Butter churning had been in the back of our minds for several years, but we’d never taken the plunge. Steve read an article in the New York Times around the same time that genius baker Bob Hancock (of Blue Dog Bakery) told us he’d made his own butter using his mixer and a lot of plastic wrap. We came close when our Hazelfield Farm friends Raphe and Teresa gave us fresh milk, but that never had enough cream to skim.

But recently Foxhollow Farm began carrying Kentucky cream that has the sought-after stabilizer-free status. So butter was back on the agenda.

While we certainly appreciate the aesthetics of the antique portable churn given to us by Michelle’s folks, we didn’t really want to use it—and we were a little too concerned about Bob’s tales of spattering to use our KitchenAid for the job.

Instead, we opted for our food processor, and it worked like a charm. Chilled cream went in, the “on” switch was pressed, and we stood back and watched as the cream worked itself past whipped, breaking into butter and buttermilk. A little more water, a little mashing in a bowl, and we had fresh, delicious butter. This batch only took several minutes but it made us want to try cultured butter, which takes a little more time. Stay tuned for more buttery bulletins!

If you’re interested in making butter, check out the instructions here, which work well.