Real Homemade Butter

The holidays are approaching.

In our house, this means gaining the “Winter 10.” Kenny and I both do not need or want 10 extra pounds hanging around our waistlines. I have a strict policy that I try to enforce year round. NO BUTTER! That’s right, if we have butter in our house I end up baking. Now, baking sounds great until I tell you that by “baking” I mean baking sugary goods.

I, like most, am a sugar addict.

Being raised in a single-parent home with 5 kids we never had any junk food or hardly any sweet treats. When there were sweet treats we would be wrestling one another to get to them first. I’m the youngest and smallest, and I always got last dibs… There my addiction and hunger for sugar began. No one in our home knew how to bake and the butter in our house was always an old stick on one of those little plates that would always go in the fridge compartment. Sometimes we would get the Country Crock or “I can’t believe it’s not butter” tub but, I think the only reason my mom would splurge and get that is because she was obsessed with Fabio.

Now that I am old, wise, and more food conscious than I was, I realize the “butter” I have been eating my whole life is not butter!

Margarine, which many of you may not realize, are sticks of “butter” at the store, is composed of vegetable oil, water, salt, emulsifiers, and some also include milk.

I don’t find this appealing, “Hey, pass me the vegetable oil, I want to spread some on toast.”

REAL Butter is made from heavy whipping cream.

Heavy whipping cream is available at any grocery store. You can make butter with your family as a fun project, homemade holiday gift, or just to have a healthier option.

This recipe is simple. I know it is not technically paleo or AIP diet friendly but when you decide to have butter at least have real butter.

Look at these supplies, not many! We make butter in a mason jar unless we are expecting a crowd, then I pull out the KitchenAid mixer. Shaking the jar by hand makes me feel a little less bad about eating butter.

I love making butter or whipped cream in a mason jar because you get to see all the stages of turning a liquid into a solid as the fat separates from the “milk.” This is a great project for kids. (As an adult, I find the process very cool, so I assume most kids would also.) My elementary school did this in first grade and I remember being amazed and excited about making my own butter. Today, I still am. Especially now that I realize that this is a healthier alternative to store-bought, fake butter.

End result: The solid is butter the liquid is buttermilk.

Buttermilk for Buttermilk Pancakes.

Using 3 ounces of heavy whipping cream you’ll get 4 servings and make 1/4 cup of butter and 1/4 of buttermilk. Always save the buttermilk, use it for pancakes or biscuits. I’ll use the buttermilk in place of regular milk or water and use the fresh butter on top of some semi-homemade cornbread muffins or biscuits from scratch. Both of those recipes are super easy!

Want to double or triple the butter recipe? Make sure you leave a lot of air in the container you are shaking. I’m not sure about all the chemistry behind making butter but, I do know there needs to be air.

If you get halfway through the shaking and open the container you will notice it looks like whipped cream.

I’ll tell you a secret…it is whipped cream!

This recipe can go a long way. To make a sweeter whipped cream for some pumpkin pie or to put on some fresh fruit add 1 tsp of sugar before you begin shaking. Then, shake half the time or until you reach your desired consistency. Serve whipped cream immediately, if you refrigerate it for longer than a few hours it returns to a liquid consistency.

[lt_recipe name=”Real Homemade Butter” servings=”4″ prep_time=”3M” cook_time=”12M” total_time=”15M” difficulty=”Easy” print=”yes” ingredients=”3oz. (100ml) Heavy Whipping Cream;(Optional: For salted butter add 1 tsp salt OR Cinnamon sugar butter add 1/2 tsp sugar and 1/2 cinnamon);” ]Pour 3oz. (100ml) of Heavy whipping cream into a pint mason jar. ;(Add the optional ingredients.);Secure lid and shake vigorously for 12 minutes. ;*If you have a KitchenAid mixer use whisk attachment and set on medium speed for approximately 5 minutes.*;[/lt_recipe]