Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Does this buttery making kit actually work? I tried making them for the first time and this is how it went…

The buttery kits.

Whether you refer to them as butteries or rowies, they are a delicacy to those of us based in the north-east – despite their high-calorie content, but none of us want to read about that.

For me, butteries have a nostalgic feel to them.

I always tucked into the crispy delights as a youngster – and I would chance my luck and request a second from whoever was handing them out.

I near always prevailed.

Despite not eating them quite as much as I used to, which my waistline would thank me for if it could, I never decline the offer of one to this day.

A buttery (or rowie).

While I have enjoyed countless butteries from bakeries across the city and shire, including Ross of Chapel Street, Home Bakery Macduff, Ythan Bakery and The Bread Maker, I had never tried my hand at making my own.

Are they easy to make?

I had heard from multiple sources that the process can be testing. I’m not the greatest baker as it is, however, I do love a challenge.

I didn’t go the full whammy and seek out all the ingredients for myself, no. God knows what the end result would have been if that were the case.

Col’s Baking Kits has offered buttery kits since its inception this April.

Instead, I decided to place an order online with Col’s Baking Kits, a brand in Ellon, Aberdeenshire which sends their kits across the UK and was founded by former oil and gas worker, Colin Morgan.

They can also be collected at a line-up of stores across the city and shire which you can find on the business’ Facebook page.

While I opted for the buttery kit, there are also kits for scones, white and milk chocolate chip cookies, and softies. A nice balance of sweet and savoury.

What the kit does and doesn’t include

The package arrived three days after my order was placed. I was impressed because, from past experience of ordering food kits, the waiting period has been a lot longer.

After unboxing the goods, you’ll find:

  • Yeast
  • Dough mix
  • Dusting flour
  • Buttery paste
The buttery kit.

Other ingredients required that are not inside the kit include:

  • Two large baking trays
  • 7fl oz (roughly 200ml) lukewarm water
  • Large bowl
  • Measuring jug
  • Plastic scraper
The contents.

There are enough ingredients to make 12 butteries. A decent amount that I don’t think would last longer than two days in most households, including mine.

The kit’s ingredients are labelled Bag 1, Bag 2, Bag 3 and Pot A, making it impossible to confuse one with another.

How they are made

All in all, the process isn’t too difficult. This is purely down to how detailed the step-by-step guide provided by Colin is.

I added the yeast and water to a measuring jug and the dough mix to a large bowl, before combining the two with my hands in the bowl to form a dough.

This was left to prove for 45 minutes.

Proved dough mixture.

Afterwards, all I had to do was remove the dough, flatten it on a clean surface, spread it with a layer of buttery paste using my plastic scraper and, finally, form a dough ball.

The dusting flour then comes into play and is dusted over the dough ball, before forming it into a log shape and cutting it into 12 equal parts.

A log has to be formed with the dough before slicing into 12 equal parts.

I divided these on two baking trays, which you don’t need to grease, pressed them into my desired shape and made sure there was plenty of space between each one. They then need to be set aside to prove for a further 55 minutes at room temperature.

Within this time, preheat the oven to 210C Fan/230C/450F/Gas Mark 8. After the 55 minutes is up, pop them in the oven.

The butteries ahead of being placed in the oven.

Within moments my kitchen boasted the warming, homely aromas of a bakery. And after a 12-minute wait, the butteries were ready to come out.

Flaky and crispy on the outside yet soft on the inside, they were the finest butteries I had tried in quite some time.

They took 12 minutes to bake.

The verdict

The only thing I would urge you to do is purchase a kit at one of the business’ stockists.

My shipping was priced at £4.51 and almost matched that of the kit itself at £4.99. I was a tad taken aback at that as I thought it was quite expensive.

I thought the process from start to finish was a lot of fun – and the butteries are delicious, too. It is definitely a pastime I would highly recommend for parents to do with their kids.

Price:

  • The kit – £4.99
  • Shipping – £4.51

To place an order online, visit www.colsbakingkits.co.uk/shop.


For more buttery (or rowie) content…