Just call me Ma Dean!

I undertook something this weekend that I have been planning to do for a while. Weeks ago my mom asked me to look up how to make butter. She use to do it way back in the day but apparently those brain cells have evaporated. So I relied on my old friend Google to give me/her the details. It was as simple as I thought it was going to be. Seriously... simple... with tasty results.

Let the world hear me now... I made Butter! And that butter will land right on my hips after it passes my lips!

To make butter:

1. Add heavy whipping cream to a blender. Let it sit out to room temperature first. Now most recipes call for a pint, I just used the cup that I had leftover from a different recipe.
2. Blend on the lowest/slowest setting you have. Do NOT go to a higher setting or else you will end up with whipped cream. For a while your mixture will look very much like whipped cream, but stay patient. Mine took 10 minutes start to finish. Some websites say half an hour.
3. Scrap down the sides of the pitcher every once in a while. My mixture would thicken up and the blades would make a "bubble" which meant there was a thick outer layer that was not being blended. Enter spatula.
4. At about 10 minutes in my mixture separated into defatted liquid (called buttermilk, not at all like commerically available buttermilk) and THE BUTTER ( which had all the fat, thank goodness!)
5. Drain off the liquid and then I blended a bit more to make sure I was getting out as much liquid as possible.
6. Now at this point you can drain your butter into cheese cloth, squeezing out any excess buttermilk. And then you can rinse the dense butter ball under cold water... but I didn't do either and my butter was still mighty fine butter.
7. Put your new butter in a bowl/crock/container. Wrap in plastic wrap and freeze till you need it.

Seriously, it was easy. Hardest part was ignoring the blender sounds for 10 minutes. I felt a little like Ma Ingle's channeling Paula Dean. I will happily wear that combo hat again!