Brandy butter is often used in the UK during the Christmas festivities as an accompaniment to Christmas pudding and mince pies but it can also be served with other desserts such as pumpkin or apple pie especially if raisins or currants are added to the dessert. Brandy butter is quick and easy to make.
All you have to do is cream together unsalted butter and icing sugar and then add brandy. However, can you prepare it in bulk and enjoy it all over the Thanksgiving and Christmas period? The simple answer is yes, and you can keep it in the fridge for a week or so. If you want to keep it for longer, you can freeze it and, in fact, it does freeze very well. In this article, we will tell you how to freeze brandy butter and how to defrost it.
How To Freeze Brandy Butter
1. Mix the ingredients well before freezing.
You need to make sure that the brandy is distributed equally throughout the butter. You don’t want to serve brandy butter without any brandy!
2. Put the brandy butter into freezer bags.
If you have made a lot of brandy butter, you will want to divide it into portions so that you only defrost what you need for the coming week. You don’t want to defrost more than you need otherwise it will spoil and you will end up throwing it away.
Put the portions into separate freezer bags. Squeeze out as much air as possible from the freezer bags so that freezer burn doesn’t occur. Freezer burn will ruin the taste and texture of your brandy butter.
Put a label on the bags with the contents and the date frozen. You don’t want to keep the brandy butter in the freezer for longer than it should be.
3. Freeze.
Tips For Freezing Brandy Butter
- You can add a couple of tablespoons of hot water to brandy butter when you are mixing it to make it smoother. If you do this, make sure that it has completely cooled down before you freeze it. Putting warm food in the freezer can bring up the temperature and other food in the freezer may start to defrost. When it refreezes, it may lose taste and texture, and it may even spoil.
- Squeeze out the air from the freezer bags to avoid freezer burn.
- Divide the brandy butter into portions so that you only defrost as much as you need for the following week.
- Keep defrosted brandy butter in the fridge for up to 10 days.
- Stir the brandy butter when it has defrosted as it may have split during the freezing process.
- If you want warm brandy butter, you can heat it up in the microwave or gently on the hob. However, most people like the coldness of the brandy butter contrasting with the Christmas pudding or apple and raisin pie.
For How Long Can You Freeze Brandy Butter?
You can freeze brandy butter for about two months. Once you have defrosted it, it will keep for around a week to ten days in the fridge.
How Do You Defrost Brandy Butter?
The best way to defrost brandy butter is slow and steady. Put it in the fridge and leave it to defrost overnight. This helps it retain both taste and texture. If you forget to do this, you can put the freezer bag of brandy butter in a bowl of room temperature water. The brandy butter should defrost within a couple of hours but the texture may be compromised. It will probably split so you will need to give it a good stir. Still, it might not completely regain its original consistency. You can try defrosting your brandy butter in the microwave but it may go lumpy. The best way to do this is to put the microwave onto the defrost setting and check it every minute to make sure it doesn’t overheat.
Can You Refreeze Brandy Butter?
We don’t recommend that you refreeze brandy butter. Every time you freeze, defrost, and refreeze, ice crystals are formed and if you do this too often, the texture of the brandy butter will change. It will probably split even more and become mushy; not what you want to pour over your dessert. If you do as we have recommended, that is, freeze in portions, you should be able to defrost just as much as you need for a few days. Defrosted brandy butter can keep in the fridge for around a week, so when portioning it out to freeze, keep this in mind. In this way, you can avoid waste.
Is It a Good Idea To Freeze Brandy Butter?
Brandy butter freezes well although you will have to accept that it may split. All dairy products experience this problem. However, a quick whisk or stir will return your brandy butter to its original state. A bonus is that the taste of the brandy butter won’t be affected by freezing and it should be as delicious as it was before you put it in the freezer. It will last for around a week in the fridge after defrosting so you will be able to enjoy it with different desserts for some time before there is any chance of it spoiling. Freezing it in portions allows you to defrost as much as you need for a week or so.
Frequently Asked Questions
Hopefully, you now know all there is to know about freezing brandy butter but in case you are still curious, we have answered a few questions here.
Can you freeze rum butter?
Yes, of course, you can. Follow the same instructions we have given you for freezing brandy butter. In fact, you can freeze butter with many different alcoholic flavorings. Try Grand Marnier, Cointreau, Amaretto, or even whiskey. They will all make a delicious addition to your butter.
Can you freeze brandy cream?
You can freeze brandy cream but there will be some changes in texture. The cream will split when put in the freezer and you might end up with a grainy texture. It will still be safe to eat but if you want it to be soft and creamy make it from scratch before using it. It will keep for a few days in the fridge so make just as much as you need for this time frame. It really doesn’t take that much time to make brandy cream from scratch.
Can you freeze store-bought brandy butter?
Generally, you can but check the packaging to see if they recommend that you don’t freeze it. You can put it in the freezer in its original packaging if you buy it in advance.
