Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Homemade Butter

When I was young,my Dad was diagnosed with high cholesterol,so into the house came margarine and Egg Beaters. That's what I grew up with. When I moved out,I went back to eggs but stuck with margarine,at least,until a few years ago. The more I thought about it,the more I realized that all margarine consisted of,basically,was congealed oil. How that could be better than  butter, I couldn't fathom. Cream is natural from milk,and shaken cream makes butter. Margarine is a whole process which doesn't sound very appetizing to me ( Google it!).

At any rate,I have been wanting to try make my own butter for a while. Do I need whole cream straight from the cow? Can I use whipping cream from the store? I checked various websites and blogs,and it seemed there were many opinions on this subject. I finally said "I'm going for it,"and tried it out----only half an hour ago,to be precise!

Let me say this:making butter is very easy. If you can pour cream into a mixer bowl and turn the mixer on,and if you can squeeze buttermilk out of butter,you can make homemade butter.

Here is what I did:

I took My Precious (my Cuisinart) out from the cabinet. The poor thing hasn't seen too much action of late,so I was glad to get her going again. Brother B did the grocery shopping yesterday,and he picked up 2 pints of  Stonyfield Organic Heavy Whipping Cream,which was ultra pasteurized. 



I poured them right into the mixing bowl-I didn't wait until they were room temperature. I did nothing fancy to the mixing bowl. ( I had read somewhere that the bowl had to be chilled and the cream brought to room temperature). I put the whisk attachment on My Precious,and she was ready for action!



Oh,yes,this is a VERY IMPORTANT part-PUT THE SPLASH GUARD ON!! Trust me on this. I read warnings about splashing. I was expecting splatter. Splatter does not do it justice. You'll see!


I started on a lower speed for a couple of minutes. The cream became a bit frothy and started to thicken a tad.

I then put the speed on high and after a bit I started getting peaks-it was turning into whipped cream. Keep going........


It's thickening up nicely,isn't it? It's not butter yet,though. It's still too white. There's also no buttermilk separation yet.


Keep whipping. See how the color is turning to yellow?

It's looking more like butter,but it still needs a couple more minutes. Once the butter is done,the butter milk will separate from the butter,and it will SPLASH. I'm talking mixer tidal wave-no joke! I should've covered up the pouring hole  in the splash guard. The buttermilk made a mess. I can't imagine not having something over the bowl when the tidal wave occurs-seriously,use something...even if it's just plastic wrap. I had to jump back and quickly shut off the mixer because the buttermilk was flying everywhere.

Another sign it's done-the butter will clump onto your whisk attachment in one big ball. See all the buttermilk at the bottom of the bowl?

Since I don't use buttermilk,I had no need to keep it for anything. I did make a ball out of the butter and squeezed it until most of the buttermilk was gone. I ran the ball under cold water and squeezed the water out a few times until the water was clear. I admit,it's a bit of a pain. If you have butter paddles,or even just used a sturdy spatula and press the butter against the side of the bowl,that would probably be a bit easier. I tried the hand method to see how it would work . I also put some salt in the butter and kneaded it in. How much salt,or whether or not to add it is up to you and your taste.

This is a good time to bring out my antique butter dish that my Aunt Jeannette had. It makes for good storage in the fridge.


How can you not try homemade butter right away? I put some bread in the toaster and waited with buttered breath!!!


It looks like butter,it spreads like butter......

This gal needs butter spread end to end on bread. Rick always teases me about it. If you're going to butter bread,then I say,butter it,damn it!!  :)

Not only does it look like butter and spreads like butter...it tastes like butter! Yummy!! I scoffed down the toast after I took the photo.

You can, of course, make all kinds of homemade butter-apple butter,pumpkin butter,garlic butter,honey butter.....the world is full of homemade buttery goodness-right at your fingertips! 

Have a fabulous day on this Fabulous Planet!!!!


6 comments:

  1. oh Donna - this is awesome! woohoo! i am going to start making my own butter too! and i will definitely add salt. ooh and maybe some garlic for garlic butter. thanks for sharing this!

    your friend,
    kymber

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  2. lol This is exactly how I made mine and you are right MAJOR splash lol. My mom has an old butter churn the glass jar paddle kind. I thought I'll use my stand mixer it's the modern version and it worked perfectly :) I LOVE home made butter. It brings back memories of my mom making butter. It just tastes so good! Hmmm maybe I will whip up a batch with the girls again it's been a very long time! You took really great pictures and I love your counter tops by the way!!! Hugs :)

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    Replies
    1. Thank you! It was so easy I couldn't believe it....I also couldn't believe the splash! You should've seen me when it started splashing through the pouring hole-I was jumping around like frog trying to avoid getting buttermilk all over me and trying to shut off the mixer. It was quite a sight :)
      Hugs!

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  3. I suppose now we know why butter churns had a top with only a small hole. Intellectually, I know butter is better for me. But, I only like one margarine for toast and in my oatmeal--Country Crock. I keep both.

    Buttermilk can be put in smoothies and any baked product, even gravy. Animals love it. You threw out lots of nutrition. Call me and I will come right up from AL and take it off your hands...lol.

    So, maybe I can make butter. You don't make it sound so complicated as some do! The butter looks wonderful in the antique butter dish. The presentation is good enough reason to make butter!

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