Cooking with kids: How to make homemade butter

Is there anything more delicious than butter on fresh bread? The good news is that it’s easy to make your own—and your kids will love helping! You can sneak in a little science lesson, as well. Cream is the essential ingredient in butter, and it’s made up of water, some protein and fat globules. When you shake up the cream, it helps the fat escape from the globules and separate from the water, and—ta-da!—this fat is butter. So pick up some whipping cream from the store, pull out a jar from the cupboard, round up your family and get shakin’.

You’ll need: ½ cup cold whipping cream 1-cup jar with tight-fitting lid strainer

Pour cream into your jar, top with a lid and tighten well.

Shake vigorously for 12 to 15 min (parents will need to take a turn or two). Cream first becomes whipped, then over-whipped, and then will feel very liquidy again. (Open the jar to check on your progress at any point.)

Keep shaking until you can feel lumps of butter moving in a thin liquid in the jar.

Pour contents into a strainer; rinse with very cold water to remove all liquid, which goes sour quickly. Gently mould butter into a ball; blot any liquid with a paper towel. Enjoy now or store in the fridge.

Makes about 3 tbsp butter.

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