>>21475343
I've heard from many people that the kind of butter you use doesn't make a difference in baking. I just can't get behind that way of thinking, because I can taste and smell the difference. The biggest difference between American and European butter is the butterfat content. American butter is usually 80/20 percent, butterfat to water ratio. While European is around 82 percent or more. You may not think 2 percent of butterfat makes much of a difference, but think of what a difference 2 percent more water makes. Also let's not even get into the fact that the cream that European butter is made with is fermented which definitely provides a different flavor than unfermented cream. Also if we want to go deeper, the cows where you get the cream from are more likely to be grass fed, which again effect the flavor and the color of the butter even.
I've been in the kitchen experimenting. Most of my cookies that I've made have been made with unsalted Kerrygold (KG) butter, and the other day I finally decided to use a store brand (SB) butter to compare the difference. I've been so used to using nothing else but KG, the difference in color and smell from SB was off-putting. The SB cookies looked similar to the KG cookies, but they weren't as earthy, rich, or as aromatic as the KG Cookies. In my opinion it's absolutely worth splurging the extra dollar or two for the European or Irish butter.