Recently I wrote about making butter using the simple method of shaking the cream in a jar. Now, let’s talk about how to make butter in a mixer.
Well this week I had an entire half a gallon of cream to turn into butter. I needed to use a different method to accommodate the amount of cream I had on hand. I would definitely need to make butter in a mixer so I used my Kitchen Aid stand mixer to do so.
How to Make Butter in a Mixer
I let the cream set out in jars until it was about 60°F. I poured it into the mixer and turned it on low and slowly turned it up until it was almost sloshing out of the bowl. Usually one would use the bowl cover to guard against making a huge mess. I could not find mine so I just went without it. I also started out with my paddle attachment. I read somewhere that the whisk attachment would break the butter up too much and it would be hard to deal with.
This was not working very well. It took it a long time to get to the “almost whipped cream” stage. I decided that I needed to swap out the paddle for the whisk, so I did. Now we are talking! Again, I started on low and slowly increased speed on my mixer until it was almost making a huge mess. This whipped the cream up in no time. It got to a really nice whipped cream with stiff peaks…… again, very tempting to stop here and make a pie. But I didn’t, I kept it going.
It broke into butter and I stopped the mixer. The whisk did not obliterate the butter like I had read that it would. I strained the buttermilk off of the butter through a large mesh strainer and into a bowl.
I ran the butter under very cold water to rinse out all of the buttermilk. I worked it with my hands under the water until it ran clear.
Next, I placed the butter into a bowl and worked 1 teaspoon of pink Himalayan salt into it with a spatula. I probably should have used 2 teaspoons of salt instead of just 1 teaspoon.
I got 1-1/4 lbs of butter out of half a gallon of cream and had a quart of buttermilk left. Just look at how rich and yellow the butter is. It didn’t last long around here. We sure do love our butter!
That’s all there is to it, that’s how you make butter in a mixer, folks! Now, go slather some fresh, homemade bread in sweet cream butter. Mmmmmm…….
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I do this all the time. But, my butter becomes real hard in the fridge. Do you have the same experience>
Real butter does get hard in the fridge. We have a butter bell that we keep some butter in so it stays soft. http://amzn.to/1PxgoS2
Hello! I just discovered your blog and I’m enjoying so many of your posts. I used to make butter in this way as you described with raw milk from Jersey cows in the US, simply with the buttermilk that settles at the top of the jar. Now I have Brahma cows and I’m in Zimbabwe, and the fresh milk never seems to settle into buttermilk. Should I try blending the milk as is? Note- we typically do not refrigerate the milk- after 2 days at room temp it becomes a gelatinous texture which is enjoyed by locals with a spoonful of sugar. Any ideas or guidance? Thanks!
Where are you getting the cream? Or can it be bought in a store?
I got the cream from my cow but store bought heavy cream works too. 🙂
My mother said that when she was young, they used to buy milk and butter from a dairy. She said that the dairy supplied them with something to color the butter yellow so it would look more normal like the store-bought butter. How do you take white cream and make really yellow butter like in your pictures? Is it just a gel food coloring?
That’s an interesting story. Our butter is yellow because our cow is on lush pasture. Grass fed butter is naturally yellow because of the rich makeup of it. When the butter solids separate from the liquid, they clump together and their yellow color becomes evident. 🙂 No food coloring needed.
They do add Anatto, a natural colorant, to cheese to make it yellow because cheese is naturally white.
Very cool. I didn’t think they fed grain and such back then. I thought they were all grass fed. Now we know they are not all grass fed, but the best butters and cheese are definitely grass fed. I’m sure we can agree on that. I didn’t know they added color to the cheese too. So weird. I’d eat cheese whether it was white or yellow. Is this “Anatto” a natural product because it really sounds like just another additive we don’t need in our food? We finally got rid of GMOs, do we need to get rid of “Anatto” too?
It’s very interesting to learn about all of this, isn’t it? Annoto is derived from a tropical plant’s seeds. It is considered natural and safe and even has some medicinal benefits. It would only need to be avoided if someone is allergic to it. Here’s an article wit some info on it: https://draxe.com/annatto/
Thanks for sharing this! I would just like to know whether this butter can be stored in a fridge and how long is its storage lifespan.
Yes, it can be stored in the fridge just like store bought butter. It will last longer with salt added to it. 🙂
I can imagine how good this can be. Its better than buying commercially made butter. Thanks for sharing this!
Thank you for sharing this post on how to make butter using a mixer. I really haven’t tried it yet but after reading this, I am so eager to give it a try because you really made it look so easy to make.
I’ve made butter like this before and has turned out amazing. Yet my last batch did not get the butter clumps and is still stuck in the peaks/whipped phase. I tried taking out all the buttermilk and mixing again, but still not able to turn it into butter. Any ideas?
Occasionally, it just won’t break into butter. I really don’t know why but I have had it happen before.