With how crazy busy we all are these days, making fresh butter by hand seems like an impossible additional task when it's easy enough to pick some up at the store. I'm here to tell you, it's completely the opposite. Making fresh butter is the easiest and most satisfying way to make you feel like you've created something wonderful from scratch. Here's why.
What Exactly Is Homemade Butter?
Plain butter is composed of one ingredient, the solids from churning cream. When cream is agitated, either by whipping, shaking, or blending, the solids and liquid will eventually separate, and you've made butter and buttermilk respectively.
This means that butter is only as good as the cream it's made from, and it's worth it to source the best cream you can find.
How to Make Homemade Butter
Before modern techniques of making butter emerged, butter was made with a manual churn. These days, you can skip the butter churn, unless you want a 30-minute arm workout, in favor of a stand mixer, hand mixer, or food processor.
Simply pour your heavy cream or whipping cream into the bowl and whip or process until the butter separates from the liquid. I used this Homemade Butter recipe and a food processor, but it took my heavy-duty machine about 5 minutes.
According to the USDA, heavy cream contains at least 36% milk fat while whipping cream is 30 to 35% milk fat. Therefore, depending on how much butter and buttermilk you hope to produce, choose the type of cream that best suits your eventual use. Or if you have leftover heavy or whipping cream in the fridge and want to make butter, don't be surprised if you get more from the heavy cream.
What Does Homemade Butter Taste Like
The texture of homemade butter is softer, creamier, and fluffier than regular stick butter. The flavor of the plain butter differs on the type of heavy cream you use. I tried two types of cream, one from a local dairy and one generic heavy cream from the store. The butter made from the local dairy milk was more nuanced and more flavorful, though the butter from the generic cream was also delicious, just not quite as grassy. The type of butter depends solely on the type of cream.
I seasoned my butter with flaky salt however, it would be easy to make flavored butter, or compound butter, such as honey butter, herb butter, or garlic butter by simply mixing in additional ingredients.
How Much Does Homemade Butter Cost
Because I'm lucky enough to live in Vermont, I picked up a pint of local heavy cream for $3.29 and a pint of the grocery store-branded heavy cream for $3.89. On average, a pint (2 cups) of cream yielded 1 1/4 cups (8 ounces) butter and 3/4 cup buttermilk. In comparison, for a premium butter such as Kerrygold, 8 ounces averages around $4.99. I am comparing the homemade butter to premium butter because the homemade version is more similar to a higher fat butter, and honestly, tastes just as luxurious.
How to Use Homemade Butter
Butter is a key ingredient in many favorite recipes so the possibilities are endless. Homemade butter is best used as a spread or a finishing ingredient, such as added to a pasta dish, rather than in baking, however. That is because stick butter purchased at the store is more consistent and with baking, consistency and measurements matter. Depending on how much buttermilk you removed, or didn't remove, your baked goods could be a bit wetter if you use the homemade butter. This could be fine if the recipe is flexible but because your homemade butter takes a bit more effort to make, I suggest enjoying it at its fullest, and that means salted on a warm piece of bread.
