Last Saturday, Steve and I bought a pint of heavy cream from a local farm. I’ve always wanted to make homemade butter and after reading how simple it could be, we decided to give it a try. There are tons of blog posts and recipes on the web that range in technique, from mixing by hand to shaking the cream in a jar with a marble. I decided to use my KitchenAid mixer, outfitted with the paddle (and draped with a clean dish towel).
In less than ten minutes, with the mixer set on 3, the cream had separated into a white liquid and a lightly golden solid. We then poured everything into a strainer, reserved the buttermilk for later, and kneaded the butter with a wooden spoon.
Twice, we kneaded the butter submerged in cold water to release any buttermilk trapped in it. After working in a pinch of sea salt, the butter was finished. Homemade butter in 15 minutes. Amazing.
And yes, it’s worth it. It’s WAY worth it. I kept trying to find things to slather it on.
If you decide to try making your own, be sure to use it up within a couple of weeks – course, I doubt it will last that long in our house.
