Making Butter

The girls and I have decided to expand our blog to include some of the other fun, crazy and silly things that we do in between our adventures with chickens. Or our hopefully, soon-to-be, possible adventures with chickens:)

So the other day the girls and I thought that we would experiment and make some butter. I had come across a simple recipe using a Kitchen Aid mixer that I thought would be easy enough for the girls to help with.

McKayla starting the mixer

 

 

Our adventure began when I went to the grocery store to purchase the 'heavy cream' that my recipe called for. I had never seen heavy cream in a grocery store so I did a quick bit of research and came to the conclusion that I probably would only find the standard whipping cream (35% fat) and not be able to find 'heavy cream' which should have a fat content in and around 38-40%. (If anyone knows where I can find 'heavy cream' please let me know)  So I purchased the whipping cream along with my other groceries the night before the girls and I intended to make the butter. The next afternoon we go to make the butter and begin frantically looking through the fridge, van (which was with Josh at work) and the cupboards because I can not find the cream for the life of me. I have of course managed to forget the cream at the grocery store and must now go back and ask if they remember me and the fact that I have left my cream there. I really don't want to drag (insert: get dressed, brush hair, bribe) the children to go to the grocery store so I asked told Josh to do it the next day which happened to be his day off. Luckily we live in a small town so they know us and the fact that we tend to forget a lot of things at the checkout counters at various stores all over Smithville (and sometimes Grimsby, St. Catharines, Hamilton...well you get the picture) The next day comes and we finally begin to make the butter, which now has the feel of a major project. Good thing it turned out to be super easy!

Whipping the cream

Starting to make curds

Curds are starting to stick together!

Added a little lemon dilly spice and voila! Butter!

It actually turned out pretty good and only took about 15 to 20 minutes. A little watery but I just drained it off and we patted it into shape. The kids loved the taste, although Josh found it a little bland. I think using heavy cream would really make a difference in giving it a creamier texture. Also it turns out that the 'water' I found left over is actually buttermilk! Who knew? I just dumped it out but next time I will probably use it for pancakes topped with our homemade butter! It doesn't have the same thickness of regular buttermilk but is still great to use for cooking and baking.

Final conclusions: Even after waiting the extra day and the hassle of going back to the grocery store it was an easy and fun activity to make with the kids. We will definitely be doing it again.

Here is the website where I got the original idea from:
http://organicgardening.com/blogs/thegreenearthgirl/2011/04/05/a-butter-tale-part-1/

I just found this one today and will make sure to use some of their ideas:
http://www.organicgardening.com/cook/homemade-butter