By Nina Nelson
We like to divvy up DIY projects in our house and my husband is usually in charge of the ones that require… patience. Like baking. Or remodeling our bus. He’s also head butter-maker because even though it’s super simple, I tend to get impatient when it comes to the last few steps. It’s good to know your weaknesses, no?
Each week, we get a gallon of raw milk and often have at least a pint of delicious cream to find a use for. There are so many yummy uses for cream and it’s always a toss up between whipped cream and butter. Ok, caramel sauce gets made way too much. But butter wins at least a few times a month.
We’ve tried a few butter making methods in our house and our favorite is to make it in our heavy-duty blender. It takes the least amount of time and it’s easier to pour out the buttermilk without making a huge mess (another reason why my husband makes the butter instead of me).
Ready to make some butter?
Homemade Butter in a Blender
All you need is cream to make butter. But in our house, salted butter is a must, unless we’re using that butter for baking. So really, you need cream and sea salt. Simple.
Ingredients & Supplies
You’ll also want a few simple supplies. Here’s the whole list so you can gather everything:
- 1 pint cream (or more – just don’t overflow your blender)
- 1-3 teaspoons real sea salt, to taste (find unrefined sea salt here)
- blender
- wooden spoon
- scraper
- ice cold water
- pint canning jar
- butter crock or butter dish
Directions
- Pour the cream into the blender and make sure the lid is secure. Blend. After about five minutes you’ll see the butter separate from the buttermilk. The butter will look like little yellow flakes. Let it sit for a few minutes before you pour off the buttermilk so everything can separate (see – patience).
- Pour the buttermilk into your canning jar. Use the wooden spoon to hold back the butter as you pour so you don’t end up splashing yourself with buttermilk when a big clump of butter falls in the jar. You’ll also use the spoon to press out as much of the buttermilk as possible.
- Now, add some cold water to your blender (just enough to cover the butter) and return blender to the base. Cover with lid and blend the butter for about 30 seconds. Pour out the last bits of buttermilk and squeeze the butter with the back of your spoon.
- Repeat one more time. This last time, we pour the water into the sink. We mainly want to make sure the water comes out clear so we know there’s no more buttermilk in there.
- Cover your buttermilk and refrigerate. Make plans for some yummy buttermilk pancakes.
- Now, add your sea salt to the butter and blend it up so it’s all mixed in. Move your butter to the dish you’ll store it in (be sure to use your scraper so you get it all out!) and spread butter on whatever you can so you can give it a taste.
Congratulations – you made butter!
Helpful tips
After a few butter making sessions, you learn a few tricks that help things go much smoother in the future. Our key lesson was that I shouldn’t make butter. Hopefully, you’ll do better than I did.
- Wash butter thoroughly so it lasts longer.
- Use a butter crock for perfectly spreadable butter all the time.
- Omit the salt if you want to use your butter for baking.
- If you want to form your butter, you can put it in cheesecloth to squeeze out any excess water and form it. Use your scraper to get everything off the cloth. Or your butter-loving toddler.
- Butter can also be stored and formed using wax paper.
- Don’t sit on the blender lid that’s covered in butter while your spouse is pouring out the buttermilk…
Do you make your own butter? What method do you use?
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I used pasteurized, organic, grass-fed heavy cream. It very quickly turned to whipped cream, but then stopped moving. I am worried about the blender motor burning up, so I turned it off. It’s just sitting in the blender now – not sure how to proceed. Any thoughts? Is my mistake found in using pasteurized?
At http://www.realmilk.com/real-milk-finder/ , you can look up where you can find real raw milk and other (farm fresh products) listed by states. The list is voluntary, so it may not be 100% complete, but it is a good list just the same.
You can find out where to find raw milk in your state here:
http://www.realmilk.com/
I culture my cream prior to use with a mesophilic yogurt (either Viili or Filmjolk) to add the benefits of fermentation to the food. It takes longer, as this yogurt cultures without heat, at room temperature – about 1 to 2 days to set at room temperature.
But, oh boy, is the wait worth it! The buttermilk is thick and the butter has the smoothest taste EVER!!!
The way I do it I put the cream in a pint jar with paddle on wood and shake it tell i have butter, something to do while watching T.V.
Can I use goats milk to make butter? I tolerate that better than cows milk. Thanks.
I made butter last night in my stand mixer. I used heavy whipping cream from trader joes, which according to the ingredients list doesn’t have preservatives (the creams at the regular grocery store all had preservatives).
In some states it’s illegal to sell raw milk.
Where do I get Raw Milk? Or does Organic Whoe Milk works too?
