Jan 20th ~ Home Butter Making with a Twist!

Earlier this month, I taught a class on homemade bread and butter making. The bread was made by mixing ingredients in a bag and hand mixing each step. Of course, hand mixing bread batter is a lot of work - but it's worth the effort!

But homemade bread isn't at it's best unless it's covered in rich, creamy butter!  Butter making, also an arm workout; but since we were already warmed up, I figured a little more arm exercises wouldn't hurt anyone!

The original Bread in a Bag and Butter recipes can be found in an older blog from (Nov 25th - STEM-Giving Fun!). Below find my instructions for a twist on your butter; how to make your own Homemade Cinnamon-Honey Butter!

Finished Butter!

What you will need

  • Heavy Whipping Cream
  • ¼ Cup Powdered Sugar
  • ¼ Cup Honey
  • 1 Teas. Ground Cinnamon
  • A Mason Jar with Lid (Qt.)

Instructions:

  1. Add honey to mix. 
    Butter Mix

  2. Pour in the heavy whipping cream. Use enough to mix the ingredients well but leave at
    least 1/3 of headspace in jar to allow room to shake your cream.
  3. With a wooden spoon, gently mix together cream and other ingredients.
  4. Place Mason jar lid back on jar and hand tighten.
  5. Shake, Shake, SHAKE!





Be sure to check your mixture about every 5 minutes to see the developing changes!

Butter at Whipped Stage
After the first five minutes, you will probably not see any big visual changes, but keep on shaking!  Ten minutes in, you might start to see your mixture turning into a whipped cream consistency, but don’t stop yet!  (You could take a sneaky taste test at this point, just to check on the progress!) 

Signs of nearing the end include separation of mixture from sides of jar, seeing a ‘clump’ begin to form together in the jar, and division of milk and solids.

In all, you will probably be shaking for about 15-20 minutes before the final product is finished.  The longer you shake, the tighter your butter will pull together.  

Make sure to separate your solid butter out of the liquid left over and refrigerate!  Butter should be kept in a lidded container and will keep in the refrigerator for up to 8 weeks!

Finished Cinnamon Honey Butter!

Facts You Should Know: The Science Behind the Butter!

Butter Mixture in 
the Whipped Cream State

Heavy cream is the highly fatty part of milk.  When you begin the process of shaking the cream, the fat
molecules begin to break apart from the liquid molecules causing the separation of solids from liquids.  The more you shake the cream, the more the fat molecules bind together forming a clump of butter. 

Butter and Buttermilk!









The results of all the shaking forms two products: the solid product is butter and the liquid product formed is buttermilk!  Both products are useable in many recipes!



Not a fan of flavored butter?

If you don’t enjoy flavored butter, leave out the dry ingredients/honey and use only cream in your jar.  Fill jar about ½ to ¾ of the way high with the heavy cream, tighten lid, and shake!  Take it from us, it’s better than store bought!



I am a STEM/k12 Educator with Colorado State University Extension. I love working with youth and encouraging them to participate in many forms of hand on education! Overall, our goal is to promote positive youth development and encourage youth to pursue higher education after high school.

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