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Simple Steps: How To Make Butter In A Kitchenaid Mixer
You can make butter in a Kitchenaid mixer by whipping heavy cream until the fat separates from the liquid. This simple process turns rich, cold liquid into creamy, solid butter and tangy buttermilk using just one main ingredient: heavy whipping cream. A Kitchenaid stand mixer makes this job easy and quick.
Making your own butter at home is a rewarding project. It gives you control over what goes into your food. You can make butter that is fresh and free from added ingredients found in some store-bought types. Plus, the taste of homemade butter recipe is often better than what you buy. Let’s walk through how to do this step by step.
Why Make Butter at Home?
There are many good reasons to make butter yourself.
* Great Taste: Fresh butter often has a richer flavor.
* Know Your Food: You control the ingredients. Only cream and maybe salt.
* Use Leftovers: Have cream that is close to its date? Turn it into butter!
* Fun Project: It’s cool to see cream turn into butter. Kids love to watch.
* You Get Buttermilk Too: The process makes real buttermilk, great for baking.
What You Need to Make Butter
Making butter needs only a few simple things. Most you might have in your kitchen now.
Ingredients
- Heavy Whipping Cream: This is the key ingredient. You need real cream with a high fat content, at least 30%. Look for “heavy cream” or “heavy whipping cream” on the carton. About 1 quart (4 cups) of cream usually makes about 1 pound of butter and 2 cups of buttermilk. Use cold cream. Very cold cream works best.
Tools
- Kitchenaid Stand Mixer: This machine does the hard work. It whips the cream fast.
- Whisk Attachment: This is the wire balloon-shaped tool that comes with your mixer. It puts air into the cream.
- Splash Guard: This often comes with the mixer. It fits over the bowl to stop splashes. Making butter can get messy!
- Large Bowl: You will need a bowl to pour off the buttermilk.
- Spatula: For scraping the sides of the bowl and mixing the butter.
- Fine-Mesh Sieve or Cheesecloth: To strain the buttermilk from the butter pieces.
- Cold Water: Lots of very cold water. You might need ice cubes to make an ice bath.
- Containers: One for your finished butter, one for the buttermilk.
Getting Ready to Make Butter
Good planning makes the job easier. Make sure your cream and tools are cold.
Chill Everything Down
The best cream for butter making is cold. Really cold.
* Keep your heavy whipping cream in the fridge until you are ready.
* Some people put the mixer bowl and whisk attachment in the freezer for 15-20 minutes before starting. This helps keep everything cold.
Set Up Your Mixer
Attach the bowl to your Kitchenaid stand mixer. Put the whisk attachment on. If you have a splash guard, put it on now. This step is important to keep your kitchen clean when you whip cream into butter.
Watching Cream Turn into Butter: The Stages
Making butter is like a magic trick you do with cream. It goes through different looks as it whips. These are the stages of butter making. It starts as liquid and ends as a solid.
Stage 1: Liquid Cream
You pour the cold, liquid cream into the mixer bowl. It just looks like thick milk at this point.
Stage 2: Soft Peaks
Start the mixer on medium speed (like speed 4 to 6 on a Kitchenaid). The cream will start to thicken. It gets foamy. Then it gets thick like yogurt. Soft peaks form when you lift the whisk. The peaks fall over. This is the start of whipped cream.
Stage 3: Stiff Peaks
Keep whipping. The cream gets thicker and thicker. Stiff peaks form. They stand up straight when you lift the whisk. This is perfect whipped cream. If you stop here and add sugar, you have dessert topping! But we are making butter, so keep going.
Stage 4: Thick and Grainy
As you whip past stiff peaks, the texture changes. The cream starts to look less smooth. It might look a little lumpy or grainy, like ricotta cheese or cottage cheese. The color might turn a little yellow. This is where the fat is clumping together. The mixer might sound different, maybe like it is working harder. This is a key point before the big change happens.
Stage 5: Separation!
Keep the mixer running. After the grainy stage, suddenly, you will see liquid splashing around the whisk. This is the buttermilk separation. The solid yellow clumps of butterfat are coming together into one or two big lumps. The liquid is the buttermilk. This stage happens quite fast after the grainy stage. You will see the solid butter pulling away from the sides of the bowl. The splashing means the liquid and solid have split.
How Long Does It Take?
How long to churn butter can change. It depends on how much cream you use, how cold it is, and the speed of your mixer. Usually, it takes between 5 and 15 minutes from when you start the mixer until the buttermilk separates. Don’t stop the mixer until the butter has clearly separated into a solid mass and a liquid.
