Recipe: Make Your Own Butter

We’re throwing it back to Issue 23 of Peppermint with this lovely recipe for homemade butter, courtesy of cookbook author and blogger Emma Galloway – aka the clever cookie behind My Darling Lemon Thyme. Here’s to buttered everything on those cold winter days!  

As with most things, the quality of your raw ingredients dictates the quality of your end product, so try and get your hands on some fresh local cream if possible. That said, any whipping cream will do. If you don’t have a processor you can always make this in a large glass jar with a marble in it (to aid the beating process), a lid and a whole lot of muscle power to shake the jar for approx. 20 minutes.

Makes 250g + 150ml buttermilk

Ingredients

500ml fresh whipping cream

A good pinch of fine sea salt, if desired

Method
Place cream into a small food processor (I use the little processor attachment from my stick blender). Blend for approximately 1-1 1/2 minutes or until the fat has separated and you’ll see a cloudy liquid in the bottom of the bowl. You may need to stop once or twice to scrape down the sides and help move things around a little to make sure it’s blending evenly. Pour the contents of the blender into a sieve-lined bowl. Using your hands, gently squeeze and knead the butter to extract as much buttermilk as you can (reserve this for another use, it will keep in a glass jar in the fridge for up to 3 days or frozen for longer). Fill a bowl with fresh cold water and place the blob of butter into it. Knead and squeeze the butter some more in the water to remove all traces of buttermilk from it. Drain and repeat again, until the water stays clear. Drain well.

You can place the blob of butter into a cloth and squeeze it to remove any traces of water, or just do as I do and knead it in your hands a little more until you no longer see or feel little pockets of water. If you’d like to add a little salt, you can do so now, to taste. Or flavour with whatever else you like if you’re feeling fancy. Store in an airtight container in the fridge or portion into small blocks and freeze in zip-lock bags for later use.

Will keep in the fridge for 5-7 days, or frozen for longer.

WORDS AND PHOTOS BY EMMA GALLOWAY