How to Make Butter
We do have butter to talk about today, but first I hope you’ll indulge me in allowing me to write an open letter to my little sister Lauren.
Dear Lauren,
This afternoon I found a card that you wrote me on January 1, 2000. That’s right. I found a ten year old thank you note from you.
Here it is.
You open the letter by saying “Happy New Year!” This seems sweet and appropriate. Well played.
Your next sentence gets slightly strange. You write “Would you be surprised to know that this card was painted by a kitten?… NO!… a very small kitten? …NO!… 10,000? 5,000? 10,000 kittens?”
To answer your question, dear sister… yes, I would be very surprised to find out that this card was paw painted by 10,00 small kittens. Yes. That would be weird. Also, I appreciate you liberal use of punctuation.
I also found this picture with the card. This is about the age you surpassed me in cuteness, as I seem to be rocking a girl mullet and no teeth. So… that happened.
I just thought I’d take this opportunity to remind you of how awesomely strange you are. And to let you know that you’re still way cuter than me too… but I have more teeth and less mullet now.
I love you sister. Go make some butter.
Love,
Joy
We’re making butter? Why on earth would we do that when it’s so neatly packaged in the grocery store? Well… because we can, that’s why. We’re taking a few cups of organic heavy whipping cream and turning it into gorgeous butter… because we can and we should.
You’ll need a stand mixer fit with a whisk attachment for this sort of adventure. Ready? Let’s make butter.
When we make butter we’re agitating the fat in cream so much that we force the fat globules in the cream to separate from their liquid neighbors, and clump together to form butter. It’s like making whipped cream… times 10.
Start with two cups of organic heavy whipping cream in the bowl of a stand mixer fit with a whisk attachment. Turn the mixer on low and begin to work the cream. As the cream thickens, turn the mixer up to medium.
You will most likely recognize this stage of cream. Supe silky, stiff whipped cream. Don’t get distracted… we want butter not whipped cream. Keep mixing!
That is some gnarley looking whipped cream. Here you can see the fat globules starting to clump together to form a curdled looking cream. We’re halfway there. Keep that mixer on medium and watch science turn cream into butter.
After about 9 minutes of serious mixer action you might wonder if somehow you’ve messed something up. And then… you see clumpy curds in milky liquid. No no! This is a good sign! You might want to slow your mixer down a bit to prevent buttermilk from splashing all over everywhere.
Now is a great time to drain the butter curds from the liquid. Use a strainer and a mixing bowl and gently press some of the excess water out of the butter. Return the butter to the mixing bowl and whisk again on medium speed. You want to get as much of the water out as possible.
Once returned to the bowl for the second mixing, the butter really starts to come together. That’s some good lookin’ butter. Return to the strainer and press as much water out as possible.
** Here’s a note from reader Natalie. She seems to know what she’s talking about when it comes to this stage in butter making. Give it a rinse. I didn’t… but then again, I ate the whole thing in just a few days… Do. Not. Judge.**
My mother grew up on a farm and a trick that she taught me was that after you got all the excess water out if you will rinse it in ice water (I am talking about water that is so cold you can hardly keep your hands in it) and kneed it a little the water will normally turn cloudy and you can change the water once or twice until as you kneed the water stays clear. This way your butter will last longer in the fridge and wont get that sour milk smell. After that you can as salt or what ever you wish.
Now that you have butter, you can add all sorts of things to it. Start with 1/4 teaspoon of sea salt and add more to your taste. You might also like to throw in some fresh herbs. You’ll definitely need some fresh bread. Right away. Enjoy your butter. It will last for a week well wrapped in your fridge.
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AWWW-SOOMME!! :)
I. Love. Making. Butter.
You definitely do want to wash it so it will last. I made butter on a whim one day when I had made some fresh bread, and I am hooked! I even went out and bought a French butter crock to keep it in.
Love it!
My God, this is amazing?! Who knew you could make your own butter?! You apparently…. thanks for sharing! Looks like I will be making 2 crusty loaves and some fresh butter this weekend!
Good thing I only have a hand mixer, or I’d be eating fresh butter, garlic butter and maple butter for dinner (with some bread or other butter-vehicle, I guess).
Trust me, you can definitely make butter with a hand mixer. It just takes much longer.
hi,
i make butter with a hand mixer. it usually takes 4-5 minutes for the cream to turn to butter. the trick seems to be to bring the cream to room temperature before you start to mix it. i set my container of cream in a bowl of lukewarm water for – i don’t know? half an hour? or so? that way it is not jsut sitting on the countertop, going bad, while waiting for it to warm up from the fridge.
then, of course, i wash it in ice water.
