Homemade Butter

So for my first real experiment with my mixer I decided to try making my own butter. Now I know what you are thinking "That's too much work." or "I can't do it." After all who makes their own butter anymore? Well I do. And trust me, once you make it yourself store bought butter will pale in comparison. So here's what you'll need to whip up a batch of butter- whipping cream & salt. That's it. No really, that's it. I will highly recommend using an electric stand mixer, it's pretty much the only way to go. So take your whipping cream and pour it into your mixer's bowl with the wisk attachment on. Set the speed to medium high and let it go...and go...and go. The cream will get a little frothy and then smooth out after that is the whip cream stage but don't stop here (you might need to pause to scrape down the bowl sides). It'll start to get grainy in texture and eventually you'll start to see butter milk separate from butter.

Once again keep going, and in what will seem like ten seconds it'll begin to splatter in the bowl. Now you can stop. Set a bowl under your mesh strainer and dump your mixing bowl into the strainer.

 Ta Da! You have butter! Well...almost. Now you'll have to knead your butter to squeeze out the remaining butter milk. So get your hands in there and start squeezing clumps through your fingers. This part gets messy.

This is where you can add salt if you want salted butter. I added just a touch, probably around a teaspoon worth. Once you've finished kneading out any remaining butter milk and kneading in any salt you wished to add you're all finished! Choose a container for your butter (air tight is best) and another container for your butter milk. I labeled both of mine with today's date just for personal reference.

All together I ended up with two almost full pint jars of home made butter, and I'd guess around 4 or 5 cups of butter milk (great for other baking adventures).

So you might be asking "How does it taste?" It's NOTHING like any butter knock off. The flavor is much less artificial and it's wonderfully creamy. It does set hard in the fridge, so it isn't exactly spreadable, but its worth it. Just ask my slightly home made banana bread. Yum!