Guest Author - Lori Phillips
I love the idea of farm living, so close to nature. But gleaning a living off the land takes a lot of sweat and labor, and while that’s a healthy lifestyle, I’m hopelessly suburban. Addicted to electric appliances and instant gratification. It is a simple life in its own way. Most chores are completed with the flip of a switch.
I serendipitously discovered the easiest way to make your own homemade sweet cream unsalted butter. It was a frantic Thanksgiving dinner when I attempted, before I wised up, to make far too many dishes—from scratch—and poured some heavy whipping cream into my stand mixer to whip it up for the pumpkin pie. In the rush to clear off the dinner table, wrap up the leftovers, wash the dishes, and set out the dessert plates, I forgot to add in the sugar and soon after forgot all about the whirring mixer. Suddenly, my mother said, “Hey, what’s this in the mixer?” She dipped her finger into the bowl. “You made butter!”
I was aghast. No homemade whipped cream for the pumpkin pie? But my mother was delighted at the fluffy, creamy homemade butter that resulted. Completely natural with no preservatives or coloring. If you want table butter to use as a condiment, you can add a bit of salt during the whipping process.
How simple was that? You truly can “set it and forget it” like I did and end up with delicious homemade butter. Why was I so surprised? Butter is the simple result of “churning” or shaking up full fat or heavy cream. The agitation causes the fat molecules to separate from the liquid. Kids can have some simple fun agitating or churning their own butter if you put the heavy cream into a tight-lidded jar and have them shake it up.
Easy Homemade Butter
2 pints heavy whipping cream
Place the heavy whipping cream in the bowl of a stand mixer. Set it on medium-low and whip until it begins to thicken and becomes whipped cream. Move the setting to medium-high and continue beating until the whipped cream turns into butter.
If you want to use this as a table condiment (spreading butter), add up to one teaspoon of salt while the mixture it still a liquid.
If you yearn for a more natural method of churning butter, you can visit my friend and fellow editor Lisa Binion’s [url=http://www.bellaonline.com/site/naturaliving] Natural Living site[/url] here at BellaOnline.com. A native Kentucky resident, she has some great articles about doing all sorts of things the natural way.
