Homemade Butter Recipe

We made homemade butter! We got some fresh milk while visiting my brother-in-law and his 2 children in NC (photos and trip details to come) and I couldn't wait to try making butter. I've always heard it was really easy but hadn't done it since I was a child and I couldn't remember anything other than having a blast shaking the jar around.Here's how we did it:

I skimmed the cream off the top and put it in a bowl. Katerina, a friend of ours who makes butter often, said to let it sit for about 6 hours. However, I didn't have a chance to get to it until it sat for about 10 hours and it was fine.

Then, using a funnel, I poured it into a large applesauce jar. Katerina uses a food processor which makes the process much faster but I didn't have one so I did it the old fashioned way. You want to make sure your jar is only 1/4 to halfway full so there is room inside to shake it around. Otherwise you'll make the shaking part much more difficult.Now shake, shake, shake until you see butter forming. This took about 20-30 minutes. Ace had fun shaking it up! We were in the car for this part. :) I really wanted that butter!

You'll notice yellow lumps developing and gradually increasing in size until it looks like this. The butter is on top and the buttermilk is on the bottom.

Then separate the butter using a strainer and a bowl to catch the buttermilk. Rinse the butter in COLD water (if it's warm your butter will melt), pressing it with a spatula to remove excess buttermilk. Then add salt if desired and spoon into an airtight container and refrigerate.It really looks like ice cream doesn't it? It smells delicious! The boys love it, even Ace who normally won't touch butter.Easy peasy!!