A few years ago we started the tradition of making our own butter on Thanksgiving Day. I pulled the idea from a Family Fun magazine and thought it would be a great way to include the kids in the cooking and to have some fun. Here goes.
You will need:
- whipping cream
- a clean plastic jar with tight-fitting lid -- we use an empty peanut butter jar that has been cleaned out
- 2 marbles
Fill the jar half-way with whipping cream. I should note that the PB jar we use is the small kind. I don't think you want to use anything too big -- your arms are going to get really tired if you do.
Start shaking! This is where the kids & their endless supply of energy comes in. But their limited attention spans and puny arms usually leads to this . . .
So you're going to shake and shake and shake and eventually you'll stop hearing the marbles clink against the side of the jar, it will feel heavy and thick and you'll think you're done. Not so. If you open it up and it looks like this
. . . you've reached what we like to call "the wall". And you know what to do when you reach the wall? Keep on going. Soon you'll feel a more solid, heavy mass and might even hear the marbles clinking again. When it looks like this
You're done! Doesn't it look yummy? Now you need to drain the liquid from the butter.
I like to use my handy dandy little tuna fish can press/strainer. It helps to use a spatula and really squeeze the excess liquid out. Oh, and make sure you fish out the marbles. Put it in a dish and wha-la
Amazing, delicious, homemade butter for your Thanksgiving dinner table!
note: We usually go through this process 3 times to get all the butter we want for dinner.