Now you, too, can make a better butter

By / Food / October 18th, 2016 / 36

Make your own butter? Yes, it takes a bit of time, but it’s easy to do.

1. Start with a mixing bowl, a spatula and a hand mixer. I’ve made butter in my KitchenAid stand mixer, but I like to use the hand mixer. It gets me closer to the product and allows me to actually feel the cream as it stiffens against the beater blades.

2. One cup of heavy whipping cream will yield about 1/2 cup of butter.

3. Place the whipping cream in the mixing bowl and beat at high speed for about 14 minutes. Scrape the sides of the bowl with a spatula as needed. Continue beating the cream beyond the stiff peak stage. At about the 10- to 12-minute mark, the cream will start to look a bit curdled. Within a couple minutes, the buttermilk will separate from the butter fat. Stop beating.

4. Place the butter in a fine-mesh strainer and press out the buttermilk. I’ve heard you can save the buttermilk for baking or drinking, but frankly, I’ve never done that.

5. The trick is to press out as much of the buttermilk as possible; otherwise the butter will spoil quickly. You may also wash the butter in several baths of ice water until the water is no longer cloudy. I only use this method if I’m going to keep the butter for more than a day.

As it is, the butter isn’t going to keep well in your fridge for very long, just a few days or so, but when served the same day you make it, sprinkled with sea salt and slathered on freshly baked bread, there’s usually never enough left over to store anyway.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Quench Food Editor, Nancy Johnson, minced, sliced, chopped, sautéed and sipped her way through George Brown College’s culinary program with a focus on food writing and wine. Nancy cooks by the code her Italian grandmother taught her: For the best results, always use the freshest, best ingredients. She writes for Ohio-based Wine Buzz Magazine and recently published a short story in Woman’s World Magazine. She is always on a diet.

Comments are closed.

North America’s Longest Running Food & Wine Magazine

Get Quench-ed!!!

Champion storytellers & proudly independent for over 50 years. Free Weekly newsletter & full digital access