Garlic Basil Butter

A savory fresh herb-filled butter that’s perfect for pasta.

As soon as I got the butter churner, I knew there would be a lot of fun flavored butter in my future. And as the homemade butter-making experiment continues, I’ve gotten a bit better with each attempt (check out my first try at black pepper & onion butter here).

As I mentioned before, one of my new goals is to buy fresh unpasteurized raw cream from a dairy farm in Wisconsin and make the purest butter possible. As of yet, that’s still in the works. But I am having just as much fun churning butter with regular store bought heavy cream.

When it comes to making your own butter, you’ve got options. My prefered method – for the sheer fun of it – is using a handheld butter churner, like the Kilner.

But you can also make butter in a blender, by shaking the hell out a glass jar, or buying unsalted butter and flavoring it that way (less work but also less fun with this last one).

The churner/blender/shaking method all typically take the same amount of time. After the butter is made, all that’s left is flavoring the butter, shaping the butter, then salivating over all the delicious ways to enjoy the butter.

For the blender butter method:

Pour room temperature whipping cream into the blender (or food processor). Blend the cream on your lowest setting to start. Lot’s of factors come into play, such as the cream’s temperature, blender speed, and how much cream you used, but overall expect the butter to separate from the buttermilk in about 5-10 minutes.

Remove the butter from the buttermilk and place it in a bowl of ice water. Squeeze any remaining buttermilk from the butter. Repeat this step 2-3 more times. Leftover buttermilk in the butter tends to gives it a sour taste.  You can save the remaining buttermilk and use for things like biscuits, pancakes, or various breads.

For the shaking butter method:

For this method, pour the cream into a glass jar. Screw the lid on tight, and shake that baby up and down for about 10-12 minutes until the butter separates from the buttermilk. Remove the butter and repeat the ice bath steps in the method above.

For the butter churner method:

Watch this video.

TIME YOU’LL NEED FOR GARLIC BASIL BUTTER:

• 5 minutes prep
• ~12 minutes for churning/shaking

WHAT YOU’LL NEED:

• 16 oz heavy whipping cream (if making your own butter)
• Large bowl of ice water (if making your own butter)
• 5 fresh basil leaves, finely chopped
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tbsp finely minced garlic cloves
• Salt to taste

WHAT YOU’LL DO:

• Take the freshly made butter, and add the minced garlic, basil, and garlic powder.
• Mix all ingredients until combined evenly throughout butter.