Butter

Making butter is one of the simplest things to do. The only thing you need is cream and a device to agitate the cream. This can be any type of mixer, food processor or even "raw man power".

I like to use the hand mixer, because I have more control that way. I can move the mixer to areas on the edge of the bowl that would get less movement in the stand mixer. However, for the sake of using two hands to take pictures along the way, I opted for the stand mixer this time. That only meant I had to scrape the sides of the bowl down a couple of times. It does help if you use a larger quantity, but I just used 1 pint of heavy whipping cream this time.

I use organic cream because I don't like to think that I am eating hormones, steroids and antibiotics. I actually wish I had access to fresh raw milk, straight from the farm, I think I would skim off my own cream and be extra hard core at starting from scratch. I do live in the heart of Manhattan, so maybe that's for another time in my life.

hmmm, whipped cream!

1Pint of cream

a pinch of salt (if you want salted butter)

some garlic and herbs (if you want to make herb butter)

Pour the cream in the stand mixer and put the speed on high

Leave for 5-10 minutes until, what looks like water, starts to separate from the butter. At this point turn the mixer off and use your hands to squeeze the butter together and leave the buttermilk behind in the mixer. Alternatively use a cheese cloth to separate the butter from the buttermilk as shown on the picture above. Don't discard the buttermilk. Use it for morning pancakes, or something else. Note that the buttermilk is of a thinner consistency than that in the supermarket.