Getting the Buttermilk Out
Once the butter has separated from the buttermilk, you need to get the liquid out.
Pour Off the Buttermilk
Stop your Kitchenaid stand mixer. Lift the whisk attachment out, letting the butter mass stay in the bowl as much as possible. Use a spatula to help if needed. Carefully pour the liquid buttermilk into a different container. You can put a fine-mesh sieve or cheesecloth over the container first to catch any small bits of butter that might pour out. This liquid is real buttermilk! Save it for baking or drinking.
Cleaning the Butter: Washing Steps
This next step is very important for good, long-lasting homemade butter. You must wash the butter. This removes any leftover buttermilk caught inside the butter. If you don’t wash it well, the small bits of milk solids will spoil quickly. This will make your butter go bad fast and taste sour. Washing homemade butter pushes the extra liquid out.
Using Cold Water
Get a bowl and fill it with very cold water. You can add ice to make it super cold. Put the mass of butter into this bowl of ice water.
Kneading the Butter
Use your clean hands or a spatula to press and knead the butter under the cold water. You will see the water turn cloudy or milky. This is the buttermilk coming out. Squeeze the butter, fold it over, and press it down.
Change the Water
Pour off the cloudy water. Fill the bowl with fresh, cold water. Knead the butter again. The water will turn cloudy again. Keep doing this step. Pour off the cloudy water and add fresh, cold water. Repeat kneading and changing water.
How Many Times to Wash?
You need to wash the butter until the water stays clear. This usually takes 3 to 5 changes of water, sometimes more. When the water is completely clear after kneading, you have washed all the buttermilk out. This is a crucial part of the homemade butter recipe for good results.
Adding Salt (Optional)
Once the butter is washed, you can add salt if you like. Salt adds flavor and helps the butter last a little longer.
How Much Salt?
For about 1 pound of butter, start with about 1/2 teaspoon of fine salt. You can add more or less based on your taste. Fine salt mixes in better than coarse salt.
Mix in the Salt
Put the washed butter back into the clean mixer bowl, or mix in a separate bowl. Add the salt. Use a spatula or clean hands to knead the salt into the butter until it is mixed evenly. You can also use the paddle attachment on your Kitchenaid stand mixer on a very low speed for just a few seconds to mix the salt, but be careful not to overmix.
Shaping and Keeping Your Butter
Now your butter is ready to be shaped and put away. This is the storing homemade butter step.
Shape the Butter
You can shape the butter into a block, a log, or put it into small containers.
* Block: Line a small dish or container with plastic wrap. Press the butter firmly into it.
* Log: Put the butter on a piece of wax paper or parchment paper. Roll it up into a log shape. Twist the ends of the paper.
Push out any air pockets as you shape it. Make it smooth and solid.
How to Store Homemade Butter
How you store it depends on when you plan to use it.
* Refrigerator: Keep butter in an airtight container or wrapped tightly in the fridge. It will stay fresh for about 1-2 weeks.
* Freezer: For longer storage, wrap the butter very tightly in plastic wrap, then aluminum foil, or put it in a freezer-safe container. Frozen butter can last for several months (up to 6-9 months). Thaw it in the fridge before using.
What About the Buttermilk?
Don’t throw away the liquid you poured off! That is real, old-fashioned buttermilk. It is tangy and thinner than the cultured buttermilk you buy in stores.
Uses for Real Buttermilk
- Baking: It’s wonderful in pancakes, biscuits, scones, and cakes. The acid helps make baked goods light and fluffy.
- Dressings: Use it in salad dressings.
- Drinking: Some people like the tangy taste plain or in smoothies.
Store the buttermilk in a covered container in the fridge. Use it within a week or two.
Getting the Best Results: Tips and Tricks
Making butter is simple, but a few things can help you get it right every time.
Use Very Cold Cream
This is the most important tip. Warm cream will take a long time to whip and may not separate well. Cream straight from the fridge is good. Some people even chill the mixer bowl and whisk.
Don’t Overfill
Do not fill your mixer bowl more than halfway with cream. If you use too much, it will splash everywhere, even with a splash guard. The mixer also works better with less cream at a time.
Be Patient, But Watch Closely
The first few stages of whipping cream happen slowly. But the last stage, the separation, happens fast. Watch closely once the cream gets thick and yellow. Stop the mixer as soon as the butter mass forms and liquid separates. If you keep mixing too long after separation, you can break the butterfat down too much.
Clean Your Mixer Quickly
Butterfat can be sticky. Clean your mixer bowl, whisk, and splash guard right after you are done. Warm, soapy water works best.
