Butter and flour is probably two of the most used ingredients in my kitchen. I rarely come up with a recipe that doesn't call for at least one of them. I love the buttery flavor of homemade breads. A buttery dough is so easy to work with, shaping the dough in a cottage like bread, baguette style, dinner rolls or grab and go bites like the ones I'm going to share the recipe for today.
Since I found out I have some cholesterol problems I gave up using dairy butter which has 30 mg per tablespoon. I switched to vegan soy based butter which, although it still has 100 calories per tablespoon it has 0 mg cholesterol. I also used coconut oil which is cholesterol free. For these bites I used Melt Buttery Spread. Although it is not vegan, it's a healthy alternative being made of organic virgin coconut oil, flaxseed oil, palm fruit oil, canola oil, sunflower oil, butter and butter flavor. It's soy free, cholesterol free and has only 80 calories per tablespoon.
Baking with Melt, turned out to be very successful. It doesn't need to be melted and cooled, it easily blends with the flour. The dough is soft and easy to work with like it would be with dairy butter.
To add a little kick to these bites I infused them with saffron. Saffron is, probably, the most expensive spice on the market. It's use as a seasoning and also as natural food coloring agent. All you have to do to bring out the yellowish color is to soak the saffron threads for a couple of minutes in hot water.
You can remove the threads after the water is infused or just leave them. It's not going to make a difference, taste wise. Aspect wise, here and there you'll notice orange-sh spots on the bites.
Buttery Saffron Infused Bites
Ingredients
2/3 cup hot water few saffron threads 1 tsp dry yeast 4 tbsp Melt Buttery Spread pinch of salt 2 cups all purpose flour
Directions
Soak the saffron threads in the hot water for a couple of minutes until the water becomes lukewarm. Pour the yellowish water in your mixing bowl, sprinkle the yeast over and let it dissolve. Since we're using too much water for a teaspoon of yeast, it is not going to foam. When the yeast dissolves add 4 tbsp Melt Buttery Spread. With the hook attachment on start mixing slowly adding the salt and the flour. Mix until all the flour is incorporated and the dough comes clean form the sides of the bowl. Place the dough into a greased bowl, cover and let it rest until in doubles in volume. It's going to take about 30-40 minutes. When the dough is risen, divide it into 24 mini balls. Place each ball into a mini muffin cup. If using paper liners there's no need to grease the pan. If not, grease the pan before placing the mini balls in the muffin cups. Cover the pan again and heat the oven to 375F. Let the balls rise again for about 15 minutes while the oven reaches the desired temperature. Bake in preheated oven for 18-20 minutes. Let them cool slightly into the baking pan and completely on a wire rack. Enjoy!
