Back to Basics...with Some Flare

I have thought about making my own butter forever. Well, maybe not forever but at least a few years ever since I had been to the Hamilton Park Hotel in Florham Park, NJ and had their home-made whipped cream. Yes I know I said I wanted to make butter after having their whipped cream, but its because when I was attempting to make my own whipped cream for the first time I whipped it far too long and it started to curdle and since it was not what I wanted for what I was making at the time I threw it away, instead of embracing the challenge at the time, and started over. What can I say, they have amazing home made whipped cream on their buffet for every meal, every day. BTW, if you are looking for an amazing place to stay, be pampered and eat like royalty; I highly recommend this place. The Honeymoon suite is amazing!!!

Okay, back to the butter making. I went to our local dairy, Crystal Springs, and ordered two half gallons of heavy cream. You can't get much fresher ingredients for experimenting than this. Cows milked in the very early morning, heavy cream bottled late morning and you buy it in the afternoon.

This morning I got up and put one of the half gallons of cream in my 6 qt. mixing bowl of the Kitchen Aid. I've read articles where they also suggest you put cream in a well sealed jar with a marble and then give it to your kids to shake until they can't hear the marble anymore, sadly my kids are too old to convince this activity is fun, so I had to use my Kitchen Aid.


I started the mixer on low and then increased speed slowly until the cream started to thicken and no longer posed a risk of painting the walls of the kitchen white. Eventually, I wish I would have timed this, the cream will be whipped cream. You could add a little sugar and whip some more and be done at this point and have the most amazing whipped cream of your life or you can keep going and let it whip till it starts to look a little over whipped. I think at this stage it is much like a clotted cream, perfect for scones and strawberries.

Don't stop now...keep whipping. The whipped cream will start to break down and curdle. You will know when to start lowering the speed of the beater because you will suddenly feel the buttermilk that is separating from the butter sprinkling you. At first I was like, what is that?? Then I realized that the cream was now liquids and solids and the buttermilk was about to spray all over the place. So I turned the mixer down and left it continue beating for a few more minutes. I did all this by feel, no timing, planning or stressing.

I then lined a fine mesh sieve with some cheesecloth and strained the butter milk from the solids.


We are almost done. Now we need to wash the butter and make sure all the buttermilk is out of it or the butter will spoil and become rancid. Simple process really, just pour cold water over the milk and knead it for a few minutes, drain and repeat until the liquid is no longer cloudy/discolored. It took me three rinsings until I was satisfied.

Once the butter was rinsed, I weighed it and put it back into my mixer. I added 1 tsp. of salt (1/4 tsp. per 4 oz. is recommended), we had just about 29 oz. of butter. Since I am not tolerant of high salt anything, I only added 1 tsp. of salt opposed to the almost 2 tsp. that should have been there. I just figured it was going to be easier to add salt than take it away.

Now this is where it gets fun!!! I am so excited! Every summer we grow a few herbs in the garden. Basil, rosemary and sage. Soooo, I decided that we of course could not just have plain butter. If I am going to go to all this trouble to make my own butter, then it needs to be as flavorful and as special as possible.

Its such an amazing taste sensation to mix freshly picked, chopped and diced herbs into the butter. I created 4 different flavor-filled butters. Cracked Black Pepper and Fresh Sage, Fresh Rosemary Garlic, Fresh Basil Parmesan and Raw Honey Butter from a local apiary, Stagecoach Orchard Apiary in Lehighton, PA.

To add herbs to the butter, I started with about 6 oz. of butter and 1-2 tsp. of each fresh herb, 1 clove of garlic, 2 tblsp. grated Parmesan, 1/4 - 1/2 tsp. freshly cracked pepper and about 1 tblsp. honey. But please feel free to use additional or less amounts according to your audience and personal tastes.

After you have thoroughly mixed each of your flavor combinations, lay the mixed butter onto a piece of plastic wrap and wrap tightly. Refrigerate or freeze until you are ready to use.

I am really looking forward to using the basil Parmesan on some corn on the cob. I think the Rosemary garlic would be delicious on a lamb chop, while the cracked black pepper sage would be amazing on some fresh gnocchi and the honey butter...well I've already had some of that on some toast, but a cinnamon raisin bagel is what I'm really dreaming about.

Oh, hey don't forget about the buttermilk that you got from this experiment. There was actually 3 1/2 cups of buttermilk for future fun. Since I don't have time to use it today, I portioned it out into 8 oz. containers and popped them in the freezer. Buttermilk pancakes may be whats for breakfast on Saturday morning after the Blues Fest in Neffs, PA Friday night and before the Zoo in Paradise Concert at the Lehigh Valley Zoo Saturday night.

So let's recap...from one 1/2 gallon container of cream, we got about 29 oz. of fresh creamy delicious butter that we added some flare to with some fresh from the garden herbs and about 3 1/2 cups of fresh buttermilk. At a cost of $.13/oz. for fresh from the farm cream and an hour of your time it sure makes sense to make your own when you could easily pay double that for pre-processed store bought butter that will never be as delicious, but if like me, you bake about 5 days a week it would never be cost effective based on the time element to keep up with demand. Although I sure wish it was feasible. This is where I become selfish and figure at least my family will get to enjoy some simple deliciousness.

What a great day! I had so much fun making this butter. The next project? Espresso salted Caramels. After all I bought a whole gallon of heavy cream from the dairy...need to use it while its still fresh and delicious.

Hope you have as much foodie fun today as I am!

Hugs!
dina