A quick post this week on making homemade butter.  Don’t worry, I haven’t abandoned my homemade toothpaste quest – I’m just in the “gathering ingredients” phase.  As soon as I’ve tried it, I’ll post the results, here.

While on our weekend trip to the coast, we purchased a ceramic “butter bell.”  For those of you who don’t know what a butter bell is, here’s a picture:

Basically, this is a neat little invention that comes in two parts – the top part lifts out into a “bell shape” and holds butter.  The bottom part is partially filled with water, then the bell is submerged into the water for storage.  The butter bell allows butter to be held safely at room temperature, and it makes butter soft and spreadable. 

Well, I had to make some homemade butter to inaugurate our new butter bell.  Here’s the process:

You’ll need two things: A stand mixer and some heavy whipping cream.   Make sure you recycle the cream container!

Dump the cream into the mixer bowl, and turn the mixer on high.  You’ll watch the liquid turn into whipped cream after about 3 minutes. 

Keep the mixer going and eventually (about 5-10 minutes later) the whipping cream will start to separate into thin buttermilk and lumps.  Once the lumps have formed into a mass of butter around the mixer’s whisk, stop the mixer. 

Using cheesecloth, dump the buttermilk and squeeze the butter until no more liquid comes out.  Place it back into the mixer bowl with a cup of cold water, and turn the mixer on high.  This rinses the butter free of any excess buttermilk.

Store in a mason jar in the fridge covered with water or in a butter bell.  

This is unsalted butter, of course, so you could add a little salt if you wanted.

If you don’t have access to a stand mixer, the same thing can be accomplished (albeit a bit slower) by shaking the heavy cream in a mason jar with a marble inside as an agitator.   After butter forms, it would need to be drained and rinsed.