Making homemade butter is quick, easy and fun. This simple recipe will have you making your own in minutes.
I recently visited The River Cottage and one of the highlights was making my own butter in the cookery school. It’s something I’ve had on my list to try for a long time, I just hadn’t got around to it (there are a lot of things on my list like that!).
It turns out that making your own butter is really easy, you simply over whip double cream until it has separated, squeeze out the excess liquid, season and pop it into the fridge.
Since I got back and told my son (who’s 5) that I’d been making butter he’s been asking to make it with me. However, he’s not a fan of my (sensible) way of making it. When I told him I’d been making butter he asked how I had done it. He then happily announced that he knew another way – if you put milk (he meant cream) into a jar and run around then it’ll turn to butter. I asked where he’d learnt it expecting it was something they’d shown him at school, only to be told that he’d learnt it from Thomas the Tank Engine!
We haven’t tested out his way yet (it sounds like much harder work than using the mixer) maybe we’ll try it out over half term next week.
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Quick and Easy Homemade Butter
INGREDIENTS
- 300 ml Double cream - you can use as much or as little as you'd like
- A pinch of salt - optional for if you want to make salted butter
- Iced water - optional for if you want to prolong the life of the butter.
INSTRUCTIONS
- Whip the cream on high speed until you form butter (you’ll know this has happened as you’ll see quite a lot of liquid in the bottom of the bowl). Add salt if you wish to make salted butter.
- Using a spatula or a wooden spoon keep mixing by hand to squeeze any excess buttermilk from the butter.
- Remove the butter from the bowl a lump at a time and give it a quick squeeze with your hands, before setting aside.
- If you want to prolong the life of the butter, dip it into a bowl of iced water to rinse of any leftover buttermilk. Pat dry with clean kitchen paper.
- Form the butter into a lump (in whatever shape you fancy) and refrigerate until you want to use it.
NOTES
Any nutritional information provided is the estimated nutritional information per serving. Please refer to my guide to Charlotte’s Lively Kitchen nutritional information if you would like to learn more about how this is calculated.
There are loads of uses for the buttermilk squeezed out of the butter. Here’s a few ideas…
Free From/Suitable For…
The ingredients I used to make this recipe are all free from the following allergens. However, please check any labels carefully for allergens you need to avoid as brands can vary and product recipes can change over time.
- Suitable for Vegetarians
- Gluten-Free
- Egg-Free
- Tree Nut-Free
- Peanut-Free
- Sesame-Free
- Soya-Free
- Sulphur Dioxide & Sulphite-Free
- Fish-Free
- Crustacean-Free
- Mollusc-Free
- Celery-Free
- Mustard-Free
- Lupin-Free
Renee says
ok so I just tried this today, I had to use heavy cream instead of what the recipe called for, there was no liquid in it and it didn’t turn yellow. it was frothy looking, I did dip it in ice water and squeezed out all the water. it looks kinda white but it does taste like butter. what did I do wrong
Cariosa says
tried to make butter from double cream, beat it into a crumble, it wouldn’t separate so no whey came out. beat it throughly but still no whey. what have I done wrong.
Charlie says
Hello,
You don’t specify what you use to whip the cream. I have a kenwood chef, with K-beater, balloon whisk & dough hook attachments. Which one would be best to use? Thank you.
Charlotte Oates says
I’d recommend the balloon whisk
Ash says
Hi I’m currently trying this out, I have used double cream and been using a hand whisk for about 10 mins, I’ve gone from pouring consistency to think cream back to pouring consistency?