Must or Bust : Homemade Butter and Bobby Pins

Okay, okay. I know I just posted a Must or Bust. But I was having a good week and I had to share it with all ya'll.

I am SO beyond excited to share this fella with you. If you dare let your imagination run wild, imagine me doing a happy dance. Then times it by, like, forty-five. THAT'S how siked I am.

Homemade Butter : MUST



{photo source}

I mentioned in an earlier post that I was searching for recipes to use with my stand mixer, and I was willing to try anything. . . including making my own butter. I found this recipe at "Living Well, Spending Less" HERE.

After putting Hannah down for a nap, I got down to business. I ended up keeping my mixer on speed 8 instead of 10 because when it was on speed 10, even a towel couldn't contain the mess. You can probably imagine how heavy whipping cream and a paddle-mixer going at mach-80 made a bit of a mess.

I hunkered down at the kitchen counter with my new library book {yay for Sherlock Holmes!} and kept an eyeball on the cream. I forgot to check the clock, but I would say it was no more than 10-15 minutes before it started to get down to the nitty-gritty.

She mentions that the cream will turn into whipped cream and then start to turn grainy and separate into buttermilk and butter. She also casually mentions that it will start to make an even bigger mess. I had on the splash-guard-thingy and the entire mixer covered with a towel. I created a tiny peek hole in the towel to check the happenings, and from said tiny peek hole came spewing buttermilk and chunks of butter.

Even bigger mess?

Yeah.



Don't be fooled. I thought, "Ohhh, how bad can it be?!". Pretty bad.

I think it only took about 30 seconds after it started flinging stuff all over the place for the butter to reach the point where it clumps to the paddle. It was a long 30 seconds, my friends.

I used a pasta strainer and a large mixing bowl to collect the buttermilk. . . the spatula approach worked pretty good for me. I totally bypassed the grated carrot/cheese cloth approach because, let's face it, I wasn't that gungho. . . and to give you an idea, the coloring without the carrot was just like Land O Lakes butter.


{The butter on the far right is from the store; the butter on the left is homemade.}


People. This was so worthwhile. And surprisingly quick! I was able to get the process started, answer the door for the UPS man, strain the buttermilk, taste test the stuff {hello, YUM}, transfer buttermilk into a mason jar, pick my nose {just kidding!}, do the dishes, clean off the mixer, and type up most of this blog post before Hannah woke up from her nap.

Besides, the quart of whipping cream was less than $4.00 at Smith's and I can tell you that you'll pay a lot more for the same amount of Land O Lakes butter. I know these things because I'm hooked on LOL butter.

Not any more! Broo ha ha!

Just to give you an idea of how much you get, here's a picture:


{That's a 15 oz butter container and a 2 cup measuring cup}


Sweet, huh! Try it. You won't be disappointed!

One word of advice: make sure you clean your stand mixer really well. Just when you think you've wiped him clean, you find more buttermilk. Check EVERYWHERE! :)

. . .

1 carrot (optional)

1/4 c. milk (optional)

1 quart heavy cream

3/4 teaspoon salt

Peel & finely grate a carrot.  Heat in small saucepan with 1/4 cup milk until milk is bubbly.  Use a clean cheesecloth to strain orange-colored milk into the bowl of your stand mixer.  Discard shredded carrot.

 Pour cream into bowl of stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment.  Add salt.  Cover mixer with a towel–trust me on this one, it will be messy!  Turn mixer on high.

Continue mixing, checking on mixture frequently.  It will first turn to whipped cream, then begin to get grainy and separate into butter and buttermilk, and the splashing will get much worse.  The butter is ready when it sticks in a clump to the paddle.

Place a colander over a bowl, then strain the buttermilk off of the butter. 

Using your hands or a spatula, press out excess buttermilk under cold running water until water runs clear.  Shape into stick or ball.  Butter will keep covered in refrigerator for up to 4 weeks. 


{UPDATE! Try adding a little bit of olive oil, too. The butter isn't spreadable once it's cold. 

. . . .

Bobby Pin Holder: Bust


 {photo source}  

I stumbled across this little organizing gem over at "Superwoman" HERE. I don't know if it was just my faulty sticky-back magnet strip, but it wouldn't stick to anything. So, basically, I have a curly strip of magnet hanging out in my drawer with a bunch of bobby pins stuck to it. Sometimes they stay, sometimes they get knocked off by something.

If I could find a magnet with a stickier back, I would definitely try this again. But as it stands right now? Bust.

Sorry, little fella. Good try.

. . .

I hope you guys enjoyed this installment of Must or Bust! Just as a friendly reminder, you can check out the mother-load of Must or Bust entries by clicking the handy little link in the sidebar. Over there. To the right. Toward the top. There you go. Can you believe this makes for #28  ?!? Sheer madness.