Hi Dena! I have the same issues with the relatively short shelf life. I've tried adding ascorbic acid as part of the acid component and while it does increase shelf life, it adds a harsh, sharp acid profile that's not acceptable. This is still something I'd like to figure out some day. If you find a way to make Vegan Butter last longer please let me know!

That's a great picture of your Vegan Butter Trickmonet! I also saw a picture of your croissants which looked amazing. Thanks for sharing!

Thanks RunicBaked! I usually use the Tovolo ice cube tray that makes the large cubes (that's linked in this recipe). I usually fill up two cubes worth and sometimes have a little left over. If you're using Tovolo's smaller size cube tray, it makes sense that you'd probably be making three smaller cubes.

Vegan Butter may brown and solidify slightly if exposed to medium-high heat for a bit over time, but in the recipe I call for the coconut oil to be heated to just the melting point. This is so things can solidify as fast as possible resulting in smaller ice crystals once it goes to the freezer. Traditional dairy butter browns when exposed to heat also. I'm planning on making a Brown Vegan Butter recipe soon so there's a vegan option for that.

Sensitivities to vinegar vary. I must not be that sensitive to it because I love it and tend to use it liberally; I have a carousel in my pantry for just assorted vinegars! Some people find the acidity/vinegar level of this Vegan Butter to be too much. Feel free to reduce it to your liking. Also keep in mind that when Vegan Butter is heated, you're going to notice the vinegar notes more due to more volatile vinegar compounds getting into the surrounding air and being sensed by your sense of smell. When you're eating Vegan Butter in normal conditions, this should't be the case. Also, as I mentioned in another comment, lately I've found that 1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar and 1/2 teaspoon coconut vinegar results in better butter flavor with less of the vinegar "funk". I'll probably be updating all Vegan Butter recipes to reflect this after a little more testing. Good luck!

So glad the Vegan Butter worked out VegasBev! Cheers to being open minded and figuring out what works for you. I've done some tests with vinegars and found that using 1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar and 1/2 teaspoon coconut vinegar produces even better flavor. I'm probably going to update all of my Vegan Butter recipes to reflect this after I do a little more testing. I also have soy-free Vegan Butters here if you do a search in the upper right-hand-corner of this page.

Thanks irenelee! I've been meaning to play around with psyllium husk powder. I knew there was a better use for it than mixing it with water and chugging it daily. Life is just too short for that;) I think flax gel would probably work too. The emulsification is being taken care of by the lecithin so anything that blocks ice crystals from getting too big (which gives it softness and elasticity) and that allows a tiny bit of air bubbles to be trapped should work as a substitute for xanthan. Once I get a chance to to a couple tests, I'll update the Vegan Butter recipes with xanthan options such as your great substitute. Nice work and thanks for sharing!

Hi Irina! Coconut oil is used in the recipe because it has a certain amount of firmness when chilled to the temperature of traditional dairy-based butter. Sunflower oil wouldn't work as a substitute for the coconut oil because the Vegan Butter wouldn't solidify when chilled. However, you could substitute the canola oil for sunflower oil in this recipe. Good luck!

Hi geeforgladys! soy lecithin powder, in the small amount called for in this recipe, should be able to be substituted in equal measurements to soy lecithin granules. So in this case it would be 2 1/4 teaspoons. Good luck!

Great questions KHolzwart! I prefer soy milk for baking because in my experience, its protein content (aka "solids") tends to increase the richness of baked items. Also, if you coagulate it slightly with an acid such as apple cider vinegar (as in this recipe), you get all sorts of bonus creamy, complex flavors that get produced as some of the proteins break down and amino acids break free. This barely happens with nut milk and doesn't happen at all in other non-dairy milks that lack protein, such as coconut milk and rice milk. This means that using good quality soy milk should actually make your Vegan Butter taste better.

The soy milk I prefer the most by far is EdenSoy because it contains the most protein and it's one of the only soy milks that doesn't contain thickeners like carageenan and other questionable or unnecessary additives. I don't recommend using powdered soy milk. Most of it is just starches with "natural flavors" added. The low protein content doesn't lie (although I do use the brand you referenced in some applications). Another reason I like EdenSoy is that it comes in those TetraPak containers so you can store a bunch of them in your fallout shelter for future use -or if you forget to go to the store;)

My second go-to brand is WestSoy because it's good quality and doesn't belong to one of the huge food companies that are trying to water down organic food standards (to my knowledge).

I prefer unsweetened soy milk but you can use regular in most baking applications, including my Vegan Butters and it'll work fine. Good luck!

Hi Melanie! I haven't tried the soy creamer from Trader Joes but I have had vegan soy creamer and it works pretty well for a cream substitute, even in ice creams. It would probably work great in vegan butter! instead of soy milk!

Hi Anat! There's a couple issues that you could experiment with if it's turning out a little too grainy for you. First, if it's turning out a bit grainy and hard you could substitute with 1 less Tablespoon coconut oil for 1 more Tablespoon canola oil to make the vegan butter softer.

If hardness isn't an issue, the graininess could be caused by the mixture solidifying too slowly, resulting in larger crystalized solids. Making sure the mixture is as close to room temperature as possible and going right into a super cold freezer will ensure that the mixture hardens (aka crystalizes) quickly into microscopic crystals which will be perceived as smooth on your palate. If I had a vegan butter company, I'd quickly cool my mixture in super cold freezers. Super fast freezing is one of the ways commercial ice cream is made to be so smooth. Crystals actually "grow" the most, right before the solidification point. Hope this helps!

Hi JFiquette! It's no problem if your coconut oil is melted at room temperature. You're going to just mix it with the other ingredients and put it in the freezer to solidify into cube form. If you leave your vegan butter out in a hot room for an extended period, it'll melt slightly faster than a stick of traditional dairy-based butter will due to coconut oil's slightly lower melt point.

I'm so glad you like the Vegan Butter jamieism!

Great question Nook! This is a really dumb way of me trying to be precise with the fundamentally flawed US volume measuring system;) When I say 1/4 cup + 2 teaspoons soy milk I actually mean for you to measure out 1/4 cup of soy milk, then measure out another 2 teaspoons of soy milk. It's the same for the salt. I could say measure out 14 teaspoons of soy milk but I wouldn't want to force everyone to measure out a whole 14 teaspoons of soy milk individually- that would be horrible! Eventually, I'll have the option of metric weight measurements with all my recipes too (for my friends outside of the US), but it's going to involve an incredible amount of work getting everything converted to metric.

I would have loved to just round down or up but in my recipes, taste comes first, ease of measurements come second. Hope this clarifies things for you!