Chocolate Butter
This recipe for chocolate butter is exactly as chocolatey and buttery as it sounds. Jazz up your everyday spread by adding a subtle chocolate flavor to it. Get ready to use it on everything!
What’s better than butter you ask? Chocolate butter is better! Yes, chocolate butter is a thing. It’s next-level delicious in all its buttery, chocolaty-sweet glory. It’s made with just 5 ingredients and it comes together in minutes. It’s the perfect spread for bread, pancakes, waffles, toast, and more!
About this chocolate butter
If you like Nutella, you’ll love this delicious butter. They’re by no means the same, but there’s a good chance that if you love one chocolate spread, you may love them all! It’s not heavy on the chocolate like Nutella (and it’s not made with nuts), but instead it has a more subtle chocolate flavor. Both spreads are frequently enjoyed on many of the same pastries, bread, and baked goods.
It’s like enjoying buttercream in a less heavy and less sweet kind of way. This chocolate-flavored butter is a showstopper for special occasion brunches with baskets of croissants, scones, and fresh-baked bagels. It is a super fun addition to a pancake board. Don’t forget the mimosas!
Chocolate butter is easy to put together and it keeps well in the fridge so don’t feel like you need to wait for a special occasion to make it. It does certainly feels luxurious so anytime you feel like leveling up your everyday toast or Sunday pancakes, pull your chocolate butter out of the fridge. It will elevate whatever you’re eating!
Chocolate butter vs. cocoa butter
Despite chocolate butter and cocoa butter sounding like they might be almost the same thing, they’re not! Chocolate butter is chocolate-flavored butter so the butter remains at the forefront. It isn’t overpowered by the cocoa. It’s chocolate flavored but in the end, it’s still butter!
Cocoa butter, on the other hand, isn’t dairy at all and is made from roasted cocoa beans. Naturally it has the flavor and aroma of cocoa. It’s a vegetable fat and can be used not only for cooking but for skincare as well. It’s solid at room temperature unlike chocolate butter which softens at room temperature.
What’s in this chocolate butter
- Unsalted Softened Butter – Take the butter out of the refrigerator at least 45 minutes before you plan to make the recipe to bring it to room temperature. This will make it soft enough to mix in the other ingredients.
- Cocoa Powder – Often used for baking, cocoa powder is finely ground powder derived from cocoa beans. It doesn’t contain fat solids and is high in antioxidants. It can be stored at room temperature.
- Powdered (Confectioners’) Sugar – Powdered sugar is finely ground sugar that often has added cornstarch. It blends well and helps to thicken the compound butter.
- Pure Vanilla Extract – A lovely hint of vanilla to round out the chocolate flavor.
- Pinch of Salt – Salt is needed to bring out flavor in all of the other ingredients and to balance the sweetness. Omit the salt if you happen to use salted butter instead of unsalted butter.
How to make it
Bring the butter to room temperature ahead of time to soften it.
In a medium mixing bowl, combine all ingredients using an electric mixer, scraping down the sides as needed.
Use immediately or store in the fridge for later.
How to soften butter quickly
Imagine this: you need a quick chocolate butter to put that extra bit of special effort into breakfast but of course, have forgotten to take out the butter! There are a lot of ways to soften butter but we love this method:
- Fill a mason jar (or a drinking glass or jar big enough to cover the entire stick of butter) with water.
- Place the jar with water in the microwave for 5 minutes (or until the water boils).
- Place a stick of butter vertically on a plate (wrapped or unwrapped), carefully empty the water from the jar and turn the empty jar upside down over the butter. Stick it in the microwave and close the door. DO NOT TURN IT ON.
- The residual heat from the jar and the microwave will help to soften the butter quickly. In about 10 minutes you should be good to go!
FAQs
Chocolate butter is a compound butter that can be used in place of butter as a spread. You’re probably not going to want to cook with it or grease a pan with it but it’s delicious on toast, pancakes, croissants, waffles, French toast, crepes, you name it!
They share a few of the same ingredients: butter, cocoa, and powdered sugar. Heavy cream (or milk) is added to buttercream and a lot more powdered sugar to make sweet frosting. Chocolate butter is not used as frosting and wouldn’t hold its structure the same way that buttercream does because it has less powdered sugar. Since buttercream is a frosting, it would be probably too sweet to spread on your breakfast toast but chocolate butter is just right!
How to make this whipped butter your own
- Add mini chocolate chips on top of the butter for a little extra chocolatey flavor.
- Skip the vanilla extract if you’re not a fan, it’s completely optional. Other flavored extracts can be substituted (mint, maple, almond, etc)
- Serve with cinnamon pancakes, chocolate pancakes, or chocolate chip pancakes.
- Store in little mason jars, wrap a bow around them, and give jars away as gifts around the holidays.
Storage Suggestions
Store in the fridge, but soften at room temperature for 1-2 hours before using to make it spreadable.
More pancake toppings
Get the Recipe: Chocolate Butter
Ingredients
- ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
- 2 tablespoons powdered sugar (aka confectioners' sugar)
- ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- pinch of salt
Instructions
- In a medium mixing bowl, combine all ingredients using an electric mixer, scraping down the sides as needed.
- Store in the fridge, but soften for 1-2 hours before using to make it spreadable.
Notes
- makes about 1/2 cup of butter