I learned first hand how to make butter when I was about 14. My step-mother told me to whip the cream she had saved from the whole milk she bought from a man in the country with several cows. Well, it was hot in there when i got home from school and within minutes I had butter! I was horrified that she would be angry. She just laughed and laughed and said that’s how she learned. But the funniest thing was when she saved all this cream up and invited her Yankee mother from the city to come down and make butter since it was sooo….. easy. She had saved about 4 gallons. When we got home from school there was butter bits all over the kitchen, the walls, the floors, the cabinets and the ceiling! She did not think that was so funny but we laughed ourselves silly. The kitchen temp was about 110 and so was she. She ended up with two bowls of butter and announced we had to clean the kitchen. No more laughing.
This man must have had a Jersey cow that gave nothing but cream. We used to have to cut the cream off with a knife to get to the rich milk.
When I was in 3rd grade, my class made butter. It was SO COOL! We put milk (of some sort) in cups with lids and shook them. I thought my arm would fall off from having to shake that little cup for so long. But happily, I had butter when I was finished. : )
we put the whipping cream in a container with a strong seal and take turns shaking it but this looks much easier thanks Joy…we like to add honey and cinnamon to it at the end
I don’t have a stand mixer :(
hum..Christmas is coming.
I just made this. Only 10 minutes. Magic. Thanks!
Haha, this is perfect! I ran out of butter at home and had two pottles of heavy cream. I came here hoping for a butter-free but cream reliant dessert recipe. =)
Tis a gift from providence.
I made butter last year – and my family keep asking me to make it again!
Too expensive to make regularly!!
My family makes butter every year for Thanksgiving and Christmas…so good over warm homemade rolls. YUM.
For those without a stand mixer, you can still make butter! Just put that cream in a large mason jar or pickle jar and shake the heck out of it! I usually get my husband to help as my arms get sore, but you could invite some friends over, drink some wine, and shake the heck out of some cream until you get butter. Sounds like a good party!
if you put your butter in an airtight container and cover it with water, you’ve just made your own butter bell… and you can leave it out on your counter and it won’t go bad!!
omg love homemade butter…its pretty damn good..and this is a whole lot easier than shaking the cr** out of it in a tupperware!!
You’re right about the buttermilk sloshing everywhere.
I want to try this!! thanks
In 5th grade we made butter! We shook it until our little arms nearly came off! I was surprised it only needed two and ingrediants… and how delicious it came out! LOVE MAKING BUTTER
Wow! This is great, never thought about making my own butter! And I love butter. Thanks for this!
Yay! I just made butter!!! I’m so proud. I tried the ice-cold underwater kneading. It was unpleasant on the hands but seemed to work well!
Hey Joy – am I mistaken, or have I just made not only butter but also buttermilk? Can I use it like, um, buttermilk?
i’m pretty sure that buttermilk is usually made when the cream has first been soured before making butter. it’s not exactly the same thing.
It is buttermilk. The stuff you buy at the store is cultured buttermilk, so its thicker and they add cultures to it, so its a bit tart tasting…But the buttermilk you get from making your butter is great for making pancakes, biscuits, scrambled eggs, all sorts of stuff! Waste not!
I just made some butter with my son – he loved it! We both think it tastes great, but we won’t know for sure until we use it for our homemade garlic bread this evening and the rest of the family has a chance to weigh in. Thanks for giving my son and I something to bond over! :)
So funny story… I just got to read this today, and as it turns out, we must have the same brain. I had a quart of heavy cream in my refrigerator for a recipe that I later decided not to make… so I had to figure out what to do with the cream. I thought it might be fun to try my hand at making butter… So I did. (I used a food processor, though, not a stand mixer. Worked just as well, minus the possibility of being splashed!) So the funny part, I decided to embark on this delicious voyage the very same day that you posted this.
Weird.
i love it! i brought home my great grandmother’s table top butter churn a few months ago and have been using that sporadically to make butter. it takes longer than the stand mixer (which i don’t have), but there’s something wonderfully nostalgic about using the hand crank and seeing the butter come together through the glass. i agree with the rinsing stage of the butter; it does seem to make it last longer. and i’ve read that you can freeze the butter as well for future use.
is there anything specific to look for in choosing your cream to ensure your butter tastes great? does the level of pasteurization have any effect on how the butter turns out?
In general the pasteurized takes longer to churn than un-pasteurized, and the ultra-pasteurized cream takes even longer.
I find that the flavor of the ultra p. cream is less good than the regular p. cream. If I could get my hands on non-p. cream I would guess that it would have the best flavor (assuming that the cows were not eating anything nasty at the time). Cream, like all milk products, heavily rely on what the animal is eating for final flavor. If you could find some cream from sweet-clover-munching cattle (or goat or sheep etc) it should taste the best!
Happy Churning!
I just made butter from “raw unpasturized” cream tonight from my cousin’s cows up the street. Talk about local! pure heaven :)
I buy cream in large quart containers, so sometimes it starts to get old before I can use it. Rather than dump it down the drain I make butter with it–and then watch as my housemates all scramble to get some of it before it disappears.
Definitely wash the butter or it won’t last long at all. If you wash the butter till it runs clean it will keep for at least two weeks (even with using old cream) as long as you keep bread crumbs and such out of it and keep it in the refrigerator… not that I have had much trouble with it going bad with all the bread and butter lovers here!
