Did you know you can make your own homemade butter in a KitchenAid mixer or food processor?!! It is fun & easy and tastes SO much better than the store bought stuff!
Okay, so maybe I just tend to get overly excited about butter in general, but I am pretty sure that making homemade butter in my Kitchen-Aid is both the coolest and the most domestic thing I’ve ever done. Just when I didn’t think it was possible to love an appliance even more….I mean really, what’s better than homemade butter? Mmmmmmmm…..butter……
But I digress.
It was seriously so easy that I see a lot more butter making in our future. Since this was technically a homeschool activity (and had no selfish motivations whatsoever!), we tried to follow the instructions from Little House in the Big Woods as closely as we could. Of course considering that we didn’t have a cow or a real butter churn, or even a wooden bowl and paddle, we did a lot of improvising.
We used a quart of heavy cream, which made approximately a pound of butter and about 2 and 1/2 cups of buttermilk. I paid $5.99 for the cream at Publix, which was a lot, but next time I’d probably stock up at Sam’s Club, where it is just under $3 a quart. I’ve heard Aldi has super cheap cream as well. We also grated a carrot to add yellow coloring because that is the way Ma Ingalls did it, but next time I would probably skip that step!
How to Make Homemade Butter
Here is what you need:
1 carrot (optional) 1/4 c. milk (optional) 1 quart heavy cream 3/4 teaspoon salt
Step 1 (optional): Peel & finely grate a carrot. Heat in small saucepan with 1/4 cup milk until milk is bubbly. Use a clean cheesecloth to strain orange-colored milk into the bowl of your stand mixer. Discard shredded carrot.
Step 2: Pour cream into bowl of stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment. Add salt. Cover mixer with a towel–trust me on this one, it will be messy! Turn mixer on high.
Step 3: Continue mixing, checking on mixture frequently. It will first turn to whipped cream, then begin to get grainy and separate into butter and buttermilk, and the splashing will get much worse. The butter is ready when it sticks in a clump to the paddle.
Step 4: Place a colander over a bowl, then strain the buttermilk off of the butter. (For a GREAT recipe using buttermilk, try these super yummy refrigerator raisin bran muffins–they are our FAVORITE!)
Step 5: Using your hands or a spatula, press out excess buttermilk under cold running water until water runs clear. Shape into stick or ball. Butter will keep covered in refrigerator for up to 4 weeks. Serve with bread and enjoy!
Note: While we were making our main batch of butter in the Kitchen-Aid, we also made a very small amount of butter by placing the cream in a small jar and taking turns shaking it. This was a great way to show the kids how much work it is to make butter by hand! Our shaken butter didn’t turn out quite as firm, probably because we didn’t shake it long or hard enough–my 3 and 6 year old didn’t have a lot of stamina, but older kids would probably do a little better!
HOMEMADE BUTTER
Ingredients
- 1 carrot optional
- 1/4 c. milk optional
- 1 quart heavy cream
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- (OPTIONAL) Peel & finely grate a carrot. Heat in small saucepan with 1/4 cup milk until milk is bubbly. Use a clean cheesecloth to strain orange-colored milk into the bowl of your stand mixer. Discard shredded carrot.
- Pour cream into bowl of stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment. Add salt. Cover mixer with a towel–trust me on this one, it will be messy! Turn mixer on high.
- Continue mixing, checking on mixture frequently. It will first turn to whipped cream, then begin to get grainy and separate into butter and buttermilk, and the splashing will get much worse. The butter is ready when it sticks in a clump to the paddle.
Place a colander over a bowl, then strain the buttermilk off of the butter.
Using your hands or a spatula, press out excess buttermilk under cold running water until water runs clear. Shape into stick or ball. Serve with bread and enjoy!
Recipe Notes
Preparation time: 30 minutes. Number of servings (yield): Approximately 1 pound of butter + 2 1/2 cups of buttermilk. Butter will keep covered in refrigerator for up to 4 weeks.
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Ruth Soukup
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You know, we made homemade butter when I was in grade school and I still remember it. They poured heavy cream and a pinch of salt in a mason jar with a lid and we passed it around the class circle shaking it till we were tired until finally we had butter and we got to eat it on top of crackers. Your way is better though:)
Thanks for sharing such tasty recipe. It`s soo good. I shared it on my blog See here
and everyone who tried it were excited.
Could you make buttercream frosting with home made butter?
I have never even considered making butter. I love making fresh bread, so I think I may try this:) Thank you!
Okay, my first batch of butter made in the KitchenAid is done and I am thrilled. The only thing I will do differently in the future is that I will not salt the cream at the start. Two reasons. First, I can’t tell that the finished butter actually tastes salted; I will have to knead salt into it before forming as usual. And second, I am left with salty buttermilk instead of my normal sweet, delicious buttermilk, which is really, really sad! I guess I can use it for cooking. Or something.