refrigerator and let it sit at room temperature for 20 minutes. Lay out a piece of plastic wrap and place your stick of butter in the middle. Use your hands or a rolling pin to lightly flatten the butter and place a piece of kitchen twine in the middle to make a strand. Use the plastic wrap to roll and shape the butter into a candle. Place in the refrigerator to set.

Butter Candle Wicks

It doesn’t matter whether you’re shaping or pouring by hand, either way, you’ll need a food-safe wick. My suggestion is 100% cotton food grade twine, the kind you tie roasts and chicken with. You can find it near the meat section of the grocery store or you can order it online. Because it is food safe, it will be safe when you light your candle. All you have to do to turn your food twine into a wick is dip it in melted butter so it holds the flame better.

Butter candle molds

You can buy in store or make homemade here. Your mold really depends on whether you want to have a freestanding (unmold) candle or a candle in a container. Generally, you want a freestanding or shallow candle for dipping and a container candle for pouring.

Dipable Butter Candle Mold

Depending on whether you want to unmold your candle or not, you will need a disposable or reusable mold. If you plan to unmold your candle, you can use a paper cup that you can cut and then peel off the butter. You can even make a cardboard tube, line it with parchment paper and tape the bottom. If you opt for a submerged candle that you will leave in the mold, opt for a shallow container that you already have at home such as a ramekin or a small dish. This butter pot would work wonderfully for a dipped butter candle.

Pourable Butter Candle Mold

These can be anything small with a beak. We use a small cream pitcher, which worked great and is incredibly cute. Anything small and pourable is usable. Small creamer pitchers or espresso pourers are perfect and there are so many. These mini glass espresso cups with wooden handles are super cute.

Salted or sweet butter

Most people will tell you to go for salted butter because that’s what you serve with bread, but unsalted works too, just serve your candle with flaky sea salt. Really, use whatever butter you like.

What to serve with butter candles

Really, you can serve anything. If you opt for a starter, a nice selection of crusty breads will do the trick. On the other hand, if you want to serve a butter candle at breakfast or brunch, you will think of pancakes, waffles or freshly baked muffins. If serving it for dinner, melted butter is delicious on rice, noodles, vegetables, seafood and meats. The classic is herb butter with steak fries, you can’t go wrong with that!

Butter Candle Flavors

Any compound butter (flavored butter) can be a butter candle. To prepare, simply mix the ingredients into the melted butter.

• garlic butter: 1/2 cup butter plus 4 finely chopped garlic cloves or 4 roasted garlic cloves
• herb butter: 1/2 cup butter plus 2 tablespoons freshly chopped herbs of your choice such as mint, cilantro, green onions, rosemary, thyme, flat-leaf parsley, sage, basil, dill, tarragon, chives
• Jalapeño Butter: 1/2 cup butter and 2 tablespoons finely chopped jalapeño
• pepper butter: 1/2 cup butter plus 1 teaspoon smoked paprika and 1 tablespoon fresh parsley
• shallot butter: 1/2 cup butter plus 2 tablespoons finely chopped shallots, 2 finely chopped garlic cloves, 2 teaspoons finely chopped parsley
• red wine butter: 1/2 cup butter, 2 tablespoons red wine, 1 tablespoon finely chopped shallots, 2 teaspoons finely chopped parsley, 1 teaspoon fresh lemon zest
• lemon butter: 1/2 cup butter, 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, 2 teaspoons fresh lemon zest, 2 teaspoons finely chopped parsley

Pro tip

1. Make sure your butter candle is sturdy before lighting it, otherwise you will just have a pool of butter instead of a candle.
2. If you unmold your candle, Place the candle in a shallow dish with a rim so that as it melts, it does not overflow and cause a butter spill.
3. Start small! Yes, you can make a butter candle with 1 pound of butter, but that’s excessive even today. All you really need is a stick of butter (1/2 cup).
4. Super soft butter candles. If you are a purist and want a nice, very clean burning candle, be sure to clarify and filter your butter. Since butter contains water and milk solids, an unclarified butter candle will splutter a little because of the milk solids. This is definitely an optional step and I don’t think it’s necessary.

Have fun! There is nothing more delicious than really good butter and really good bread. There’s a reason why bread and butter is classic. For me, there is no perfect starter. Some of you may be wondering why or shaking your heads at the ridiculousness of this, but it’s 2022 and 2023 and this is our life now. I’m here for this until the end! Butter candles are festive and make a delicious discussion centerpiece. What’s not to like?

Happy butter candle!
xoxo steph

How to make a butter candle

Move over to the butter boards, the butter candle is here!

Serves 4

Preparation time 10 minutes minutes

Setting time 1 hour hour

Total duration 1 hour hour 10 minutes minutes

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 baguette sliceto serve, optional

• Food Safe Kitchen Twine

• Small Ramekin

Nutrition Facts

How to make a butter candle

Amount per serving

Calories 203
Calories from fat 207

% daily value*

Fat 23g35%

Saturated fat 14.6 g91%

Cholesterol 61 mg20%

Sodium 3mg0%

Potassium 7mg0%

Carbohydrates 0.01g0%

Fiber 0.01g0%

Sugar 0.01g0%

Protein 0.2g0%

*Percent Daily Values ​​are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.