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.Homemade Butter

Source of Recipe

From "Food Gift Love" by Maggie Battista


Recipe Introduction

"Hand-churned butter is a glorious thing but time intensive. Instead, I make a food processor butter that will out-taste any grocery store version. It will also dazzle the person to whom it's gifted. I suggest that you gift it to someone who's just moved into a new home; those first few batches of morning toast in his or her new place are so special - and even more so with homemade butter. The very best butter flavor will develop from fresh, organic heavy cream from a local farm, but a grocery-store version will work, too. This recipe should be made in a food processor. A very powerful blender will produce too much heat and may not curd up. A stand mixer will eventually get you to curds but will probably take about double the time. If you do use a stand mixer, start with the whisk attachment until you get something that looks like over-whipped cream, and then graduate to the paddle attachment to form curds. Remember to save the buttermilk that forms from both extracts. It's exactly like store-bought buttermilk, only home-made, and makes delicious pancakes. The cheesecloth itself is also reusable. Wash it by hand in very hot water and hang to dry."

List of Ingredients

• 1 pint heavy cream
• ½ cup cold water
• â…› tsp fine sea salt, plus more to taste


Recipe

Line a fine-mesh strainer with 4 layers of cheesecloth and place it over a deep bowl. Set aside.

Pour the cream into the bowl of the food processor. Blend 4 to 5 minutes until the butter separates from the liquid (the buttermilk). When most of the butter has separated from the buttermilk and formed tiny curd-like bits, turn off the food processor. The process will go something like this:

• After 1 minute, the cream starts to become whipped cream.
• After 1½ minutes, the whipped cream starts to separate from the liquid.
• After 2 minutes, the mixture takes on a slightly pale yellow hue.
• After 4½ minutes, check it and feel the consistency. It should feel like soft butter.

With a rubber spatula, scoop the entire contents of the food processor into the cheesecloth. (If it leaks through the cheesecloth, then it's likely not yet separated enough - return it to the food processor and keep blending.) Press down on the butter to help push out all the remaining buttermilk. To further help it along, pull up the sides of the cheesecloth to fully enclose the butter. Squeeze and press on the cheesecloth to push out any remaining buttermilk.

Clean out the bowl of your food processor completely. Remove the butter from the cheesecloth and return it to the food processor. Add the cold water. Turn the food processor on for 30 seconds to clean the butter. This helps to wash the butter and remove extra buttermilk.

Return the butter to the cheesecloth in the sieve. Squeeze out any remaining buttermilk. Place the butter in a bowl. Using a rubber spatula, mix it with the sea salt. You've just made butter. Store the butter well wrapped in plastic wrap and sealed in an airtight container in the fridge up to 1 week or in the freezer up to 3 months. Store the buttermilk separately and use within 3 days.


Makes 1 stick (or about 4 ounces)