Butter - Easy, Fast, Delicious!

Ingredients:                                           Difficulty Rating:  Super Easy

·       1 pint heavy cream

·       Pinch Kosher salt (optional – no more than ¼ teaspoon)

Tools

·       Either a, b, or c below

a)     Food Processor (with bottom metal blade only)

b)    Mixer (with whisk attachment but regular beaters will work too)

c)     Jar – clean and dry

·       Strainer

·       Cheese cloth (optional – if you don’t have it, just use the strainer)

·       Bowl to hold the strainer

·       Ice water (you can throw in some ice cubes if you want, because it has to be very cold)

·       Butter containers – you can use ramekins, small bowls with lids, butter molds – be creative, but if you want to store it for up to a week, make sure your container has a tight lid.

If you use a jar, the time increases from about 4 or 6 minutes to about 15-30 minutes,
but if you have kids, it’s a great family project.

Preparation

Step 1:

Using a jar:

Pour in the cream.

If you’ve got a couple of kids working with you use a couple of jars and
divide the cream evenly.  Shake, shake, shake!  Keep shaking the jars
for about 15 to 30 minutes until chunks of butter start to form.

Using a mixer or food processor:

Pour in the cream

Process or mix until you pass the point of whipped cream.

In the food processor: When the butter turns into little balls pour in
about ½ cup of the ice water (it won’t hurt if the cubes go into the food processor)

With a mixer: When the butter separates from the liquid – it will gather around

the beaters or whisk attachment.

Step 2:

Transfer the butter mixture into the strainer over a bowl – the liquid that is strained
out is buttermilk

If you’re using cheese cloth, put the butter into the cheese cloth – pull it together into
a ball and squeeze to get the liquid out. Unwrap the butter, putting it back into the
strainer.

If you’re not using the cheese cloth, just skip that step and press the liquid out of the
butter using a rubber spatula or your clean hands. 

Rinse with ice water until it runs clear, kneading the butter and folding it into itself. 
The rinse step keeps the butter from turning sour.

Once it is rinsed, if you want to add ¼ teaspoon of Kosher Salt – this would be the
time to do it.  You might even want to add some cut up sundried tomatoes or herbs. 
Get creative if you’d like! 

Step 3:

Although it is best to refrigerate the butter overnight, sometimes the wait is just too
difficult.  You can get creative here too.  You can:

• put it in a jar that can be tightly sealed
• put it in a butter mold
• put it in waxed paper or plastic wrap and roll it into a log