(One easy way to “wash” the butter is to just keep dumping in clean ice water into the mixer and beating the heck out of it till it runs clear. Alternately I have used a silicone spatula to knead the butter in clean water and that works as well… just takes more elbow grease)
That was so easy! And amazingly delicious! Thanks for the idea. :-)
Jar with a screw-on lid. Marbles washed and rinsed. Cream. Shake shake shake. Drain. Refrigerate.
I remember that from Girl Guides. But one thing I don’t remember is if we make our butter with cultured buttermilk, will we get European-style cultured butter?
When I was a little boy we would set our milk out to sour
before we made butter.
Did we do it wrong?
Thanks JIm
The liquid that is produced is, indeed, the original buttermilk. It is also called “whey”, as in “Little Miss Muffet sat on tuffet, eating her curds, and whey”.The cultured “buttermilk” that is now commercially availble is a different product, as is sour cream. While it may not taste the quite the same as the commercial product, try it as the liquid used to make bread, or pancakes or waffles, or as part of the liquid replacing regular milk in muffins, biscuits or even scalloped potatoes, or as part of the lquid in a soup that also uses milk, like a chowder. This only applies to the liquid which is collected immediately after the curds form. We also gave the butter several rinses in ice water until it was clear, and let it further drain in a strainer for a bit before it was packed into the type of wooden butter moulds now only found in antique shops (which pressed out more water), and then wrapped in waxed paper, and refridgerated. I also grew up on a farm where butter was regularily made from the extra cream, and my grandmother and mother also occasionally made cottage cheese,and a soft cheese as well.
This is how we normally make unsalted butter in India. What we do is collect the Cream that forms when you cool down milk, and after a few days, when you have enough, we “Churn” it into butter.
You can take this one step further, and heat the butter on low heat for about 10-15 minutes. You will now have “Clarified butter” or “Ghee”, which you can use for cooking Indian food. You may have to strain it as you may have some fat content that remains solid and would turn a deep golden brown.
P.S: Try adding drumstick leaves (you may find this in Indian Grocery stores) or fenugreek seeds before turning off the heat.
Looks like in addition to baking something of Joy’s this weekend, we’re also making butter….oh dear….
Can’t wait to make this and the vanilla extract. Just curious how much butter does a container of heavy whipping cream yield? Thanks
I made this over the weekend for a biscuit recipe and I am so thankful for your clear descriptions and photos of what happens, otherwise I definitely would have stopped!! Gnarly is the perfect word to describe what happened. I didn’t end up having to rinse mine very much at all.
Overall, I think it tasted more like heavy cream and not like butter, so I will probably stick to the store bought, but it was a fun science experiment! Thanks Joy!
Worked for me. $350 a pint for heavy cream got about 1/4 lb. butter. At $15.00 a pound, but it was fun.
I saw on another website where the person made butter exactly the same way, but just used a blender. So that would take care of “splashing”. Although probably is more of a pain to take out the butter to drain. A trade off….but if you don’t have a stand mixer you could use a blender.
So i have a stand mixer that im going to make butter in
But i also have this a Nostalgia Electrics MSH-105R Retro Series Automatic 16-Ounce Martini Shaker Red lol i thought ill try it to
If I have a cake recipe that calls for butter I’ll can I use this buttermilk for that?
Thanks for this. I have never made butter before, but I needed to relieve some stress today so I thought I’d give it a whirl. I made it with rosemary and ate it with a fresh baguette. It was delicious and just what I needed. Once again I’ve come to you for kitchen advice, and I find myself very happy.
This was the second thing I did with my new stand mixer (after making bread) and I succeeded in making both butter and a happy mess. The boyfriend and I stood staring into the bowl for the whole ten minutes watching the science (magic!) of fat globules coming together.
yeah butter making is a great way to relieve stress and pull your joints out of their sockets … long story trust me ! well its good to know it will taste good my friend is still shaking the jar…
Just tried this after coming across this page a few days ago. It’s amazing! I’m still working on getting the water out of the butter and I may have put in too much salt but I’m happy with my first attempt. At least I know (basically) what’s in it!
I don’t have a mixer. I don’t want to shake. I will use a hand whisk in my cordless drill.
Cool. Cooking with Tim Taylor!
I remember my Grandmama Hundley making butter using a wooden spoon to whip the cream. When it was nearly done she would sing “come butter come. Iris is by the garden gate waiting for some. Come butter come.” (Or she would use another grandchild’s name.) So butter can be made without a mixer. True that is a lot harder.
I have a question. We live outside the country and the heavy whipping cream here is sweet. Although I know that might sound good, it’s not for everything. Can you use whole milk and get the same or similar results? Thanks so much!
I used my food processor and a pint of organic cream to achieve the prize. With my “winnings” I made breakfast. Buttermilk pancakes with blueberries, maple syrup, butter. The best.
oh my god. you’ve got to be kidding me. i’m all over this :)