Douglas Fir Spring Tip Whipped Sweet Butter
Kristan Raines (of The Broken Bread) and I recently teamed up to create a few recipes infused with wildcrafted tea from Juniper Ridge. I’m so excited to be collaborating with this girl. She is incredibly talented, sweet as can be, and her recipes and food photography are hypnotizing. If you haven’t already checked out her work or followed her on Instagram, you must!
As for Juniper Ridge…they’re adventurers who have mastered the art of fragrance. They hike, they camp, and they capture the beauty of places like Big Sur, Siskiyou, or the Yuba River, in a scent. They make soaps, room sprays, incense, cologne, beard oil, you name it. And from plant to bottle, they handle the entire process. I never thought much about the craft of fragrance-making, but I’ve developed a deep respect for it since I started using JR products in my apartment. I’ve been burning their White Sage Campfire Incense for weeks now and can’t get enough. It transports me to a dewy forest in early fall at dawn, with bacon crackling over a fire pit. Their Siskiyou Cabin Spray takes me to a cliff overlooking a sea of sweet pines in summer. I can’t get over how they’ve so perfectly bottled up the intensity of these enchanting destinations. Here’s a snippet from their “About” page that sums it up beautifully:
“We make our fragrances throughout the West Coast—on dirt roads and trails, around campfires, and in our Oakland, California workshop. All to capture the quiet beauty of the Mojave Desert at sunrise, or a late-season Sierra trailhead with winter right around the corner.”
Thoroughly inspired by that magic, Kristan and I set out to craft one dessert and one cocktail each with our wild teas. We sought to keep it simple, celebrating the earthy beauty of the tea in true JR fashion, and today we’re both sharing our desserts! I infused date-sweetened heavy cream with the Douglas Fir Spring Tip Tea, then whipped it into a fluffy butter before finishing with a sprinkle of the dried leaves. This isn’t a typical dessert in that it’s more of a dipping side to accompany anything that goes with sweet butter — but I love that versatility. My first instinct was to pair it with some tart apple slices. Divine! I love how the cream carries the fresh, woodsy flavors of fir and spring tip so smoothly.
(Recipe at the bottom!)
Keep an eye on our blogs tomorrow for the cocktail recipes (with video!), and check out The Broken Bread right now for Kristan’s delicious dessert: White Sage & Wild Mint Chocolate Mousse!
Douglas Fir Spring Tip Whipped Sweet Butter
2 cups heavy cream
2 Douglas Fir Spring Tip Tea bags (Juniper Ridge) for steeping
1 Douglas Fir Spring Tip Tea bag for sprinkling
2 Medjool dates, pitted
Bring the heavy cream to a simmer over medium heat.
Remove from heat and add the 2 tea bags. Cover and steep for 10 minutes.
Remove the tea bags and chill the cream for at least 30 minutes in the refrigerator.
While the cream is chilling, finely chop the dates and press them with the back of a spoon to make a paste.
When the cream is done chilling, add the date paste and half the contents of the remaining tea bag and blend with a hand mixer until a butter forms, about 5 minutes. It will look a little chunky, but keep mixing until the mixture is stiff and has the consistency of a whipped butter.
Scoop butter into a small serving bowl, sprinkle with some of the leftover dried tea and use right away, or cover and refrigerate.