Washing is Key to Shelf Life
We already talked about this, but it’s worth saying again. Taking the time to wash all the buttermilk out is critical for your butter to last longer than a few days in the fridge. Keep washing until the water is clear.
A Quick Summary of the Process
Here is the basic flow for your homemade butter recipe using your Kitchenaid stand mixer:
- Pour cold heavy whipping cream into the cold mixer bowl.
- Attach the whisk and splash guard.
- Start the mixer on medium speed.
- Watch the stages of butter making: liquid -> soft peaks -> stiff peaks -> grainy -> separation (liquid and solid split). This is where you whip cream into butter and the buttermilk separation happens.
- Stop the mixer as soon as the butterfat clumps together and liquid separates.
- Carefully pour off the buttermilk into a container.
- Gather the butter mass.
- Put the butter into a bowl of very cold water.
- Knead and press the butter under the water. Pour off the milky water. Repeat with fresh cold water until the water is clear. This is washing homemade butter.
- If you want salted butter, mix salt into the washed butter.
- Shape the butter.
- Use a good method for storing homemade butter (fridge or freezer).
This whole process, from start to finish, including washing, usually takes about 20-30 minutes. The actual making butter with stand mixer (whipping the cream) is just a small part of that time.
Table of Butter Stages
| Stage | What It Looks Like | What Is Happening | Time Frame (Rough) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Liquid | Thin, white liquid | Just poured cream | Start |
| 2. Soft Peaks | Thicker, holds shape loosely | Air is mixed in, starts to thicken | 1-3 minutes |
| 3. Stiff Peaks | Thick, holds shape firmly | Fully whipped cream, lots of air | 3-5 minutes |
| 4. Grainy | Looks lumpy or curdled, slightly yellow | Fat molecules clumping together, pushing out water | 5-8 minutes |
| 5. Separation | Solid yellow mass in liquid | Buttermilk separation is happening, butter forms | 8-15 minutes |
| 6. Washed Butter | Solid yellow mass, less liquidy | Buttermilk is squeezed out with cold water | After whipping |
Note: Times are approximate and vary based on conditions.
Frequently Asked Questions
Here are answers to common questions about making butter with stand mixer.
h4 Can I use light cream or half-and-half?
No. You need cream with a high fat content, like heavy whipping cream. Light cream or half-and-half do not have enough fat to turn into butter. They will just whip up a little and then stay liquid.
h4 What if my cream isn’t turning into butter?
- Is it cold enough? Warm cream takes much longer or may not work. Put the cream, bowl, and whisk in the fridge or freezer for a while.
- Are you using the right type of cream? Make sure it’s heavy cream.
- Are you whipping long enough? Keep whipping after the stiff peaks stage. It can take a few minutes to get to the grainy stage and then separation. Watch for the sudden splash of liquid.
h4 Why do I have to wash the butter?
Washing removes trapped buttermilk. Buttermilk contains milk solids that spoil quickly. If you leave them in the butter, your homemade butter will go bad fast and get a sour taste. Washing homemade butter helps it last longer.
h4 How long does homemade butter last?
Washed and salted homemade butter lasts about 1-2 weeks in the refrigerator. Unsalted butter lasts a bit less, maybe a week. For longer storage, wrap it well and freeze it for up to 6-9 months.
h4 Can I make butter by hand?
Yes, but it is much harder and takes a lot longer. You can shake cream in a jar or use a whisk and bowl. A Kitchenaid stand mixer makes the whip cream into butter step very easy compared to doing it by hand.
h4 How much butter does cream make?
Usually, 1 quart (4 cups or about 950ml) of heavy whipping cream makes about 1 pound (450g) of butter and about 2 cups of buttermilk. The exact amount can vary a little.
h4 Can I use cultured heavy cream?
Cultured heavy cream is cream with added bacteria, like cultured buttermilk. It can also be churned into butter, but it will have a different, tangy flavor. Most people use plain, pasteurized heavy whipping cream for a standard sweet cream butter taste.
Finishing Up
Making butter with your Kitchenaid stand mixer is a simple, fun kitchen project. All it takes is one ingredient, your mixer, and a little time. You get delicious homemade butter recipe and useful buttermilk. The process is clear through its stages of butter making, from whipping cream to buttermilk separation and finally washing homemade butter. Now you know how long to churn butter (or at least what to look for!) and the best way of storing homemade butter. Give it a try! Enjoy your fresh, homemade butter on toast, in baking, or anywhere you use butter.