Cultured European Style Vegan Butter

The more I learn about pastry, the more I realize that European pastry is on a completely different level compared to classic American pastry. My impression is that European pastry is all about introducing flavor depth through manipulating eggs, butter and technique. Croissants, strudel and danish pastries come to mind. American pastry, on the other hand, tends to build off bold flavors with a strong sugar backbone accentuated by spices. Apple pie, cupcakes and cookies come to mind here.
American Style Butter
European Style Butter
The Components of Vegan Cultured European Style Vegan Butter
The Sad, Sorry State of Vegan Yogurts

When making these vegan butters it's highly recommended that you use a silicone mold like the Tovolo King Cube Extra Large Silicone Ice Cube Tray. This will allow you to make gorgeous butter cubes that can easily be slid out of the molds.
Learn more about the food science behind Vegan Butter.
Cultured European Style Vegan Butter Recipe
1) Curdle the yogurt
2) Mix the Vegan Butter ingredients
3) Transfer the Vegan Butter to a mold so it solidifies
User reviews
palm oil
Biona do NOT have a palm oil free spread.
very similar to german Sauerrahmbutter
Dear Mattie,
the first try did not reveal a completely homogenous result. the taste is very similar to german Sauerrahmbutter (I do not know if sour cream butter is the correct translation). Do you have any idea how to produce Suessrahmbutter (sweet cream butter). Thank you so much for your research and the recipes.
best regards
tillaihd

This is great!!
Thanks a lot for this recipe, it's delicious!!! I was really missing butter for toast...etc, but this is even better than real one!!
I use lecithin granules, so I just soak them in boiling water and then add the gooey mix to the rest. Perfect!!
Vegan Butters
Mattie,
I am thrilled to find your recipes for vegan butters! I sent your link immediately to my daughter who is off to Paris, France in September to study at Ferrandi. She ultimately wants to have a catering/event company that distinguishes itself with luxury, vegan and common allergen free offerings.
Any recipe you want to post that is gluten, soy, milk, sucrose, peanut and nut free (including coconut,) would be greatly appreciated. We are going to experiment with a cocoa butter, olive oil, flax milk, apple cider vinegar one

I have tried your butter with soy and it turned out great. I have also tried it with a brand of almond yoghurt here in Vancouver, BC. It is made with whole almonds, brown rice, water and cultures and is really tangy and similar to real yoghurt. It turned out just as good and because I used sunflower lecithin it was soy free for anyone that cares about that. So if you can find that yoghurt from 'crave conscious' I would recommend it. I may try adding a little apple cider vinegar next time. I omitted it because I thought the yoghurt would be tangy enough. Anyway, thanks for the recipe.

Yogurt
Mattie, can you recommend a good yogurt, now that the processing of soy yogurt has been such an issue? I know WholeSoy is supposed to return, but would love to get started on this recipe. I miss "real" butter...don't mean the animal-based product, but cultured European butter. Thanks for any advice!
how to replace coconut-oil with cocoa-butter ?
Hi Mattie,
I was so happy to have found your site. I also miss butter since I've become vegan. I've tasted earth-balance vegan butter (that I brought home from the US) but it tastes like our margarine (and the ingredients are very similar).
Vegan baking is new in my country it usually includes the use of margarine or coconut-oil. I did not find refined coconut-oil here and I don't like the strong taste of coconut it gives the food. So I was wondering "how can I substitute the coconut-oil with cocoa-butter" in your receipts?
I have compared the receipts that contain cocoa-butter with the regular vegan butter receipt but you've made other changes to the ingredients which makes it harder for me to come to a conclusion.
P.S. I can find here very good quality of cocoa-butter which makes it more interesting to me then coconut.

UK yoghurt?
Hi Colleen interested to read your review as I've had probs finding liquid lecithin too and the granules aren't the best in the UK. Just wondering what yoghurt you used. I like Alpro plain just to eat but it's a bit sweet. Sojade is pretty good just as a sour plain yoghurt. I'd be interested to know what you used since you say the taste is really like butter. By the way you could try putting a pin in the end of the lecithin capsules and squirting it out!! I've done that before with other oil filled capsules.
I'm looking forward to trying this as I loved Mattie's original recipe for coconut oil butter. I buy my coconut oil from a local Asian shop too and it's tons cheaper than from the health food shop. You can also buy it in the Asian section of bigger Tescos.
unrefined version OK for baking?
Just tried this and overall it seems great texture-wise, etc. -- except that I used unrefined coconut oil (didn't think to check until I was in the process of melting it so I just kept going) so it tastes pretty strongly of coconut. Would this variation still work if I'm using it to make a crumble topping or tart crust or something where the coconut flavor would be a welcome addition? Or will the unrefined oil behave in some not-good way when baking?
Thanks so much for all of your research and recipes... will definitely try again with the specified unrefined coconut oil!
Amazing!
The one thing I really miss about dairy is butter. Especially when I treat myself to some fresh crusty bread at the farmer's market. Non dairy spread just doesn't cut it. I've made some fresh rhubarb compote to have on good quality bread and was missing butter like crazy. I had to hunt down the ingredients for this but it was SO worth it.
I can't believe how much this tastes like butter - and not the generic bland butter but the expensive French salted kind. It has exactly the creaminess and the fresh salty lactic taste I've been craving.
Mattie, you are a GENIUS. Thank you so much. A tip for those in the UK - coconut oil sold in health food shops is ridiculously expensive - £14 or so for a tub. My local 'ethnic' supermarket sold it for £2. Apple cider vinegar in the same store was 89p. The only real struggle was fining lecithin. I found some old out of date liquid gel caps in the cupboard and was so desperate to try this recipe I spend half an hour sawing the hardened caps open and scraping out the liquid (NOT recommended). So now I have to find a proper supply because I want to have this butter at all times. Seriously - genius.