Make Your Own Butter

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Mmmmm, butter! I’m one of those crazy people that would eat butter all by itself. My husband thinks I’m disgusting, and I’m sure a few other people think I’m pretty gross too. But, it’s butter! How can you not love it?

For the past few decades, butter has gotten a pretty bad rap. At first it was all fat was bad, and butter was replaced with margarine (now that’s gross!) Now, ALL dairy is bad and you better stay away from dairy (including butter) lest it kill you!

Let me just say, that overly processed, ultra pasteurized, and hormone infused dairy probably isn’t too good for you. Instead, try making dairy products in your own home! Think it’s a little crazy or overly difficult? It’s really not. Cheese, yogurt, and even butter can be made in your own kitchen. In fact, butter is incredibly simple to make (will take you about 30 minutes) and it’s even better than the stuff you buy at the store. If you have a local dairy farm, which I am lucky enough to have, then buy some heavy whipping cream from them as it will be better for you and taste better too!

Here is what you will need:

~1 pint of heavy whipping cream
~1/8 Tsp salt
~mixer and bowl
~another bowl to place the butter milk

Again, this is a really easy recipe, so don’t be intimidated! I’ve read a lot of recipes on butter making, and there are different ways to make it (i.e. Rinsing the butter with ice water) but I have found through trial and error that it’s not completely necessary.

Step 1:

First and easiest, pour your heavy whipping cream into your bowl and either turn on your stand mixer, or begin using your hand mixer to whip the butter. Start on medium and slowly make your way up to medium high.

This will take a little while, between 15 and 20 minutes, but as you can see, the cream will begin to whip. At first you will get whipped cream. It will be light and fluffy, will soft peaks.

Then it will start thicken a bit.

Next, at least for me, it was like a mixture of watery milk and some thicker fat.

If you are using a stand mixture, you will know that it’s done because all of a sudden the buttermilk will start slashing and spilling all over your sink. Also, the butter will, conveniently so, stick to the whisk in the middle of the mixer and the buttermilk will be left in the bowl.

Step 2:

Once, you get to this point, turn off your mixer and remove the bowl. Pour the buttermilk into a separate bowl. This deliciousness can be used to make buttermilk pancakes or buttermilk biscuits. Both of which are so much better when you use your own buttermilk!

Step 3:

With a spatula, you will take off the butter from the whisk and place it back in the bowl. Turn your mixer on medium. This will beat the butter and push out a bit more of the buttermilk. I did this a couple times (2 or 3 depending on how much buttermilk you continue to get).

If you are not using a stand mixture, you can use a large spoon or spatula to squeeze the butter and remove the buttermilk. Again, you may have to do this a few times to get all the buttermilk out.

Rinse the butter with ice cold water. This helps to rinse the remaining buttermilk from the butter.

Step 4:

Once you have completely separated the buttermilk from the butter, if you would like to, add a dash of salt (about an 8th of a teaspoon). Mix well.

You have now made your own salted butter!

I put my butter in a butter keeper. Not so long ago I was introduced to these things. I absolutely love them! It keeps your butter room temperature so that it is nice and spreadable, but also the water kept at the bottom of the butter keeper prevents bacteria from getting to your butter! I tried it and now I’ll never go back!

I love this homemade butter with my homemade canned strawberry jam.

Of course, butter tastes great on just about anything. So please, spread away I’m confident that once you make your own butter, you’ll never go back to store bought. It’s just too dang good!

*If you want to go old fashioned, you can actually make butter in a mason jar. Pour a pint of whipping cream into a mason jar (large enough to fit a pint of course!) and screw on the top tightly. Then just mix back and forth until the butter begins to separate from the cream. I did this in Girl Scouts and it took a lot longer, but it’s fun to do with kids!