I don't have a food processor any longer. My wife told me that. Can I use a blender?
I have a manual hand mixer, too. Will that work?One way to find out. You'll probably get whipped cream, so lay in a bunch of fresh strawberries and some shaved chocolate. She'll forgive you.
Actually -- not having tried it myself mind you! -- it'll likely work. The goal in churning butter is kinda like a little kid starting an avalanche in the movies by rolling a snowball downhill. The idea is to smack the little globs of butterfat together until they start to stick and collect even more globs. Even seen a butter churn in a museum? Either the old colonial up-and-down dasher type or the hand-cranked paddles? They don't move all that fast.
Also, your cream should be room temperature, as should the equipment. Chilling the cream and freezing the implements is for making whipped cream. You want the cream to be nice and liquid and the fat nice and soft so it gathers effectively. With a blender I'd use the slowest setting, and watch to see that the cream circulates well. If it's only churning on the bottom as it thickens, you should stir it a bit to keep it mixed so it all churns evenly.
I've used a small cranked churn; in fact we still have it. Kilner is the brand, I think. It's "OK" for butter, but you'll only do a pint at a time. You'll crank and crank and start to question your sanity and suddenly wham the butter gathers and it's quite hard to crank. That's why I use the KitchenAid mixer. Plus with the KitchenAid I can process half a gallon of cream and it doesn't take me four batches in the churn to do it.
O.H.
I have a manual hand mixer, too. Will that work?
-the #2 speed on the on the Kitchenaid mixer is not enough. I wanted to keep the mess down but after 15 minutes turned it up to #4 as O.H. suggested and butter appeared soon after.
Hooray! Making your own butter will tend to disenchant you with the bland yellow fat you've been buying. Plus you get value-added buttermilk. Sometimes I make butter just to get fresh buttermilk.
I start out on 4, then after a while when the cream gets "rocky" and starts to "break" I watch to see when it starts spitting a little whey out of the bowl. Then I turn it down to 3, then 2, then 1. At that point it's ready to pour off the bulk of the buttermilk, then I run it a minute or so at 2 just to work the butter a little. After that I work the butter with a spatula.
O.H.
I have a manual hand mixer, too. Will that work?
Apparently 15C (60F) should be what to aim for. Colder will make harder butter, warmer will make moister butter. Does that sound about right O.H.?
Hooray! Making your own butter