Well folks, it’s happening. I’m becoming obsessed with cooking and baking and then blogging about it. One minute I’m just your average twenty-something who uses baking as an excuse to eat oatmeal chocolate chip cookie dough for dinner, then I start a blog and before I know it I’ve transformed into your average twenty-something who replies to “want to go out?” text messages with “I would, but I really wanted to make homemade butter and blog about it tonight.” (True story)… Where did I go wrong here? When did researching how to turn heavy cream into butter take precedence over my social life? When did I stop dreaming about being naked in the hallways of my high school and start dreaming about baking a red velvet cake and not being able to find any red food coloring?!
I guess I just need to embrace these changes… The truth is, if making homemade butter is wrong, then I don’t want to be right. We’ve discussed vessels for butter (see AABV definition in my English Muffins post), but why haven’t we delved into how that butter actually comes to be? Thank the lord for the internet because I googled, I discovered, and I conquered. There is no way I’m ever buying butter again. If not for the money I’ll save, then for the Shake Weight-ish arm workout that making butter requires. I promise you will be amazed if you give this whole homemade butter-making thing a go. PLUS, you even get buttermilk out of the deal! <<alert: upcoming post hint>>…
HOMEMADE BUTTER
Ingredients
Heavy cream
Salt
(1 cup of heavy cream makes approximately 1/2 cup of butter and 1/2 cup of buttermilk)
Equipment
A clean, empty bottle or jar (preferably clear glass or plastic) with a wide opening – or if you use a plastic bottle with a small mouth, be prepared to cut off the top to get to the butter once it has formed.
Directions
1. Pour heavy cream into your container so that the container is half full (this is important… don’t go over half full, your cream needs room to churn).
2. Now, get your shake weight arms going. Shake the container vigorously. This is going to take 15 – 20 minutes or more depending on how much cream you used so be patient. First you will feel the cream thicken (stop here if you are content with homemade whipped cream and purchasing some Land o’ Lakes), then it will start to separate from the buttermilk and form butter. This is why I suggest a clear mixing container because you can see the ball of butter form. Keep shaking until it has fully formed into a solid separated from the buttermilk.
3. Strain out the liquid (buttermilk) and store in refrigerator for up to a week for another use.
4. Remove the butter from the container and rinse under cold water.
5. Use your clean hands to sort of knead it, as you do it will excrete more buttermilk and you need to wash away as much as you can of this to keep your butter fresh longer.
6. Once you have squeezed out as much buttermilk as you can, you will have a soft ball of homemade butter! Mix in your sea salt now and if you are planning to add other ingredients to it, I would do so now as well - honey butter anyone?)
7. Store in refrigerator.
Note: You can also do all of this in a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, but seriously? Where is the fun in that?
