A Sweet Little Homemade Gift from The Nomad Kitchen
Homemade Gifts • Condiments & Spreads • Easy Recipes • The Nomad Kitchen
Sometimes the best homemade gifts aren't complicated at all.
They're simply something delicious, made with beautiful ingredients, tucked into a pretty little jar and given to somebody you love. 💗
This recipe was born over a wonderful Labor Day weekend with friends. I had discovered a box of Dolly Parton's Sweet Cornbread & Muffin Mix, which I'd never tried before, and naturally I couldn't leave well enough alone.
I fluffed up Dolly's cornbread with creamed corn and sharp cheddar and made a pan of cornbread plus six gorgeous little muffins.
Well.
That changed everything. 😂
We mixed that gorgeous ginger honey with real butter and turned it into a creamy whipped honey butter. Now I've added a tiny kiss of pure vanilla and flaky sea salt to finish it.
Slathered over warm cornbread?
Heaven.
And then I realized this wasn't merely something to put on cornbread.
This is a gift.
🎀🍯 A Homemade Gift That People Will Actually Use
Forget another candle.
Give somebody butter.
Put this Ginger-Vanilla Whipped Honey Butter into a beautiful little glass jar, tie some ribbon or twine around it, add a tiny wooden spreader and attach the recipe.
You've suddenly got a wonderful homemade hostess gift, holiday gift, housewarming present, brunch gift or little "I was thinking about you" surprise.
Pair it with a box of cornbread mix and you've practically got a party in a bag.
🐝💗🌽
🫚 Ginger-Vanilla Whipped Honey Butter🍯
Makes: About ¾ cup
Prep Time: 5–10 minutes
Chill Time: 15–20 minutes
Difficulty: Easy as honey
Perfect For: Gifting, cornbread, biscuits, toast & brunch
🛒 Ingredients
🧈 1 stick (½ cup) salted butter, softened
🧂 Tiny pinch of fine sea salt, if needed
🥄 Let's Make Some Honey Butter
1. 🧈 Soften the Butter
Let the butter come completely to room temperature.
You want it very soft and creamy, but not hot or completely melted.
2. 🍯 Add the Ginger Honey
Add the ginger-infused honey and mix until completely incorporated.
Taste it.
This is important scientific research.
If you want it sweeter, add another spoonful of honey.
3. 🌼 Give It a Kiss of Vanilla
Add ¼ teaspoon pure vanilla extract.
We're deliberately keeping the vanilla subtle.
It shouldn't overpower the ginger or honey. It's simply there in the background, rounding everything out and adding that little mysterious something.
4. ❄️ Chill It Briefly
Refrigerate for about 15–20 minutes, until the mixture has begun to firm up but isn't hard.
5. 🌀 Whip It!
Now give it a second beating with a whisk, hand mixer or stand mixer until the butter becomes light, creamy and beautifully spreadable.
This is what takes ordinary honey butter into oh-my-God-give-me-another-biscuit territory.
6. ✨ Finish With Flaky Sea Salt
Spoon it into a pretty serving bowl or little glass gift jar.
Finish the top with just a few flakes of good sea salt.
Don't overdo it.
That tiny salty pop against ginger, honey, vanilla and butter is the magic.
🐝 THE NOMAD KITCHEN TIP: Make It Local
Although we originally made this recipe with ginger-infused honey, you can use this basic recipe as a template for all kinds of beautiful honey butter.
Try:
🍯 Local wildflower honey
💜 Lavender honey
🍊 Orange blossom honey
🫚 Ginger honey
🌿 Herb-infused honey
🌼 Clover honey
🍋 Lemon-infused honey
I especially love buying local honey when I'm traveling.
Honey carries a little fingerprint of the place it came from—the flowers, plants and landscape visited by the bees—and buying locally is a lovely way to support regional beekeepers and agriculture.
You'll sometimes hear that eating local honey can prevent or improve seasonal allergies. That's a charming idea, but research hasn't established local honey as an effective allergy treatment.
