How to Make Butter
the Old Fashioned Way

Well almost :-) . No churn.

I put the instructions on how to make butter in the Crafts section of the site because it's more of a fun activity than a recipe, but you do end up with a yummy treat when it's all done. Plus your kids will get jazzed about the fact that were actually able to make butter. And they won't even need a churn to do it. :-)

There are a few different ways to teach your kids how to make butter. I'm going to list the easiest way that requires the fewest supplies.

You will need:

• Heavy Cream or Whipping Cream
• Salt (optional)
• Glass Jar (The larger the jar the more butter you can make, but the longer you will need to shake it.)
• Paper Towels or Cheese Cloth if you happen to have it handy.

1. Pour cream into your jar so that it's 1/3 full.
2. Add salt to taste if you want. Some people find unsalted butter too bland for spreading on breads. A pinch or two usually does the trick depending on how much cream you are using. 1 cup cream will yield about 1/2 cup butter.
3. Screw the cap on tightly then start shaking. This is great for the kids to do. Turn on some music and have them take turns jumping around with it, or have them sit on the floor and roll it to each other. ( You can even put clean marbles in the jar to help with the process.) Just keep it moving until the lumps of butter form. This can take upwards of 30 minutes depending on how much cream you are churning.
4. As you shake the cream will thicken and feel heavier. As the process progresses the butter will separate from the "buttermilk" and the shaking will feel easier again.
5. Once you've got some good clumps of butter unscrew the lid and pour out the buttermilk being careful not to dump out your butter. You can save the buttermilk to use in pancakes, biscuits or waffles.
6. You need to get all the buttermilk out or else the butter will sour quickly so pour very cold water in with your butter and shake it up some more. Pour that out and repeat the process until the water comes out clean.
7. Dump your cool butter onto the paper towel or cheese cloth and press it together kind of drying it off and compacting it. You can use spoons to help shape it, or you can even roll it in plastic. Put it in a container and let it chill in the fridge before using.

Learning how to make butter this way can be a lot of fun for the kids but if you really like the way this tastes and you want to do it again without all the hard work just use your electric mixer, or food processor to achieve the same results without working up a sweat.