Homemade butter is easier than you think and it makes a creamy and rich butter. It also saves money and gives you the opportunity to flavor your own butter.

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Butter has always been my favored fat to use in the kitchen. Olive oil is great and all, but I find myself reaching for the butter more times than not. It might be due to the fact that I was basically raised on butter, that good old’ home-cooked diet. I grew up enjoying mashed potatoes, freshly baked bread, and sourdough pancakes with butter on top.

Seriously though, butter gets a bad wrap. In moderation, it is good for you. It’s true I swear! Yes, butter has saturated fat that is known as the artery clogger, but it also has been linked to a reduced risk of obesity, diabetes, and heart problems.

In addition to favoring butter for my home-cooked meals, I also use a lot of butter for baking. I bake at least every weekend and use butter for almost all my baking recipes. With the amount of butter I use, why not make homemade butter?

When I first starting playing around with the idea of making my own butter, my first thought was – will it be worth it? You may be asking the same question. Why make homemade butter when it is so easy to grab at the grocery store and it’s relatively inexpensive?

Turns out butter is really easy to make and it has a lot of benefits. By making your own butter, you will end up with a better product, and it saves money! Yeah, making your own butter saves a good amount of money. This article details out just how much money you would save, but let’s just say it’s not just a couple of cents.

The benefits and money-saving aside, I love making my own foods that otherwise would not need to be made myself. Whether it is growing vegetables in my garden or churning my own butter. It forces me to slow down and contributes to the simple life feeling. It’s so beneficial to break away from the rush and get back to our roots.

What you’ll need

Heavy cream
Plain yogurt (optional)
Stand or hand mixer with a whisk attachment
Kitchen cloth
Strainer or sturdy sieve
Cheesecloth

Culturing the cream (optional)

Culturing the cream is optional but some say it makes the butter so much better. When doing my research for butter making, I was immediately interested in how culturing the cream changes the flavor of the butter. I decided to do a little experiment and make to batches of butter; one cultured and one not.

In the end, I did taste a difference. The cultured cream was creamier and richer. It had a velvet texture and stronger flavor, but culturing the cream does take time and the non-cultured butter tastes pretty dang good too. Most of the time, I will probably not culture my cream first, but it is great for a nice treat if you have the time.

To culture the cream, add the cream to a bowl and whisk in two tablespoons of plain yogurt. Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel and set in a slightly warm area to culture.

Allow the cream to culture for 8-12 hours or until the cream has thickened a bit and is a little foamy. It will also smell a little sour when cultured. Place the bowl in the refrigerator for up to an hour to chill before churning.

Quality Ingredients

Before we start making butter, let’s talk about quality ingredients. Using quality cream and yogurt if you choose to culture will make a big difference in the taste of your butter. Try to find local, organic, homogenized whipping cream and avoid ultra-pasteurized cream.

If you decide to culture the cream, find yogurt that is plain and not overly processed. Yogurt that is as plain as you can find works best; no stabilizers, flavorings, or other additives.

Churn the cream

A stand mixer is the best when churning the cream, but it can be done with a hand mixer, food processor, and even a jar.

Place the cream in the mixer with the whisk attachment and turn on to medium-high. Cover the mixer with the kitchen towel, the final stage of churning will splatter so make sure it’s covered well! Whip the cream until the buttermilk has separated from the butter.

First, it will turn into stiff peaks around 2 minutes, then it will look grainy, and finally, the solid butter will separate from the liquid buttermilk, about 5 minutes.

Strain the buttermilk

Using a strainer lined with cheesecloth, dump the butter and buttermilk into the strainer, and allow the buttermilk to strain into a container. Gather the butter in the cheesecloth and squeeze any remaining buttermilk, do this several times.

Keep the buttermilk in a container and store it in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks. Use the buttermilk for biscuits, pancakes, or even these fried oysters.

wash the butter

Believe it or not, there will still be more buttermilk in the butter even after straining. With the butter gathered in the cheesecloth hold the butter in the under cold water, squeeze and knead the butter to release any more buttermilk. Do this until the water runs clear, 3-5 minutes. Washing the buttermilk out of the butter will make the butter last longer.

Washing the butter can be done by placing it in a bowl of ice water. Squeeze and knead the butter until the water becomes very cloudy. Pour off the water and add more ice water and repeat. Repeat until the water is clear.

Flavor the butter

Sprinkle salt or other flavors into the butter and knead in. Try garlic herb, chipotle lime, or a little bit of Old Bay Seasoning.

Store the butter

Put the butter in a jar or roll in a log with parchment or wax paper. It will keep in the fridge for three weeks or in the freezer for up to three months.

Sources: The Kitchn, Imaginacres, Mint