The Stand Mixer makes batters, doughs and other recipes like homemade marshmallows a breeze. It also has some uses you may not have thought about. Keep reading and I’ll show you how to make butter with your stand mixer.
Why you should learn to make butter?
Learning to make butter with your stand mixer is easy. If you can turn on your mixer and have played with PlayDoh you can make butter.
It’s a one or two ingredient recipe. It’s Heavy Cream and Salt, which is optional. That’s it.
You get two ingredients back out of it. Butter and Buttermilk.
It only takes 10 or 15 minutes. Be honest, you waste this much time online every day.
The mixer does the time consuming and tiring work for you.
It’s a conversation starter – This is my favorite reason. Take it to a dinner party for the bread or to a BBQ for the corn on cob. People are going to talk (in a good way) about how neat or cool it is that you made homemade butter.
How to Make Butter
First, attach the whisk to the mixer.
Next, pour one pint of heavy cream into the bowl of your stand mixer.
Now it’s time to turn on the stand mixer and let it do its job.
Begin by starting the mixer on low to get the cream moving then increasing the speed up to high. I cover the mixer almost completely with a kitchen towel to keep the splashing down. The liquids will splash everywhere and you don’t want heavy cream all over the kitchen.
The first thing you notice is that the mixer whips the cream into whipped cream.
As the cream is continually churned in the mixing bowl, the butter collects on the whisk.
You’ll know is happening because you will begin to hear the liquid in the bowl splash around as more of the butter collects on the whisk.
Now you have 2 very different ingredients – Butter on the whisk and buttermilk** in the bowl.
To finish the butter, you’ll need to “wash” the butter. You’re washing any buttermilk out of the butter that didn’t churn out. The more moisture you can get out of the butter, the longer it will stay fresh.
With clean hands collect all the butter into your hands and use one of these two methods to wash it:
- Put the butter in a bowl of clean, cold water and squeeze the butter around in it like clay. As the water gets cloudy from the remaining buttermilk, change the water out and repeat the process. Do this until the water is clear. Then, remove the butter from the water, and mold it around some more to get as much buttermilk and water out as possible. Liquid remaining in the butter will cause it to spoil faster.
- Run cold water from the tap and mold the butter around continually until the water runs clear. Then mold it around some more to get as much water out as possible. This is the method I use.
After getting the remaining liquid out of the butter add a little bit of salt if you want. Probably around ¼ of a teaspoon. This is totally optional.
**The buttermilk can be used in recipes that call for it like pancakes, biscuits, and ranch dressing. Keep refrigerated and use within a week.
That is how to make butter.
How to store your butter
Store your butter in sealed container and refrigerate for a week or two.
Freeze for longer storage.
For Softened Butter
The butter is solid when it’s cold. Spreading it on your bread is impossible. A butter crock is great for always having softened butter. This is a useful and inexpensive kitchen gadget if you want to keep softened butter on your kitchen counter. It keeps air from getting to butter which can cause spoilage. This is the butter crock I have.
A Great Use for Your Fresh Butter
We like to use our homemade butter on popcorn. I love popcorn cooked in a pot on the stove instead of the microwave, but I’m not any good at it. I usually burn the popcorn. NO ONE likes the smell of burnt popcorn.
Instead, I use this stovetop popper and have not burned the popcorn since owning it. It makes perfect popcorn every time. A Tablespoon or two of oil and ½ cup of kernels. Heat over medium-high heat while turning the crank. The popcorn starts popping and once the popping slows down to about 1 or 2 every few seconds it’s done. The lack of unpopped kernels never stops amazing me. There are a few but not many.
Now that you know how to make butter, try it for yourself. It’s a fun activity to make on your own or get the kids to help with.
