Amanda Miller
Columnist
Lettuce Eat Local
I stood there quietly, processing for a few seconds. “And she just…eats it like that?”
This was a few years ago, but the memory holds strong. I was going to watch some friends’ kids for the evening, putting the children to bed before their parents came back, so we were going over their bedtime routine. I didn’t have kids yet, but had been babysitting for 20 years, and everything was making perfect sense — up until this point.
My friend was explaining, with full nonchalance, that her young daughter might ask for some butter before bed. She opened the fridge and showed me where the sticks were, but location was the least of my questions. I kept waiting for the bread or bagel or any sort of carrier to be mentioned, yet none ever was. I seemed like a child myself as I had to have each step spelled out for me — unwrap butter, cut off chunk, hand to girl — and I still felt unprepared. Was this normal??
As it happened, she did ask for butter as a bedtime snack, and it all went as smoothly and naturally as possible…at least on her end. For some reason it was still just such a weird idea to me that it was like I was watching myself going through the motions, and while I wasn’t exactly disgusted, I certainly was not jealous of her nighttime treat. She, however, thoroughly enjoyed it. This sweet girl stood there in her pajamas in the kitchen, happily nibbling on her tablespoon-sized chunk of butter; then she was ready for bed.
Little did I know this moment would change my life.
Because now, years of my memories are filled with images of my own pajama-clad children eating their nightly butter. It’s crazy to think of how much bedtime butter our family has gone through, simply because of that one babysitting instance.
As with so many things in parenting, once there are actually kids in the picture, we might have to swallow our previous words. (If only they could all go down as creamily and saltily as butter!) Once I thought about the reasoning, healthy fats to help satiate the kids’ bodies and brains overnight, the steps of giving bedtime butter made a lot more sense — and if it helps the children sleep, by all means, feed it to them!
I don’t know that it actually helps them sleep better or longer; it might all be placebo. I just looked the idea up for the first time, and apparently it’s trending on social media right now; catch up, internet, you’re years behind. The “experts weighing in” have conflicting opinions, of course, but we don’t care anyway, because a smidgen of butter isn’t hurting my littles and it helps at least emotionally in our heading-to-bed routine.
We’ve modified the practice to fit our household, turning the butter into “butter buttons”: mixing still-soft fresh homemade butter with some flavorful additions, spooned into little dollops and kept in the freezer. In the years of age two and three, Benson probably only went a handful of nights without his crucial routine of two butter buttons alongside his bedtime stories; frozen grapes have taken its place over the summer, but Kiah is picking up where he left off.
Sometimes I eat one, too, because they really are rather tasty. Turns out it’s a butter way to end the day than I would have ever thought.
Bedtime Butter Buttons
These melt-in-your-mouth buttons are a great treat for any age. What they lack in aesthetics, they make up in flavor and nutrition. They are also a great way to get kids helping in making their own snacks, and Benson loves to give his opinion on which ingredients to add, to help portion them out, and of course to assist in taste-testing to see if we’ve reached the proper ratio. (We just throw all the ingredients together and mix until it tastes right.) Working with kids plus butter can get a little messy, but it’s all worth it. Especially if they sleep all night then.
Prep tips: obviously you might not be in the routine of making butter, but you don’t have to have a dairy farm to make it — email me if you want to know the simple method I use.
8 ounces butter, preferably local but any will do; room temp
optional: 4 ounces peanut butter
¼ cup cocoa powder
2 tablespoons local honey
optional: dash of cinnamon
salt to taste
Mix all ingredients together until smooth; take a taste and adjust to your preference. Portion out on a plate or baking sheet in small “buttons,” and freeze until firm. Transfer to a container and keep in a handy spot in the freezer.
