I LOVE butter, and no I am not talking about the "I can't believe it's not butter" or "hydrogenated soybean oil" butter substitute variety. I am talking salted sweet cream butter. On everything. In everything. There are very few things in life that wouldn't be better with a healthy serving of butter. Some days I don't know that I could live without the comfort of butter. Butter is my BFF. Probably why I am a little rounder than I would like, but that is for a different day.
My husband has on more than one occasion made fun of me for stock piling butter when it is on sale. I always have at least 2 pounds back up in the freezer, but I have never attempted to make it myself. After doing a little research, it didn't look to hard, so I decided to give it a go.
To preface this I should say that I am the world's worst perfectionist. To clarify, I want things to be perfect, expect them to be perfect, get mad and disappointed when things are not perfect, however I do not and will not spend the time to make things perfect. Needless to say I had some lofty expectations of what my butter should be like. In my head (which I spend a lot of time in) the butter was going to be creamy like it is in Europe with subtle flavors. Sometimes I think that I need to be more of a realist when it comes to food. I am the worst type of food idealist. Everything is always better in my head and I am often left disappointed and wanting.
In my research I found that butter could be made from heavy cream and a mason jar. It was going to be something easy to do while I watched TV and played with the kids. All the recipe said (at least what I read of it) was pour cream into a jar and agitate until it starts to form a ball. Then pour the buttermilk off, rinse with water, add salt. And voila you have amazing homemade butter.
I sat in my recliner shaking my mason jar of cream as hard as I could, until my arm got sore. Olivia, Jonah, and Adam assisted. After 15 minutes I had whip cream with stiff peaks.
It took about 20 minutes before I started to get chunks, and another 5 for me to be satisfied that I had normal butter consistency.
I then drained the butter milk off into a separate container and rinsed the mound of butter with water.
I lovingly massaged my salt into the golden mound of butter. Now it was time to taste.
In my head I was about to taste the most amazing thing on planet earth. The creamiest, most complex, perfect butter EVER. An epic accomplishment. Do you remember that I told you how terrible of a perfectionist that I am. Well I tasted my soon to be million dollar product, and it was ok. Not great or amazing, or special. It was a little over salted. My heart sank a little bit. Now the butter was good. Better than the stuff in the store, but I had it so hyped in my head that I could not have had anything but failure.
Now don't get me wrong I will do it again. It was fun, and I like the idea of making it myself. Making it to my specifications. And for future attempts to make it with raw cream from local farms. I have eaten it several times, on banana bread, sweet corn, and toast and it was very good.
How do I fix my brain? How to I prevent myself from thinking food is going to be amazing just to be disappointed? Sometimes I wish I didn't care about food like some folks, it might make the tragedy of my butter not being perfect a little easier to stomach. Now I am just being melodramatic, but you get the point.
Recipe
2cups heavy cream
1 mason jar
1/2 tsp salt
Pour cream into quart size mason jar.
Agitate until chunks form. (will take close to 25 minutes)
Pour off buttermilk
Rinse butter with water
Add salt
Wrap in parchment and refrigerate
Yields approximately 1 cup buttermilk and 1 cup butter
I LOVE butter, and no I am not talking about the "I can't believe it's not butter" or "hydrogenated soybean oil" butter substitute variety. I am talking salted sweet cream butter. On everything. In everything. There are very few things in life that wouldn't be better with a healthy serving of butter. Some days I don't know that I could live without the comfort of butter. Butter is my BFF. Probably why I am a little rounder than I would like, but that is for a different day.
My husband has on more than one occasion made fun of me for stock piling butter when it is on sale. I always have at least 2 pounds back up in the freezer, but I have never attempted to make it myself. After doing a little research, it didn't look to hard, so I decided to give it a go.
To preface this I should say that I am the world's worst perfectionist. To clarify, I want things to be perfect, expect them to be perfect, get mad and disappointed when things are not perfect, however I do not and will not spend the time to make things perfect. Needless to say I had some lofty expectations of what my butter should be like. In my head (which I spend a lot of time in) the butter was going to be creamy like it is in Europe with subtle flavors. Sometimes I think that I need to be more of a realist when it comes to food. I am the worst type of food idealist. Everything is always better in my head and I am often left disappointed and wanting.
In my research I found that butter could be made from heavy cream and a mason jar. It was going to be something easy to do while I watched TV and played with the kids. All the recipe said (at least what I read of it) was pour cream into a jar and agitate until it starts to form a ball. Then pour the buttermilk off, rinse with water, add salt. And voila you have amazing homemade butter.
I sat in my recliner shaking my mason jar of cream as hard as I could, until my arm got sore. Olivia, Jonah, and Adam assisted. After 15 minutes I had whip cream with stiff peaks.
It took about 20 minutes before I started to get chunks, and another 5 for me to be satisfied that I had normal butter consistency.
I then drained the butter milk off into a separate container and rinsed the mound of butter with water.
I lovingly massaged my salt into the golden mound of butter. Now it was time to taste.
In my head I was about to taste the most amazing thing on planet earth. The creamiest, most complex, perfect butter EVER. An epic accomplishment. Do you remember that I told you how terrible of a perfectionist that I am. Well I tasted my soon to be million dollar product, and it was ok. Not great or amazing, or special. It was a little over salted. My heart sank a little bit. Now the butter was good. Better than the stuff in the store, but I had it so hyped in my head that I could not have had anything but failure.
Now don't get me wrong I will do it again. It was fun, and I like the idea of making it myself. Making it to my specifications. And for future attempts to make it with raw cream from local farms. I have eaten it several times, on banana bread, sweet corn, and toast and it was very good.
How do I fix my brain? How to I prevent myself from thinking food is going to be amazing just to be disappointed? Sometimes I wish I didn't care about food like some folks, it might make the tragedy of my butter not being perfect a little easier to stomach. Now I am just being melodramatic, but you get the point.
Recipe
2cups heavy cream
1 mason jar
1/2 tsp salt
Pour cream into quart size mason jar.
Agitate until chunks form. (will take close to 25 minutes)
Pour off buttermilk
Rinse butter with water
Add salt
Wrap in parchment and refrigerate
Yields approximately 1 cup buttermilk and 1 cup butter
I personally believe that butter was some of the best I've ever had. Granted, plugra wasn't exactly my thing.
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