Making your own fresh butter probably sounds pretty intimidating but it is one of the simplest things you can make at home. It is literally only one ingredient. Heavy cream.
What Do I Need To Make Homemade Butter?
Heavy cream and a stand mixer are the only essentials needed to make butter. You can add salt if you like salted butter, or any other seasonings to make a compound butter but those are not necessary. If you like compound butter, try my recipe that I use on my Roasted Chicken.
You can use this fresh unsalted butter on biscuits or focaccia bread as well. Its delicious anywhere you would use store bought butter.
Process For Making Fresh Butter
- The first thing you want to do when making fresh butter is to set your heavy cream out to come to room temperature. If you start with cold cream, it will take a lot longer to separate.
- Pour your cream into the bowl of a stand mixer and start on low speed. Gradually work up to medium high so that it doesn’t splash everywhere. You want to start off making whipped cream.
Continue whipping on high speed for several minutes. You want to get past the whipped cream stage to where the butter starts separating from the milk. You will begin to see the butter clumps form and the milk settle to the bottom of the bowl. Cover the mixer if necessary to keep from splattering.
Once you see the butter and the milk separate in the bowl, you can drain the milk to a large bowl using a fine mesh strainer. You now have fresh butter, and buttermilk. You can discard the buttermilk if you won’t use it but it can be used in any recipe that calls for buttermilk such as my Ranch Dressing.
After you have separated the butter from the milk, rinse the butter in cold water to remove any traces of buttermilk left in it. That will help it to stay fresh longer. You can then form the butter into sticks or just put in a jar with a tight fitting lid.