How to Make Homemade Butter

One of the easy ways you can make your cooking a little extra special is by making your own homemade butter. Not only is it cost-effective, it also adds a nice touch to any holiday meal, and is even a fun project to accomplish with the kids. Here are a few tips on enhancing your cooking and entertaining by making your own butter.

Instructions

1. Sterilize a jar. This can be accomplished by boiling a jar, or washing it thoroughly in soap and water. (Make sure it's well rinsed, so there is no residual soap taste.)

2. Purchase fresh cream that is slightly soured. To ripen or sour your cream, leave it out for 12 to 24 hours or until it starts to appear shiny and has a slight acidic texture.

3. "Churn" your cream. Make sure the cream is about 60 degrees. Slowly begin to shake or swirl the jar until little pellets of butter begin to form. This process will take about 30 minutes. (Have the kids pass the jar around as a project to take turns shaking.)

4. Pour off extra cream. As the process continues and the butter forms a solid, there will be some residual buttermilk that is formed. Pour it off, and save it for another recipe that calls for buttermilk. (Biscuits, perhaps).

5. Rinse your butter. Line a colander with cheese cloth, place the butter inside, cover it with cheese cloth and rinse with cold water. This will remove any residual buttermilk which may have a slightly sour taste.

6. Add salt. Place butter in a bowl and add salt to taste, using a wooden spoon or spatula to form the "shape" of your butter.

Tips & Warnings

• If making butter is something you are going to be doing on a more frequent basis, you may want to invest in a churn. It's about the size of a mason jar, but pear shaped, with a screw-in paddle in the middle to "churn the butter." There are also electric churners.

• If you are anxious about "ripening" the cream, you can go for the pasteurization process by using a double boiler, heating your cream to about 180 to 200 degrees. Keep it at that temperature for about 40 minutes. Then let it stand to cool. Then add a touch of sour cream, yogurt, or buttermilk to the pasteurized cream before you begin the churning it.