We spend a lot of time on TikTok looking for life hacks to better all of our lives. There’s a whole subsect of content creators who film themselves making homemade butter. Homemade, but extremely fancy exotic truffle butter or lavender butter. This got us thinking: There’s got to be a life hack for making butter at home because it seems easy.
That’s why this week’s life hack comes from @brittneeciara whose hack for making delicious butter takes less than nine minutes. Also, before you ask, who knows why you need to make butter? Perhaps it’s to impress a lady. Maybe you’re a foodie who needs to up their butter game. One thing’s certain: Whatever your reason for needing to make butter, this will be the butter-related life hack of your life.
Image: Studio4 (Getty Images)
What You’ll Need
- 2 Cups Heavy Whipping Cream
- Standing Mixer or Jar
- Bowl of Ice Water
- Salt
- Butter Tray
Making butter starts with heavy whipping cream. We recommend organic heavy whipping cream (hereby known as HWC) but any sort of HWC will do, even the one from the dollar store. According to Bon Apetit, HWC must be “agitated,” which is a fancy way of saying, you gotta mix it until the butterfat separates from the liquid (aka buttermilk). The best way to do this is with a standing mixer. Just pour two cups of HWC into the bowl and turn on the machine. Let it do its thing.
However, if you don’t have a mixer, all you need is a jar. Add the HWC to the jar, tighten the lid and start shaking it. It’s a hell of a workout, which you’ll probably need for all the bread and butter you’ll be eating. Once the HWC resembles hard curds in liquid it’s ready. Now, separate the buttermilk from the butterfat by straining it.
@brittneeciara Have you ever tried homemade butter?? Idk if ill ever buy butter again #foodtok #foodvlog #homemadebutter #homemadebuttermilk #easyrecipe #homecooking #homecooked #diycooking ♬ Happy – Ashanti
The next part is an important one. You need to knead the butterfat in ice-cold water. You want to do this to remove every last drop of buttermilk from the butter. Any buttermilk will make your butter taste sour and also go bad quicker. You should massage the butterfat twice. Each time in a fresh bowl of ice water.
Finally, take your butterfat and put it on a chopping block, and add about a 1/4 teaspoon of salt (more or less to taste). Mold that into whatever shape feels right for you, place it on your butter dish or butter crock, and enjoy.
