Homemade Butter #FoodNFlix

Welcome to this month’s Food ‘n Flix!  This month, participants whipped up a delicious recipe from the movie Butter, hosted by Evelyne from Cheap Ethnic Eatz.

The movie is set in Iowa, focusing on the state fair and the very competitive world of butter carving.

The movie was odd.  And kind of terrible.  And yet, strangely, I really enjoyed it.  Especially seeing Hugh Jackman cast as a bumbling used car saleman!   That alone made the movie worth it, plus general quirkiness of the whole thing.

There was an abundance of food inspiration in the movie. 

The initial scene is a feast of glorious fair food.  It was an obvious choice…except for the fact that I’ve created a lot of traditional fair foods already.

See?

Kettle Corn | Caramel Corn | Chicken Strips | Cheesecake on a Stick | Brats | Eggrolls | Gyros | Corn Dogs | Turkey Legs | Tacos | Burgers

Then there was a dinner scene with roast chicken and some sort of pasta.

And of course, butter.

I ended up going with butter.

I recently finished reading Little House in the Big Woods to my boys and they were absolutely fascinated with the butter making process as described in the book.

We made some butter by shaking it in a mason jar (for freaking ever) and the rest in the stand mixer.

It is truly amazing how much sweeter freshly made butter can taste (and that’s still using grocery store cream – can you imagine fresh cream?!?)

Oh!  And there’s a lovely by-product…you also get buttermilk!  Homemade English muffins, pancakes, and waffles are absolutely amazing with fresh buttermilk!

The boys especially loved going through my chocolate molds and choosing the perfect molds for their butter.

Today they chose hearts.  I thought it was perfect, since we certainly heart butter around here!

We used the fresh butter on our family favorite, parmesan noodles! 

Homemade Butter

1 pint heavy cream

Himalayan Rock Salt, optional

Ice water

Place the cream in a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment.  Whisk on high for 10-15 minutes or until butter forms.  You will need to scrape down the sides of a bowl a few times.

Drain off the buttermilk.

Squeeze the butter to remove additional buttermilk.

Place the butter into ice water and knead until the water becomes cloudy.  Drain and replace with fresh ice water and knead again.  Repeat until the water remains clear.  If desired, knead 3-4 good cracks of salt into the butter.

Place the butter in butter molds (or chocolate/candy molds) and refrigerate for 1 hour or until firm.  Remove from molds and wrap and refrigerate until ready to use.

Makes approximately 8 oz butter and 1 cup buttermilk.