I'll show you how to make butter in a jar in 15 minutes. Teach your kids math and science by getting them in the kitchen making homemade butter and having fun at the same time! Make your own butter for the holidays to put on those trending butter boards or biscuits.
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Making butter in a jar with kids
Teaching kids to help in the kitchen with meal prep or clean up is part of that two-fer of responsibility and learning math and science. I call it productive learning-they learn math and science and dinner gets made at the same time!
I didn't start homeschooling until my oldest child was in 10th grade, but I started teaching them fractions with a measuring cup and a ruler when they were very young. Teaching kids to make butter in a Mason jar is an easy introduction.
Making butter with kids was fun with my two sweet friends from my Sunday school class in the picture above. They came to my house after church to help me make butter in a jar. The older sister, was my sous chef on my chef segment for Talk of Alabama.
We made 2 Ingredient Biscuits the same day so we could slather our homemade butter on them.
How to make butter out of heavy whipping cream
Follow these same steps when making butter from double cream in a jar. Double cream is a British term for cream with a higher fat content than heavy whipping cream.
To make ⅓ cup of butter, pour 1 cup of heavy whipping cream into a pint jar.
- Simply shake the jar back and forth and up and down for about 15 minutes and you will have a ball o' butter plus "buttermilk".
I highly recommend turning on some music while you shake, shake, shake!
Yes, the Taylor Swift song Shake It Off is perfect. Or my favorite from the 80's is Shake It Up from The Cars.
- After 10 minutes of vigorously shaking the jar, you will no longer be able to hear or feel the "sloshing" from the cream hitting the sides of the jar.
- Open the jar and you will see "whipped cream". Don't give up! It's easy to think nothing is happening but you will be surprised how quickly it is to turn cream into butter!
- In about 5 more minutes, the sloshing will return and you should see through the glass jar the yellow ball of butter in the middle surrounded by milk.
You can drink this milk and use it anyway milk is called for in a recipe. Keep in mind, it is not whole milk which is 4% fat. It will be closer to skim milk (½%) to 1% milk.
- Rinse the clump of fresh butter in a bowl of ice water, squeezing out the milk with your fingers.
- Change the water and do it again to make sure all the milk is out of the butter. Milk has sugar in it and over time, it will make the butter rancid.
Around my house, it's not really a problem because we eat it so quickly with my Strawberry Freezer Jam or Peach Freezer Marmalade. Using your fingers, "knead" in salt for salted butter.
Pro tip: If you add the salt at the beginning, you will have salted milk.
Here's the final product from our fun day in the kitchen having fun, eating homemade food, and learning math and science. It was a perfect day.
Ways to make homemade butter
You can make butter in a food processor or stand mixer (I recommend having a bowl cover if using a mixer).
Those methods will take less time than using a Mason jar. But if you want your kids to have "hands-on" experience with the physical change (not chemical change) that happens and have FUN doing it, then use the jar method.
Videos
Click on the two pictures below to watch the ABC 33/40's Talk of Alabama segment with my sous chef Annsley making Homemade Butter in a Jar.
Video segment 1
Video segment 2
To watch the segment on WBRC's Good Day Alabama click on the picture below. Janice Rogers and Mike Dubberly took turns shakin' the butter. The biscuits were gone in minutes after the segment.
Video segment 3
What is the difference between whipping cream and heavy whipping cream?
Heavy whipping cream is defined by 35% fat in most countries but in the United States we require 36% fat to qualify.
Mathematically, it makes sense that if you start with 1 cup of heavy whipping cream that is about 33% fat that it would yield ⅓ cup fat when it separates from the milk leaving about ⅔ cup skim milk in the jar.
Is homemade buttermilk sour?
This buttermilk is not soured unless you leave it on the counter for hours like our great grandparents did. (Don't do that.)
Is buttermilk sour milk?
Many years ago, when the fresh cow's milk was left on the counter at room temperature so the cream would rise to the top, acid-producing bacteria was introduced. When the cream was churned, the milk that separated from the cream was what we think of today as slightly sour buttermilk.
The buttermilk we buy from the store today is cultured which means the lactic acid bacteria is placed in the milk to ferment it which gives it the sour taste.
How to store homemade butter
Place the ball of butter on wax paper, parchment paper or plastic wrap and fold it over the top of the butter. Shape the butter into a log and twist the ends. Then, place the log in an airtight container or sealable freezer bag.
Store wrapped butter in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks. Store wrapped butter in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Other easy recipes to make with kids
2 Ingredient Biscuits from Scratch
Chocolate Covered Strawberries Disguised as Carrots
Fruity Marshmallow Cereal Treats with White Chocolate
Naturally Dyed Deviled Eggs and Easter Eggs
Candied Roasted Sweet Potatoes
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Homemade Butter in a Jar
SAVE THIS RECIPE
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Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 cups heavy whipping cream at least 35% fat
- ¼ teaspoon salt (optional)
Instructions
- Pour 1 cup heavy whipping cream into a pint jar or a 2-cup container with a lid. Shake the jar back and forth or up and down for approximately 15 minutes.
- At 10 minutes you will have whipped cream. At this point, you won’t feel any “sloshing” back and forth in the jar. At first, it will look like a curdled mess-that’s progress!
- At 15 to 16 minutes you should see a ball of butter in the middle of the jar. Remove the butter and place it in a bowl of ice water. Squeeze the butter in the ice water to remove the milk. Drain the water and repeat to make sure all the milk is removed.
- For salted butter, knead in the salt at this point.
- Pat the butter dry with a paper towel and place on a sheet of plastic wrap. Using the plastic wrap, shape it into a log, then roll it up into the plastic wrap for storage. I like to place the log into a zip-top bag to make sure it is air-tight.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition analysis on GritsAndGouda.com recipes are mostly calculated on an online nutrition calculator. I am not a dietitian and nutritional information is an estimate and can vary based on products used.
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