Butter that smells and tastes like… coffee! And I mean real, quality coffee. This coffee-infused butter will add such an amazing coffee flavor to your baked goods and buttercreams that you wouldn’t achieve with any other method.
The best way to bake with coffee
Coffee can be incorporated into a batter, dough, or even buttercream in various forms, from instant coffee powder to coffee extract. All methods have their place, and it really depends on what you want your final baked good to taste like. Being a huge coffee lover, I have tried every method imaginable, even adding coffee grounds directly into the batter. Instant coffee has no place in my kitchen because it tastes very unpleasant to me; I prefer to add some real espresso coffee to my baked goods instead. But I’ve always struggled when I wanted a strong and noticeable coffee flavor in a recipe where I couldn’t add much moisture.
I’ve gone through this frustration before with my coffee cupcakes, and I recently revisited it when working with my coffee bean cookies. After several tests that did not satisfy me, I started wondering if there was some magical method I had not tried yet. If I were making coffee ganache, I would infuse cream with coffee, but cookies are mostly butter. Wait, can I do the same thing with butter? After a quick search on Google and a few kilograms of butter used for testing, my only thought was, girl, what took you so long?! Coffee-infused butter imparts an unparalleled coffee flavor that no instant or liquid coffee can add to a baked good. It’s the best way to bake with coffee, hands down.
How to make coffee-infused butter?
It’s like brewing coffee, only using butter instead of water. Well, it just takes a little longer. Most of the recipes I could find recommend using a crazy amount of coffee beans (1:2, coffee to butter ratio) and simmering them whole in butter, which I find pretty strange. Have you ever brewed your coffee with whole, unground coffee beans? Guess why not: grounds release a lot more flavor a lot faster. Plus, such a high coffee ratio means not only a lot of used coffee beans, but also a lot of wasted butter, since some of it stays stuck to the coffee beans. Actually, mostly half of it. To make sure my assumptions were correct, I, of course, tried this popular method, and the result was a very mild coffee flavor that was barely noticeable after baking cookies with this butter. So it’s really quite a waste of good ingredients.
My final quest was to make coffee butter with as much flavor as possible, using as little coffee as possible. I tried different ratios, grinding settings, and brewing times until I could say that those kilograms of butter were well used!
What type of coffee is best to infuse butter with?
For the best results, you should buy whole coffee beans and grind them yourself just before making the butter. This requires a coffee grinder, and the one with millstones is the best option. If you don’t have a grinder at all, you can crush the beans by hand with a mortar and pestle, or ask a local coffee shop to coarsely grind the beans for you.
The exact type of beans is up to you: use what you like. I love an acidic cup of African coffee, but to infuse butter, I prefer a classic espresso blend. Simply because I will not drink the butter by itself and feel all the subtle notes. I want the flavor to be intense and shine through the other ingredients in a baked good.
I don’t recommend using store-bought ground coffee. It was roasted and ground in large batches who knows how long ago, and has already lost a lot of its flavor. Also, it’s usually finely ground, and you’d have a harder time filtering it out.
How to use coffee-infused butter in baking recipes?
Use this butter in recipes that call for a high percentage of butter. It’s perfect for cookies, muffins, cupcakes, or butter cakes. You can even use it to make buttercream. Whether you need melted, room temperature, or cold butter, it will work in any case. It’s also important to keep the recipe simple, without many other ingredients that might overwhelm the coffee flavor, like chocolate, for example. In these cookies, the coffee flavor shines through very nicely.
Video Instructions
Coffee-Infused Butter
This coffee-infused butter has a strong and pleasant coffee flavor and will make your baked goods taste like coffee, in the best possible way.
- Prep Time5 min
- Bake / Cook Time1 hr
- Total Time1 hr 5 min
- Yield~260 g | 9.2 oz of infused butter
Ingredients
- 40 g | 1.4 oz coffee beans
- 300 g | 10.5 oz unsalted butter
Directions
Coarsely grind the coffee beans. If you don’t have a coffee grinder, you can use a mortar and pestle to crush the beans.
Melt the butter in a saucepan. Be careful not to let it boil.
Add the coffee grounds and stir well to soak them evenly.
Cover the saucepan and simmer over very low heat for 60 minutes. Keep an eye on the butter to make sure it does not boil, but remains warm and liquid. If you prefer to monitor the temperature, it should remain at 70-90°C (158-194°F).
Strain the infused butter through a fine sieve. Some coffee grounds and dust will pass through, but that is fine.
Squeeze out as much butter from the coffee grounds as possible.
Allow the butter to cool. If a recipe you need it for calls for melted butter, it is ready to use. Otherwise, store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator until you are ready to use it.
recipe notes
- It's important to keep the melted butter below the boiling point. If it starts boiling, the coffee will burn, and the butter will start browning rather quickly. You don't want browned butter, because the caramelized, nutty flavor of browned butter overpowers the coffee flavor.
- Do not use a paper coffee filter to strain the butter. Nothing, including the butter, will pass through it. Use a fine tea strainer or layered cheesecloth.
- If a recipe for which you want to use coffee-infused butter calls for room temperature or softened butter, let the butter solidify completely in the refrigerator, then bring it back to room temperature. Its texture will be similar to clarified butter.
- This butter is loaded with caffeine. If you prefer your baked goods with coffee flavor but with no caffeine, use decaffeinated coffee beans. Just keep in mind that the flavor will be milder.
