Butter.
Such a simple thing, but so creamy and delicious and so vital to any number of recipes. Or even better, pooling on a piece of bread fresh from the oven.
For centuries it has been something that tied humans together. I can't tell you how many times I've read a book (or even written a scene) that includes someone buttering something or dropping a glob in a skillet to fry something.
The other day Captain Cavedweller asked (okay, begged) me to make fried chicken for dinner. I had everything I needed except buttermilk to give the chicken a bath before I fried it.
Rather than make the jaunt into town to the store, I decided to make my own buttermilk. Truthfully, I wanted to try my hand at making butter in my stand mixer and the by-product of the buttermilk was a convenience excuse!
Once, years ago, I tried making butter by shaking it in a jar. It took somewhere between half of forever and an eon. By the time it turned into a solid form, my arms were ready to fall right out of the sockets.
The stand mixer is a fast, simple way to make it. You could also do this in a food processor, blender, or with a regular hand-held mixer.
Homemade Butter
1 pt. heavy cream (if you have access to fresh cream, awesome, if not, just purchase some heavy whipping cream)
Pour the cream into a mixing bowl. You want to give it plenty of "splash" room. I set my stand mixer on medium speed and let it go for about five minutes. By this time it had turned to a heavy whipped cream. Feel free to snitch a taste at this point. I scraped the sides of the bowl and let it go for another five minutes. Again, scrape down the sides of the bowl. Return to mixing on medium speed. Continue mixing until the solids separate from the buttermilk.
The butter will be the palest, prettiest yellow!
Scoop out the butter into a double layer of cheesecloth (or a thin kitchen towel) and squeeze out any remaining buttermilk. Rinse the butter in cold water.
If you want your butter salted (who doesn't, right?), you can blend in salt to taste. The salt will also help it keep in the fridge a little longer. And it is super hard to over-salt butter, but try about 1/3 teaspoon to start.
You could also get all fancy and mix in fresh herbs for a savory butter or blend in honey and lavender.
This will yield about one cup of butter. Store covered in the refrigerator.
See, wasn't that easy?
~*~
Convinced everyone deserves a happy ending, USA Today best-selling author Shanna Hatfield is out to make it happen, one story at a time. Her sweet historical and contemporary romances combine humor and heart-pumping moments with relatable characters. When this hopeless romantic isn’t writing or indulging in rich, decadent chocolate, Shanna hangs out with her husband, lovingly known as Captain Cavedweller.
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6 comments:
Great post. Love getting the recipe.
Thanks, Charlene! Happy to share it!
Fabulous idea. Thank you for sharing.
Thanks for stopping by today, Charlene!
That is too easy! LOL I remember as a kid having to turn the crank on a big wooden butter churn. We had milk cows and separated the cream from the milk. My dad took the cream to the creamery for money and gave the bulk of the milk to the hogs. But we always had enough cream to make our own butter and ice cream. My favorite part was watching my grandma work water through the butter to get all the buttermilk out and then work the salt in. Then using the same wooden paddle she made one pound bricks of the butter, wrapped them in wax paper and put them in the freezer.
Wow, Paty! Such awesome memories of making butter from your past. We had dairy cows when I was really young, but I only remember watching Mom make butter once (and that could be because Dad sold the cows about the time I was six or so).
Nothing like farm-fresh cream, though! :)
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