• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Recipe Index
  • FAQ
  • About
  • Cookbooks

All Day I Dream About Food

menu icon
go to homepage
  • Recipe Index
  • FAQ
  • About
  • Cookbooks
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • RSS
    • Twitter
  • search icon
    Homepage link
    • Recipe Index
    • FAQ
    • About
    • Cookbooks
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • RSS
    • Twitter
  • ×

    Home » Gluten Free » Homemade Butter

    Published: Aug 15, 2012 · Modified: May 12, 2018 by Carolyn

    Homemade Butter

    This post may contain Amazon or other affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

    714 shares
    Jump to Recipe Print Recipe

    A little while ago, when I was gloating about my fantastic lipids profile, I promised you a recipe for homemade butter.  Butter has long been one of my favourite foods, and it’s a trait I come by honestly, as my mother would say.  My dear, perpetually fit and slender mother has a boundless love of the creamy yellow stuff.  We used to tease her mercilessly about the way she would slab huge amounts of butter on her crackers and bread.  Even though I loved butter myself, I was slightly horrified, having bought the standard nutritional advice about saturated fats hook line and sinker.   Oh how times have changed.  I’ve had to eat my words…which, quite frankly, I don’t really mind because as long as those words are covered in huge slabs of butter, they taste great.

    As a low carber who has a completely new take on nutrition, I feel free to eat butter with abandon.  But I do worry some about all of the chemicals and hormones in standard storebought butter, as many toxins taken in by animals store primarily in the fatty tissues.  So I make an effort to use organic, and when I can get my hands on it, grass-fed butter.  Now that stuff tastes like heaven!

    But the idea of making my own butter started when I received a cookbook I’d won on another blog, The Whole Family Cookbook.  It’s a cookbook devoted to whole foods for kids, and it employs a lot of fun ideas for kids to help out in the kitchen.  The cookbook ended up buried under a mountain of other books and magazines on my bedside table, but the idea of making butter stayed with me.  And when I finally made it out to a creamery that sells un-homogenized whole cream (pasteurized still, but none of the fillers that keep it from separating), I bought a half-gallon with the specific idea of making my own butter.

    There are a number of ways you can beat your cream into butter that don’t involve having an old-fashioned butter churn (remember those things?  The sort of wooden barrel with a handle that you inevitably see in places like Colonial Williamsburg or Black Creek Pioneer Village!).  I know you could probably do it in a stand mixer or a food processor.  But I decided to have fun with it and do it the way the kids’ cookbook suggested, which was simply to pour some cream in a jar, put on the lid, and shake the heck out of it for 20 minutes or so.  Turned out to be great exercise for my arms, too!  I tried to get the kids involved, but they are a little young for being able to sustain that kind of constant shaking motion for very long.

    I’ve now made my own butter several times and it’s absolutely heavenly.  Freshly churned butter has no equal.  I’ve learned a few things along the way, so here are a few quick tips to help you out:

    • Don’t fill the jar more than half full.  The cream needs room to whip and expand and take on air and it can’t do that if you fill the jar to the brim.
    • You will be able to tell when you’ve got whipped cream, because suddenly the cream is no longer sloshing around in the jar.  Keep shaking after that if you want butter.
    Almost there! It’s now clotted cream. Keep shaking a bit longer.
    • You will be able to tell when the butter is starting to form, because the buttermilk comes out of the cream and starts sloshing around again.  Keep shaking for a bit longer to really bring the butter together and get out all the buttermilk.  Once you have one smooth lump of butter in the bottom, you’re done.
    It’s smoother now. Looks good but keep shaking a little bit more.
    • If you like salted butter (I do), a little pinch of salt will be enough.  And don’t bother drinking the buttermilk if you salt the butter…it gets REALLY salty and tastes awful.
    There you go. That’s butter at the bottom, surrounded by buttermilk.
    • Consider adding some fresh chopped herbs to the freshly churned butter…the butter is really soft when it’s first formed, and you can stir in anything you want very easily (I did one version with cilantro).  It will harden when you put it in the fridge.
    • The more cream you put in the jar, the longer it will take to become butter.

    Homemade Butter

    All you need is a large mason jar for creamy, delicious homemade butter!
    No ratings yet
    Print Pin Rate
    Course: Side Dish
    Cuisine: Snack
    Prep Time: 30 minutes
    Total Time: 30 minutes

    Ingredients

    • ½ to 1 cup whole cream preferably non-homogenized, but if that's not available, just be sure it has no fillers like carageenan
    • Pinch salt if desired
    • 1 tablespoon fresh chopped herbs to add at the end if desired.