I still think local honey belongs in the pantry.
Just for a much more delicious reason. 🍯
🎁 Turn It Into a Beautiful Homemade Gift
This is where the fun begins.
Find a pretty little glass jar and fill it with your freshly whipped honey butter.
Then dress her up.
🎀 Tie on a pink gingham ribbon
🐝 Add a tiny bee charm
🫚 Tuck in a little piece of crystallized ginger
🥄 Include a miniature wooden butter spreader
🏷️ Add a handwritten gift tag
🌼 Decorate with a tiny dried flower
And because this contains dairy, make sure your tag says:
KEEP REFRIGERATED
For gifting, keep the butter cold until you're ready to give it to its lucky recipient.
💝 Personalized Custom Gift Tags
🎁✨ Make it extra special:Add a customized handmade gift tag to your Ginger-Vanilla Honey Butter—a clever, beautiful little finishing touch that turns something homemade into a gift made just for them. 🍯🐝💗
GINGER-VANILLA
WHIPPED HONEY BUTTER
Made with butter, ginger honey,
pure vanilla & a little love.
Keep refrigerated.
Made with love from
The Nomad Kitchen 💗
🎁 Pretty Jars for Gifting Your Honey Butter
For an extra-special presentation, look for vintage embossed glass, quilted glass, or little decorative jars with airtight lids. A 4–8 oz jar is just right for Ginger-Vanilla Whipped Honey Butter—add a ribbon, a tiny bee charm and a handwritten Keep Refrigerated tag, and the container becomes part of the gift.
For the blog, I'd actually make the embossed vintage jars your first recommendation. That's closest to the artwork we just made: beautiful enough to say homemade gift before anyone even tastes what's inside. 🍯🐝🎀
💝 A Little Love on a Budget
If you need to give 20 gifts—or even more—without spending a fortune, Ginger-Vanilla Whipped Honey Butter is such a sweet solution. 🍯🐝 The ingredients are simple and economical, and you can choose the jar size that works for your budget—then make each one feel special with ribbon, fabric, a handwritten or personalized tag, a tiny bee charm, or whatever makes you smile.
There is something wonderfully personal about receiving a gift someone actually made for you. It doesn't have to be expensive to feel luxurious; sometimes a little jar of homemade deliciousness feels more like a hug than anything you could buy in a store. 💗
And be warned: make this your holiday tradition and people may start returning your empty jars with a subtle hint that they'd like a refill next year. 😂🍯🎀
💗The Dolly Parton Connection💗
This whole delicious situation began because I wanted to try Dolly Parton's Sweet Cornbread & Muffin Mix.
I have always had tremendous affection for Dolly—not only as an extraordinary songwriter and performer, but for the warmth, humor, generosity and love of community she represented.
So I made the cornbread.
Then, naturally, I messed with it. 😂
Creamed corn.
Sharp cheddar.
And alongside it, this glorious ginger honey butter.
The muffins were especially wonderful served warm with a big swipe of honey butter melting down into all those little nooks and crannies.
If you're making this honey butter, you've simply got to try the cornbread too.
🍯 Give Someone a Little Jar of Love
There's something wonderfully old-fashioned about giving somebody food you've made yourself.
It doesn't need to cost a fortune.
It doesn't need to come from a luxury store.
It says:
I thought about you.
I made something for you.
And I hope something delicious happens when you open this jar.
That's my kind of gift.
Find some wonderful honey.
Whip it with butter.
Add ginger, a little vanilla and that final sparkle of sea salt.
Put it in a pretty jar.
Tie a ribbon around it.
Then give it away.
Although I strongly recommend making two jars.
Because once you've tasted the first one, generosity becomes considerably more difficult.
😂🍯🐝💗
Stay fabulous—and pass the butter.
Love,
Tré Taylor & Bleep the Tattoo 💋
The Nomad Kitchen • A Deliciously Fun Life
tretaylor.com
