Why You Should Be Saving Butter Wrappers For Your Warm Baked Goods

No matter how evenly you slice a stick of butter, there always seems to be some leftovers on the wrapper. Not enough for a recipe or even a slice of toast, just a couple little slivers stuck to the paper. You may have heard of some of the popular kitchen hacks for using this buttery packaging to make sure none of it goes to waste, like how you can grease your pans with it or even use it to separate hamburger patties. However, you should also be saving the wrappers for your freshly baked goods. 

Placing a used butter wrapper on a baked good that is warm or fresh out of the oven is a great way to use every last bit of butter on it. The heat from the food will melt any remaining butter on the paper while also ensuring that your first bite of fresh pastry or bread has a delightful buttery flavor.

It can be a fresh slice of zucchini bread, a warm muffin, or some cornbread hot out of the oven — any of these taste good with a hint of butter on top. Saving your wrappers for this purpose allows you to get a buttery taste, while also reducing kitchen waste, which is an important aspect of being a sustainable home cook. All you need to do is unfold a used butter wrapper and place it gently over the top of your baked good for a minute or two and the heat will do the rest.

It's best to save your extra butter wrappers together in a bag in your refrigerator, since keeping them together allows you to have multiple wrappers on hand at any given point. Though if you begin to accumulate several before you can use them, be sure to start labeling them with expiration dates, so you never end up eating old butter.