Homemade BUTTER!

A friend of mine (Nikki) and I braved making butter. It looked so simple. How hard could it be?

Homemade Butter
Ingredients:
Cream (heavy whipping cream or whipping cream...we tried both) (1 pint makes about 1 1/2 sticks)
salt (optional)

Directions:
Use a KA Mixer with paddle attachment and set on medium high setting for about 15-20 minutes. The cream will get frothy, then almost look whipped..this part of the process takes the longest...then in the last 2-3 minutes it will clump up and turn yellow as the buttermilk sloshes around the bottom. This last part happens amazingly fast and within a few seconds you have a yellow ball of butter rolling around.

Take the butter out and run it under cold water while kneading out any extra buttermilk. At this point add your salt and knead into the butter. Place in wax paper or tupperware.

You will get about a 1/2 cup of buttermilk out of it that can be used in biscuits etc.

I am amazed at how easy this was. Is it cost effective..probably not. We figured up the price and its cheaper to buy it in the store. HOWEVER, if you want to go organic and/or local, and price isn't an issue, than you can buy cream locally and its a little cheaper than buying butter locally from what I've seen. I think its worth knowing how to do it and a good idea for flavored butters for parties/gifts etc. Everyone should try it and it gives you an appreciation for how are foods we take for granted are produced and how much work it would take to do this the old fashioned way...I can't even imagine churning butter!