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How gorgeous is that?! And, yes, it tastes as good as it looks! Homemade butter tastes so much better than store-bought, so we took advantage of a good deal on some high quality cream and whipped up some butter. What I used is cream (the only ingredient) from a local dairy that uses no antibiotics, hormones or GMO feed (the cows are mostly grass-fed). It’s pasteurized (not ultra-pasteurized) and non-homogenized, so it’s really the best thing you can find short of raw cream! True, this quality of cream can be difficult to find, so don’t feel like you can’t make butter out of whatever you have. This 2-quart (1/2 gallon) of cream was less than $10 dollars and I got 1 quart of buttermilk, which I’ll culture, and 2 pounds of butter!
What You’ll Need
- Cream: Make sure that there are no additives. The ingredients list should just say cream (it might say “milk”, too), no extras. You probably won’t be able to get everything you want, but one thing that can ruin a batch of butter is ultra-pasteurized cream. I’ve made butter from it, but often it’s just too “cooked” to work. Try to find raw, low-temp pasteurized or pasteurized instead of ultra-pasteurized. It would be a huge bonus if it’s organic and from grass-fed cows, but just do the best you can.
- Mixer, blender or food processor: I used a stand mixer, but a blender or food processor work fine, too. Just make sure your food processor is air-tight. If it’s not, you’ll spray cream all over yourself and the kitchen… I assure you that this is not a good way to make butter. Ask me how I know.
Also make sure that you don’t fill whatever you use more than 2/3 of the way full. The cream will expand quite a bit and you don’t want it overflowing. By the way, you really can make butter in a jar or butter churn, but it takes quite awhile and the jar method is exhausting. - Ice water in a large bowl: You’ll need to “wash” the butter, so have icy cold water ready before you start.
- Celtic Sea Salt: You don’t have to salt your butter, but it will keep longer if you do. I like to add just a few pinched of salt for flavor, anyway, and salt is good for us!
What To Do
If a picture is worth 1,000 words, I’m going to babble at you! It’s so much easier to show you than to try to explain, so…
Begin whisking the cream on medium speed, increasing speed a bit as cream thickens.
Cream expands and thickens. Stop and taste a spoonful- just because it’s yummy!
The solids begin to clump as they separate from the liquids.
I switch to the paddle attachment for less splashing.
Solids completely separate from liquids. Beat for 30 more seconds on low.
Pour buttermilk in a jar and save. Add one cup ice-cold water to the mixer. Beat on low for 30 seconds. Pour the milky water down the drain and repeat with fresh water two more times.
Put butter in a bowl of ice-cold water and “wash” the butter by squeezing and smooshing it. Repeat with fresh water until water is clear. Lift butter ball and let water drain off. Pat dry with paper towels before storing. At this point, knead in a few pinches of salt, if desired.
To store butter, divide it into baseball-sized balls and put each on a square of plastic wrap.
Twist the ends of the plastic wrap.
Tie the ends of the plastic wrap in a knot. Store as-is in the fridge, or put in heavy-duty freezer bags to keep in the freezer.
That’s it! Now you have creamy, delicious butter! Be sure to keep that wonderful buttermilk, too. You can culture it (post coming next week), cook with it or even just drink it.
Also, be sure to check out my other top how-to food posts, such as my homemade sour cream tutorial and my homemade mocha recipe!
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I would like to try this! in the step where you put in the ice water the first time, are you putting the butter back in there and mixing it? The water doesn’t water it down? Just trying to understand! Thanks!
As long as the water is icy-cold, it will actually make the butter firmer. If it’s warm water, the butter will melt. As you squeeze the butter, the tiny amounts of buttermilk will be pressed out and will end up in the water, so you can just dump the milky water out. I hope that makes sense! When you try it, you’ll be able to see it happening better than what a picture can show.
For even longer storage you can put it in a container with water on top.
Great tip, Debra! Thanks! We have a butter crock for keeping butter on the counter. It is filled part-way with cold water, then the butter filled part rests upside down in it. It keeps the butter cool and spreadable and protected from air!
Oh my goodness, I am so jealous! You are so right, there is nothing as good as fresh cream and butter. I wish we had a dairy farm closer, I would be all over that!!
LOL, I’d share, but it would be quite a drive from Texas to Ohio!
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Would you please do me the honor of linking this up on my Kids in the Kitchen post? it’s fabulous!!!! love love it! pinning – and sharing!
Absolutely! Thanks for the invite! I used this every day during mid to late pregnancy and it was always such a treat- it smells soooo good!
[...] How to Make Butter Step-by-step Tutorial @ Creative Christian Mama. [...]
Why is the end product so yellow? The last time I made it with unpasteurized cows milk and it was almost white. Did you add food coloring?
Thanks for the question, Donna! It mostly depends on the diet of the cows, although some companies do add food coloring to make their butter yellow. I didn’t add anything except a few pinches of sea salt. Depending on the cow’s diet, the butter can be more or less yellow. In the spring and summer, it’s darker due to the vitamin A from the fresh grass they are eating. The cows that made this cream have been eating plenty of fresh grass. It could be that the cream you used was from cows that have been eating grain or dried hay. Also, the more buttermilk that you get out, the darker the butter is. I hope that helps!
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In 4th grade public school we made butter with the jar method using raw whole milk from a local farmer (which should tell you something about the town that even the public school let us use ‘real’ milk. It took forever but tasted soo good. I did not know you could make butter from store bought ‘whole’ milk since it is skimmed once, homogenized, and pasturized. May try this again with my kids if you can do it from store bought milk as it’s just too hard to find raw around here.
I remember trying to make butter in a jar once as a kid- it took so long!!
I love that you guys got to use raw milk in school.
This recipe uses cream, not whole milk, but it can be store-bought cream. We seldom use our raw cream to make butter- the cream is just so delicious in coffee, tea and hot chocolate that I can’t often bring myself to make butter out of it! I just try to find the least processed cream possible and it works well