I love butter. I want my butter all fat and all full of flavor. Give me real creamy butter or deprive me of it. I won’t hold high anything in between.

For a person who loves butter this much, you’d think I’d try to make it sooner. But neither did I know I could, nor how. As with a lot of things, it’s more special when it happens at the right time. (Haha…I crack myself up.) This butter would not be here if we did not have leftover heavy cream that we did not want to consume in one sitting of strawberry with crepes. I don’t know, I just didn’t want it to go to the dairy purgatory and find out later we have a bad cream. And it was such a nice “experiment” with excellent results.

I remembered reading about people putting heavy cream in a gallon bottle and shake it until the butter forms. We don’t have that kind of bottle and I wasn’t about to labor for it that long. I also read that you can use your hand mixer and I can deal with that. So the cream transformed from this:

To this:

To something that resembles butter, which I thought would never come:

Then into butter AND liquid (I read in some places that this is buttermilk):

Oh, hello!!!

And it went right into my toast.

I will add that I only got a bite of this because before I knew it, Dan finished it.

And what did I do with the remaining liquid (buttermilk?)? I used it to soak chicken tenders. Nothing’s wasted.

If you’re up for it, here’s you need to make (unsalted) butter:

• Heavy cream
• Hand mixer or stand mixer
• Deep bowl (the liquid will start to splatter once the butter starts forming)

And all you need to do is beat the cream until butter forms. For about 10 minutes, I think. I lost track of time. You’ll see the yellow butter form. Don’t stop the first time you see it. Mix it further for about 5 minutes until the solids separate in clumps from the liquid. After that, you just need to squeeze out the liquid (I used clean hands) and transfer it to a container or measure it out in tablespoons or cups as you wish.

You can also put the butter in a separate mixing bowl and add salt and whatever spices and herbs you like, then roll it in parchment paper. I think homemade butter would be perfect for making butter with herbs.

BUT WHAT ABOUT THE TASTE of homemade butter? SO GOOD. I might have to make butter for our toasts from now on. It’s worth the effort, definitely.

© Gourmeted.com, 2008. | Permalink | 11 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: butter, heavy cream

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We absolutely loved this simple dessert of Apples in Honey and Pine Nut Caramel and have made it on more than one occasion. So one morning, with one too many apples forgotten, I finally used them with the a variation of the recipe to top off the breakfast oatmeal. I skipped the cream and pine nuts (because we didn’t have either, honestly) and decided to stick to just butter and honey. Mmmm.

I cooked old fashioned organic oatmeal in whole milk. God I love that. I made sure not to overcook it.

This was a winning combination. Yumm.

You might be wondering about the second alternate title. Well, Dan dislikes oatmeal. It’s one of those things on his long Will Not Eat list. This does not sit too well with me as I’m pretty open to all kinds of food and when I travel, I try as much local fare as I can. Food, as in life, is an experience — and for me, you’re missing out if you don’t at least try new things or revisit old ‘ew’ stuff labeled from the days you couldn’t even spell your name.

So slowly, I’ve began to lead him into a new chapter in his Foodie life and have him retry food that he ‘hates’. He cringes when you mention “oatmeal”, “mushrooms”, “cabbage”, or “bananas” as if he was going to be sick at that instant. From the mere mention of the food. I told him that if he tries it again and still hates it, then fine. But to completely shun them would be a shame. There’s a whole world out there outside of steak, pasta, and potatoes. Come to think of it, it’s like training a child to eat veggies, really. Haha.

One thing about food aversion is that most of the time, it’s just the way it’s been prepared that brings out certain detestable qualities. Other times, you went to the wrong restaurant. When it comes to oatmeal, I found out that Dan doesn’t like the ‘mushiness’ of it, just like how bananas are mushy. And I completely understand that because I hate both mushy oatmeal and bananas. However, that only comes out when you overcook oatmeal and if you use the the instant ones. Even I find it gross. So I remedied that and cooked it my way — not overdone, and with whole grains to munch on. He really liked it! Plus he finished his bowl of cereal with fruit.  Bingo!

I’d say I have a feeding success rate of 80% when it comes to something “different”. So for those who are challenged by their boyfriends, husbands, or even little ones, I’ll share you with a few tips.

What I learned about feeding the (well-loved) ultra-picky eater:

Please visit the site to read the rest of the entry.

© Gourmeted.com, 2008. | Permalink | 6 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: apples, breakfast, butter, honey, oatmeal

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