I made butter!

I know, I know, I disappeared again. I haven't been baking or cooking much - after going out of town with J and being constantly over-heated in my house, I just haven't been in the mood. I was, however, recently inspired by a post written by Lisa over at Restaurant Widow to go buy some of our delicious local Whipping Cream and make butter! Yep, I made butter! How cool is that? It was shockingly easy (Lisa wasn't lying in her post!).


I followed Lisa's instructions and basically whipped the cream until it fully separated. I used my KitchenAid stand mixer which got a tad messy - the fat totally separates from the liquid (buttermilk) and it can splatter a bit. I covered my mixer with a kitchen towel to keep the mess to a minimum. After it seemed like the fat and liquid had completely separated, I strained the whole mess through a fine mesh sieve. Be sure to save all that yummy liquid - it is fresh buttermilk that will make the best pancakes or salad dressing imaginable! After I allowed the fat to sit in the sieve for 10 or so minutes to finish draining, I added it to a clean dish. I noticed that as I stirred to break up the fat curds, more liquid came out. It was very easy to just spill the buttermilk off into the tub I had already set aside for it. I basically stopped stirring the butter when it all came together into one creamy mass, and it stopped giving off anymore liquid. At this point, I took Lisa's advice and added plenty of flaky Maldon Sea Salt. And I took my first taste. It was pure bliss. I literally licked the spoon clean. The butter was incredibly creamy and instantly melted against my tongue, leaving behind delicious little flakes of salt.

I am so happy I made homemade butter! I am annoyed at how easy it is and how much money I have wasted on fancy butter. I don't think I will buy butter for spreading ever again - just for baking. I was so inspired by the butter that I baked Strawberry Sour Cream Muffins so my co-workers could try it. The muffins were a perfect conduit for the pale yellow butter, which has a subtle sweetness. I didn't take pictures of the muffins because I didn't really love them, but if you are interested, I can find the recipe for you. Everyone at work adored the muffins and the butter - the muffins were gobbled up in two days, along with all the butter.

If you have access to a great, local creamery - go forth and make butter!