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Prep: 15 mins.Total: 15 mins.
Servings: 1 pound 1x

Ingredients

  • 1 quart of heavy cream, preferably organic
  • Optional: salt, fresh or dried herbs, minced garlic, honey, spices, fruit, etc. 

Instructions

  1. Start with slightly cool or room-temperature cream for best results.
  2. Pour cream into the container of a blender or food processor. Once the lid is secured into place turn the blender to low speed and slowly increase the speed to medium-high and allow the cream to blend until it forms whipped cream (it will be nice and light and fluffy at this point).
  3. If you have a Vitamix with a tamper, insert the tamper through the top of the lid and use it to gently push the whipped cream back down into the blades. NOTE: This step isn’t absolutely necessary though it will make quicker work of your butter making.
  4. Continue to blend until you see the cream start to get clumpy. At this point you’re really close to having butter – keep blending and once you see that the fat (butter) has separated from the liquid (buttermilk) and a bunch of ‘crumbs’ have formed then you know you have butter.
  5. Now it’s time to separate the butter from the buttermilk. There are a few ways to do this, but this is what I’ve found works best for me. Place a fine-mesh colander over a bowl or large glass measuring cup then pour the entire contents of the blender into the strainer. Allow the butter to rest for a few minutes while the buttermilk drains into the bowl.
  6. Now take the butter over to the sink and rinse it (in the strainer) under cold, running water rocking it back and forth in the strainer somewhat vigorously until the water runs clear. This is the ‘hands-free kneading’ step that helps to remove liquid from the butter. You can wrap the butter ball in a clean sheet of butter muslin and knead the butter with your hands under running water, but I find this to be a little less fussy while yielding the same results. Allow the butter to rest for a few more minutes in the strainer to be sure all of the water has run off.
  7. Using clean hands, gently press the bits of butter together to form a ball. Press the ball lightly against the sides of the strainer to help remove more of the buttermilk.
  8. At this point, feel free to taste the butter and add salt to taste. Or make an herbed compound butter by adding your favorite fresh herbs and minced garlic or shallots to the soft butter. Or make it sweet by adding honey, cinnamon, citrus zest, maple syrup, fruit, etc. Get creative!

Notes

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Nutrition Information

  • Serving Size: 1 Tbsp.
  • Calories: 100
  • Fat: 12g
  • Sodium: 0mg
  • Carbohydrate: 0g
  • (Fiber: 0g
  • Sugar: 0g)
  • Protein: 0g
© The Real Food Dietitians
Recipe By: Jessica Beacom