Live in IA
Thanks
barbara
Be careful of raw milk if you are pregnant. I wouldn’t give it to small children either.
There is no problem with raw milk…for pregnant women or for small children contrary to what the medical establishment (no dairy farmers with first hand experience there) wants to claim. There are actually less cases of illnesscaused by raw milk than with processed milk.
Raw is way healthier and more beneficial to you and your children than the processed milk. They will not get fat; they will not get sick on raw milk. We found that we as a family stay much more healthy when we drink the raw milk…and nobody is getting fat from it as is the other rampant urban myth.
If you have a clean milking area and take care to keep your milk clean, handle it properly and keep your fridge at the correct temp (0*C-4*C), you should have no problems. It is when the milk is dirty or when you keep it too warm for too long a period that you will have health issues.
Does anyone know how long this butter lasts?
Ours lasts quite long, actually, and we don’t rinse it with cold water…ever. The salt will be the preservative. We don’t want to put any outside chemicals that may be in the water (especially tap water) into it.
We have our own raw cream and have not used bought cream for butter (store cream costs more than the store butter here) so I don’t know how long store cream butter might last.
We don’t refrigerate our butter unless it is very warm, and only because don’t want it to melt. If you make a bunch and are concerned about it spoiling, make small amounts or take out only what you need and freeze the rest! Use a chocolate candy mold/mini muffin pan to make pats if you are unsure, and only take out a few each day. They thaw out quickly and look great on a plate.
We do not use the blender. This leaves more butter milk than we want in it. We have used a mixer, jars (of different sizes), butter churns…and my hands. The jars & such work best if the jar/whatever is only 1/3 full. The less cream you do at a time, the faster it turns into butter. If the cream is a bit warmer (the chill just off the cream) it does work better too.
I have actually kneaded cream until it was butter. That was an interesting experience, as I got to feel all of the stages (really tactile, lol) that it goes through. I think I remember 4. It is worth doing at least once just because it is fun to feel the changes. It takes longer, but I enjoyed the feel, and my hands were very soft afterward!
If it does happen to start to sour a touch, you can put it into baking, but we rarely have that problem, even in summer.
Instead of using waxed paper, use parchment paper. It does not get wet and you can still separate your pats and patties of butter. I use this and slip it into medium freezer bags. Best thing that I ever did to store it.
Don’t forget to taste the buttermilk before you add the salt. 😉
If you wish to find raw milk & cream, do a search online. I know that there is a database of farms online. Search “raw milk source, US (or whatever country/state/etc. you are from)” I don’t remember the link offhand, and my connection is slow today…sorry.
I use my KitchenAid mixer.
I’ve also found that it helps to let the cream sit for serveral hours to room temp before mixing. I’ve tried cold, room temp, and warm cream & the room temp cream produces more butter. I usually end up with about 1 cup.
Our favorite way to make butter is as follows:
1. put cream in container
2. seal tightly
3. shake like crazy (this is great for the kids!)
4. listen closely (your total time will likely be around 10 minutes or so – and stopping for breaks doesn’t hurt anything)
5. result: the BEST butter, and buttermilk!
6. this is foolproof 🙂
Thanks so much for this! I’ve always done it in a mason jar by hand which KILLS my arms!! LOL, so I am really excited to try this and hopefully save my arm muscles in the future! 🙂
Can you use whipping cream instead of raw milk? I have no where to get raw mil
yes you may use whipping cream instead of raw milk. That is how I make it using my kitchen aide stand mixer.
I used whipping cream 35% and it whipped like whipping cream, didn’t separate and I ended tossing it 🙁 what went wrong?
You can also just use a mixer!
Can we make butter from cream from the store?
Obviously fresh raw milk would be the number one choice, do you have a post about where the best place to source this would be, other than get your own cow, which would be awesome but unfortunately I can’t get one at the moment :0) (btw, anyone considering this may want to look into ‘mini cows like the dexter – this is what I’d love to do asap)
How about goat milk butter?
One of my goals is to get off of store bought dairy – love that you are sharing this information!!
You can’t make butter with goat’s milk. Well you can, but you still have to add cream. Goat’s milk is low in fat and naturally homogenized, meaning the fat globules are very small and hard to separate from the rest of the milk. You wouldn’t get very much butter without adding cream, witch kind of defeats the purpose.
This is great, but I was wondering if this could be done with a non dairy milk? Thank you.
I don’t think it will work with non dairy milk because there’s not enough fat. I’m trying a vegan recipe from veganbaking.net as soon as I get up the courage. I don’t have a food processor so I’m trying to figure out if it will work in a blender.