Homemade Butter

OMG, I made butter from scratch (hat tip to Crunchy Chicken Cooks blog for the inspiration). Who knew it was so ridiculously easy?! I think I am much more impressed with myself than the situation calls for because when I proudly told my husband, he said "oh yeah, I think I did that in school when I was 10" ...hmmmm.

Anyway, I was super proud of my homemade awesomeness...and the butter was delicious! The by-product - buttermilk - can also be used (pancakes or scones, anyone?). Making butter is like a science experiment in a jar and would be a fun project to do with kids as well because it is so easy! Plus it was fast and you get to see the results in less than 30 minutes.

how better to enjoy fresh butter than on a toasted English muffin!

Directions: pour some heavy whipping cream into a mason jar and start shaking. And...that's it! (Well, that's almost it.) Before you start shaking, let the heavy cream sit at room temperature until it reaches about 60 degrees. I used about 1 cup of cream, but didn't measure.

Depending on the temperature of your cream and the vigorousness of your shaking, your butter will be ready in 20 or so minutes (mine took about 15 minutes and then some additional time at the end pressing the remaining liquid out).

I realized this would also be a super easy way to make a small amount of whipped cream, as it reached whipped cream stage in just a few minutes.

After about 6-7 minutes it looks like clotted cream (yum on a scone!).

very tempted here to stop, save, and make scones

After about 5 more minutes, you can see the buttermilk has separated out and it's starting to look like...butter!

I was so excited that it was really working...I am making real butter!

At this point - when the butter has separated into a large ball - pour out the buttermilk. And then keep shaking.

shake, shake, shake a bit more

After about 5 more minutes, it will look much more smooth and butter-like (below). At this point, pour out any additional buttermilk and dump your butter into a bowl.

so impressed with myself at this point

Using a spatula, smoosh the butter against the side of the bowl to get out any remaining buttermilk (you can see a little pooling there at the bottom of the bowl).

nearly done

When no more liquid is released, you're done! Are you as excited as me?

my butter and buttermilk

I scooped the finished butter into a ramekin, covered with plastic, and stored it in the fridge. It made about 1/4 or 1/3 of a cup but didn't last long.

creamy, pale yellow...beautiful!

Bye for now...

Scones on Sunday with my niece

My niece spent the night this past weekend and, at age 4 1/2, I've initiated her into the family baking club with my granddaddy's scones. Here is the recipe (and my changes) and some pictures.

Granddaddy's Scones
Ingredients
2 c. all purpose flour
2 Tbls. (slightly rounded) sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. (slightly rounded) baking soda
5 1/3 Tbls. butter, cut into small pieces
1 beaten egg
~ 3/4 c. buttermilk
(my additions: zest and juice of 1 lemon; 1 tsp. vanilla; ~ 1/2 c. currants)

Directions
Mix first 4 ingredients (plus lemon zest, if using)  together thoroughly in a large bowl. Using a pastry cutter, cut in butter to coarse crumb stage; cut in beaten egg (mixed with lemon juice and vanilla, if using) as thoroughly as possible; (add currants, if using); add, as needed, buttermilk, mixing until ball forms and dough pulls away from sides. 

Turn out on lightly floured surface and knead 17 times, adding a sprinkle of flour if needed to reduce stickiness. Do NOT over knead or scones will be tough.

Form into rough ball, divide into two balls, patting each out to a round, about 1/2 inch thick.

Cut into 8 pie shaped pieces and bake on lightly greased (or parchment lined) cookie sheet, 8-12 mins, at 425 degrees until barely brown. 425 may be too high in some ovens; I use 375.

For variations, can add chopped dates, or frozen blueberries before cutting into wedges. If using blueberries, keep frozen until ready to use.

ingredients at the ready

cutting in the butter

kneading

hot out of the oven...smells delicious!

sprinkled with a little sugar

time to eat

just need a bit of butter

butter and honey...that's better!

Bye for now...