Marg/butter for baking - quality or price?

Nicepeach

dragonlily wrote: »

We have just tried Aldi's Norpak spreadable for sandwiches and stuff this week and it is actually very nice and much cheaper than our usual Lurpak!

Another vote for Aldi's Norpak spreadable here too for general "buttering" i.e. sandwiches/toast etc. I used to use Lurpak spreadable but gave this a try & I can't tell the difference. MUCH cheaper than Lurpak - think it's £1.79 for 500g.

I use Aldi unsalted butter for sauces & any cooking/baking recipes which need butter.

I use Stork for any cake/baking recipes which need margarine & used Trex at Christmas for the first time for a fantastic mince pie pastry recipe posted on here with fantastic results. Stopped making pastry but managed this recipe (have tried repeatedly but rubbish results). Now buy Aldi ready made, available in shortcrust or flaky for about 90p - just like Jus-Rol but not as expensive.

I also keep Aldi own brand Solesta Olive Spread for my little boy who finds it hard to spread even spreadable butter on bread/toast... When he gets a bigger boy he'll be able to do it - he's 18 in a few weeks :rotfl: Used to use Flora spreadable but I can't tell the difference & nor can he.

Talking of Lur*pak & Aldi's Norpak... saw a MAHOOOOOOSIVE Lurpak wagon backing into the delivery bay of our local Aldi a few weeks ago so possibly Lurpak make Norpak..? Unless he'd got lost & missed the big T*esco a few hundred yards down the road & was simply doing a 3 point turn & re-setting his Sat Nav for new directions...

daska

If you have a kitchen-aid or similar you can buy cream when it's whoopsied and make your own. I often pick up 600ml cartons for a quid and that gives approx 450g (just under two packs) of the loveliest butter you'll have ever tasted at substantially less than you'd pay in a supermarket!

Technique: Whip hard until it separates into butter and buttermilk (depending on the power of your machine this could be 2.5 to 6 minutes), save the buttermilk for baking and wash the butter by whipping in clean water. It's the buttermilk that goes off first so the more you get out the longer the butter lasts. Slap it around a bit to get rid of the excess water - I pummel it between a couple of flat spatulas and bang it quickly on a clean linen (not fluffy!) tea towel, then divvy it up into containers - freeze or refrigerate as appropriate for your level of usage.

I'm not quite sure what people make of me gathering up a dozen large pots of cream LOL

Nicepeach

daska wrote: »

If you have a kitchen-aid or similar you can buy cream when it's whoopsied and make your own. I often pick up 600ml cartons for a quid and that gives approx 450g (just under two packs) of the loveliest butter you'll have ever tasted at substantially less than you'd pay in a supermarket!

Technique: Whip hard until it separates into butter and buttermilk (depending on the power of your machine this could be 2.5 to 6 minutes), save the buttermilk for baking and wash the butter by whipping in clean water. It's the buttermilk that goes off first so the more you get out the longer the butter lasts. Slap it around a bit to get rid of the excess water - I pummel it between a couple of flat spatulas and bang it quickly on a clean linen (not fluffy!) tea towel, then divvy it up into containers - freeze or refrigerate as appropriate for your level of usage.

I'm not quite sure what people make of me gathering up a dozen large pots of cream LOL

:rotfl: Just splattered my laptop with coffee - that did make me laugh! Do you think the word has got out about your dairy battering habit & no-one in your vicinity dare mention it when they see you gathering up lots of cream!

Thanks for the laugh, it really tickled me :rotfl:

daska

Nicepeach wrote: »

:rotfl: Just splattered my laptop with coffee - that did make me laugh! Do you think the word has got out about your dairy battering habit & no-one in your vicinity dare mention it when they see you gathering up lots of cream!

Thanks for the laugh, it really tickled me :rotfl:

LOL, I just read it again, first I slap it around and then I bang it on the kitchen worktop. :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

anguk

jenster wrote: »

Willow is the butter i use mainly cos its the cheapest butter about
and in cakes and biscuits i dont like cheap marg

but i have also used the i cant belive its not butter and the supermarkets own type like butter me up etc , and there not as good as butter but not as bad as marg and often on buy one get one frees

Willow isn't butter, it's just a block margarine/spread like Stork. If you look at the ingredients in Willow they're very similar to Stork:
http://www.dairycrest.co.uk/our-brands-products/willow.aspx
http://www.ocado.com/webshop/product/Stork-Margarine/14954011

It looks like butter, it's normally with the other butters in the fridge in supermarkets but the manufacturers can't call it butter because it's not butter, it's margarine.

I sometimes use Willow for baking if I can get it cheaper than Stork. At the moment Stork is 59p for 250g and Willow is £1 for the same size at Tesco but sometimes I can get it cheaper at the freezer shop.

katieowl_2

daska wrote: »

If you have a kitchen-aid or similar you can buy cream when it's whoopsied and make your own. I often pick up 600ml cartons for a quid and that gives approx 450g (just under two packs) of the loveliest butter you'll have ever tasted at substantially less than you'd pay in a supermarket!

Technique: Whip hard until it separates into butter and buttermilk (depending on the power of your machine this could be 2.5 to 6 minutes), save the buttermilk for baking and wash the butter by whipping in clean water. It's the buttermilk that goes off first so the more you get out the longer the butter lasts. Slap it around a bit to get rid of the excess water - I pummel it between a couple of flat spatulas and bang it quickly on a clean linen (not fluffy!) tea towel, then divvy it up into containers - freeze or refrigerate as appropriate for your level of usage.

I'm not quite sure what people make of me gathering up a dozen large pots of cream LOL

And to add to what Daska says...HM butter, once made and frozen makes very nice cakes indeed

Kate

tiff

Until today Lurpak was available in Tesco on offer with coupon for 50p so I now have a good stock of those. Have a look on the updated printable coupons thread for that kind of offer.