Here’s How To Make Your Own Butter Pats
Butter pats are single servings of butter, usually served in a foil packet or creatively shaped into a square or ball. Each pat of butter generally weighs around 7 grams (½ tablespoons), which is enough to cover a slice of bread. They are usually used in restaurants to add class to a meal.
Butter can always be a helpful ingredient when trying to get creative in the kitchen, especially when serving a dish. Butter pats were invented specifically for this purpose, but you need to know how to combine them with your meals properly. In this article, I have explained how you can make butter pats and properly use them; this way, you can get artsy in your kitchen.
How do you make butter pats?
Butter is used in many meals, and it can be served in different ways, so you can get really creative with it. That is the main point with butter pats, meaning you can serve them individually in different ways.
Luckily, you do not have to buy butter pats because you can make them yourself. It is a very simple technique, and you need really simple ingredients and utensils. Therefore, once you obtain unsalted butter, a spatula, and a small mold, you can begin the process of making butter pats.
1. Fill the mold with soft butter
You will need soft, unsalted butter and a small mold to help you make pats in nice shapes. The process begins by filling the molds with butter. To make sure it is soft enough, leave it at room temperature for a few hours or use a mixer to soften it.
When filling the molds, check if no air is left between the butter and the pan.
2. Let the butter harden
Once you make your butter shapes, freeze them for about one hour. The freezing time usually depends on your freezer. You will know that your butter pats are ready when firm.
3. Flip over the molds
Once you take your molds out of the freezer, you will need a plate on which you can flip them over. Use a little bit of hot water so the pats can fall out of the molds. Once they have fallen out on the plate, you can sprinkle some salt on top of them to make them salty, but this is an optional step.
If you do not need the butter pats immediately, place them in the fridge to keep them fresh until serving time.
This method can be used with different kinds of molds, meaning that you can get creative with your butter pats. The molds you use for your holiday cookies can easily be used for butter pats, so you will end up with many different shapes, such as hearts, cartoon characters, etc.
What are butter pats used for?
Butter pats are mostly used in restaurants when single servings of butter are needed. They are usually considered a fancy way of serving butter to each person individually and are regarded as a classy method that makes your dish look quite sophisticated.
However, even though this method is usually used in restaurants, that does not mean you cannot add a bit of fanciness to your meals.
You can make your breakfast or dinner just as classy even at your home for several people. Putting the whole block of butter on the table does not look nice, and it is not a really hygienic way of serving butter for many people. That is when butter pats would be convenient, but they will also look great on your table.
How much does a pat of butter weigh?
Generally, a pat of butter weighs around 7 grams. This estimation is based on butter pats that are produced commercially and can be bought in a store. When you make your own butter pats, they usually weigh around 2.5 grams or ½ tablespoons of butter.
However, this is an approximate estimation that can vary, especially at home. You can use bigger or smaller molds for making butter pats, meaning that the amount of butter you use will vary.
How many calories does a pat of butter have?
As I said, the amount of butter you use for your butter pats may vary. However, if we base the estimation on the previous numbers then a ⅓ tablespoon of butter would contain around 34 calories. If you use a ½ tablespoon of butter for your butter pats, then one of them should contain around 51 calories. [1]
Once again, you should not entirely rely on these estimations since each butter pat might contain a larger or smaller amount. This is just to give you an idea if you want to count calories in your meals.
Why is it called a pat of butter?
The origin of butter pats is not really clear, but there is a theory that can give an idea of how they were created and how they got their name.
Namely, the whole process of making butter pats revolves around the tools that were primarily used for making them. The tools with which butter pats were originally made are called Scotch hands, which are basically wood paddles that prevent their melting before refrigeration.
These wood pads were used to shape and mold these tiny butter shapes, so that is how they got their name. Although the tools used now are not the same, the name stuck, so there goes the story behind the name butter pats.
