Homemade Butter

What could be more enjoyable than creamy butter spread onto a nice piece of good bread? Homemade butter made from the best cream you can possibly find spread onto a nice piece of good bread.

This morning was devoted to butter making. And by “devoted to” I mean to say that I poured some heavy cream into my stand mixer, put on the whisk attachment and beat it on medium-high for about 20 minutes. I watched TV during this time. Then I squeezed the butter until dry in some cheesecloth. Then I ate some (on a cracker, if you’re curious) and put the rest into the fridge. Delightfully buttery and creamy – which isn’t wholly surprising, since it was actually butter.

You need heavy cream to make butter, and this isn’t a place you can take shortcuts by using lower fat substitutes! I always try to use the highest quality cream that I can find for the best flavor in the finished butter. I prefer to use organic cream for butter making and try to find cream that hasn’t been ultrapasteurized, although any type of heavy cream will work in the end for butter making. It can be fun to experiment with different brands of cream to see how different the flavors can be. And, of course, you’ll have an excuse to eat plenty of creamy, homemade butter!

Butter
2 cups heavy cream

Pour cream into a stand mixer, put on the whisk attachment and beat it on medium-high for about 20 minutes. There will be yellow clumps sticking to the whisk and/or floating in liquid when beating is complete. Strain into a container over cheesecloth. Using the cheesecloth, squeeze the butter until dry. Discard remaining liquid.

Yield: Approx. 1 cup butter

Note: To make salted butter, add 1/4 – 1/2 tsp salt (to taste) the the butter right at the end of mixing before you squeeze the butter.