    Instructions

    • Pour cream into a clean jar with a tight lid (for ½ cup, use a half-pint jar, but for any more cream, use a larger jar)
    • Add salt, if using.
    • Seal the jar and shake the heck out of it until it stops sloshing (has become whipped cream).
    • Keep shaking until it starts sloshing again (buttermilk has come out of the cream).
    • Keep shaking a bit more until the butter is one smooth lump at the bottom.
    • Pour off buttermilk.
    • Add any herbs and stir.

     

    714 shares

    free email series

    Secrets to Keto Baking

    Tips and tricks to delicious and healthy recipes!


    Nutritional Disclaimer

    Please note that I am not a medical or nutritional professional. I am simply recounting and sharing my own experiences on this blog. Nothing I express here should be taken as medical advice and you should consult with your doctor before starting any diet or exercise program. I provide nutritional information for my recipes simply as a courtesy to my readers. It is calculated using MacGourmet software and I remove erythritol from the final carb count and net carb count, as it does not affect my own blood glucose levels. I do my best to be as accurate as possible but you should independently calculate nutritional information on your own before relying on them. I expressly disclaim any and all liability of any kind with respect to any act or omission wholly or in part in reliance on anything contained in this website.

    Reader Interactions

    We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

    Comments

      Leave a Reply Cancel reply

      Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

      Recipe Rating




    1. Linda Parsons says

      August 12, 2013 at 2:59 pm

      Lisa, this may sound like a stupid question but what is whole cream and where can you get it? I assume this isn’t heavy whipping cream is it? Do you have to go to a dairy to get it?

      Reply
      • Carolyn says

        August 12, 2013 at 5:06 pm

        Yup, heavy cream, whipping cream, whole cream…35% milk fat. All pretty much the same thing.

        Reply
    2. Surabaya Lisa says

      March 29, 2013 at 8:06 am

      As a teacher who makes butter in jars with her young students….I have found that putting a clean marble or two in the cream jar adds extra friction so the butter forms quickly. Also, when the marble no longer makes noise you know when you can stop shaking the jar! With really little kids we all sit on the floor and roll the jars to each other. Again, the marbles help with the friction, so it doesn’t take very long at all! Great recipe! Yippee for butter! 🙂

      Reply
    3. Russell at Chasing Delicious says

      August 27, 2012 at 1:55 pm

      Cool! I am so trying this!

      Reply
    4. Barbara | Creative Culinary says

      August 19, 2012 at 11:11 am

      Wow…I haven’t done this since my kids were young and we did a school project…that needs to change!

      Reply
    5. Nancy says

      August 18, 2012 at 7:26 pm

      To speed up the process using a jar, throw in couple marbles. We had a jar and marbles we used exclusively for butter making. Now that kids are older, I just do it in the Kitchenaid. Also I pour the buttermilk off before I add salt. That way I can use the buttermilk too.

      Reply
      • Carolyn says

        August 20, 2012 at 6:11 am

        Marble! Brilliant!

        Reply
    6. CJ at Food Stories says

      August 17, 2012 at 5:51 pm

      I love this. Honestly, never even thought of making my own but why not … Happy Friday 🙂

      Reply
    7. Sylvie @ Gourmande in the Kitchen says

      August 17, 2012 at 3:50 pm

      I’m all about enjoying real good for you butter and homemade is the best kind!

      Reply
    8. Joy says

      August 17, 2012 at 12:56 am

      I love that you shake it. I never would think it would work.

      Reply
    « Older Comments

    Primary Sidebar

    FREE Secrets to Keto Baking

    Tips and tricks to delicious and healthy recipes!

    NEW E-COOKBOOK!
    The cover of Easy Dairy-Free Keto Desserts ebook.

    Carolyn Portrait

    Looking for the best low carb recipes? You’ve come to the right place! I’m Carolyn, a major carnivore and an unrepentant sweet tooth. Here you will find all you need to enjoy the low carb keto lifestyle to the fullest! Read more

    COPYRIGHT © 2023 · ALL DAY I DREAM ABOUT FOOD · DISCLOSURE POLICY · PRIVACY POLICY

    Copyright© 2023