How to Make Rose Shaped Butter Pats With a Pastry Bag

Beat a stick of butter to make it soft enough for piping.

Shaped pats of butter are a refined detail that never goes unnoticed. While you can use a mold to shape the butter into a rose shape, the low-profile design of a mold does not yield a presentation as striking as a piped butter flower. Piping butter is similar to piping frosting, but it is more heat and, subsequently, time sensitive. You must work quickly to shape the butter before it becomes too soft and unmoldable. Piping the butter onto a chilled surface helps you maintain the shape as you add petals.

Things You'll Need

• Spoons
• Platter
• Chef's knife
• Stand mixer with whisk attachment
• Flour
• Spatula
• Piping bag liner
• Kitchen shears
• Airtight container

Instructions

1. Place several spoons on a platter. Place the platter in a refrigerator for at least one hour before you pipe the roses.

2. Cut a stick of cold butter into four to six equal parts with a chef's knife. Place the butter in the bowl of an electric stand mixer. Place the whisk attachment on the mixer.

3. Add 1 teaspoon of flour to the butter. Beat the butter until it is smooth, about 30 to 60 seconds.

4. Scoop the butter into a plastic piping bag liner with a spatula. Twist the bag above the butter to keep it from squeezing out as you pipe the shape. Cut the tip off the bag with kitchen shears. The hole in the bag should be about pea-sized.

5. Remove one of the spoons from the refrigerator. Hold it upside down, with the curve pointing up. Hold the bag of butter above the spoon. The tip of the bag should point directly down.

6. Squeeze the bag to apply a blueberry-sized bead of butter to the spoon. Lift the bag away from the spoon as you stop squeezing to make a teardrop-shaped dollop.

7. Hold the bag diagonal to the butter teardrop. Position the tip of the bag on the side of the teardrop, at the wide base of the dollop. Squeeze the bag to release butter. Move the bag up and over in an arch to make a rose petal. The petal may be slightly fuller at the top than the bottom.

8. Turn the spoon so that the opposite side of the flower faces you. Repeat the arched motion to pipe another petal. The two petals should touch at the base, surrounding the bottom of the teardrop.

9. Turn the spoon so that the side of the flower faces you. Repeat the arched motion to pipe a petal. This petal should overlap the first and second petals slightly to create the layered appearance of a rose.

10. Add two more petals to the outside of the flower. Move the bag higher as you pipe the butter to create a taller arch. Petals appear larger the further out they are in a rose. You should complete six petals total for the rose.

11. Place the spoon bag in the refrigerator for at least one hour. The butter should stiffen to its original texture during this time.

12. Slide the blade of a sharp knife between the spoon and rose to remove the chilled butter shape from the utensil. Store it in an airtight container until service.

Tips & Warnings

• Beat the butter with a hand mixer that has a whisk attachment, if desired. Stand mixers are preferable because they beat firm butter quicker than a handheld mixer, reducing the potential of the butter to melt.