I know a lot of you who are avid bakers have had stand mixers for ages. I’ve had mine for less than a year but what a difference it makes! I love the large bowl and being able to leave it running while I’m making stuff like meringues or whipping cream. It’s nice being able to walk away even if it’s only for a minute or two just to wash your hands or start prepping something else. The downside is that I have a short attention span and I get easily distracted. With my hand mixer, I couldn’t WAIT to let go of it — it was loud, messy, heavy and I didn’t have control over the speed. It either mixed things on fast, faster or too fast. So you know the recipes that tell you not to overwhip heavy cream or your meringues. It’s very easy to do with a stand mixer! 

Have you ever overmixed your heavy cream? Sometimes you can salvage it by adding more cream to the mixture and you’ll still get a bowl of whipped cream. But if you can’t save it, don’t throw it out. If you continue mixing the cream mixture, it will start looking curdled, turn yellow and the liquid will eventually separate. And what are you left with? You got it! Butter! And the liquid – buttermilk! So if you ever have leftover heavy cream from a recipe, you can easily use it to make your own butter and buttermilk.

Here I’ve taken leftover cream from my mousse cake (recipe to follow) and used it to create a flavored butter. I created a savory butter using dried rosemary, cayenne pepper and garlic. And if you don’t like that combination, you can create a sweet butter using honey or caramel and cinnamon or use whatever spices or ingredients you have on hand in your kitchen. The butter will store for several days in an airtight container in the fridge.

Happy churning mixing! (Thank goodness for stand mixers, right?)

Spicy Rosemary Garlic Butter

Ingredients:

• heavy cream
• dried rosemary, to taste
• garlic powder, to taste
• cayenne pepper, to taste
• salt, to taste

Directions:

• Pour the heavy cream into a mixing bowl. Using the whisk attachment, begin to mix the cream. Start on a low setting to avoid splashing of the cream and once the cream begins to thicken, increase the speed.
• After a few minutes, the cream will thicken, then turn into whipping cream and eventually it will begin to curdle, turn yellow and the liquid will begin to separate from the solids. Turn off your mixer once the liquid has separated from the butter. You can use a fine strainer to further separate the butter from the liquid.
• Place the butter into a large bowl and add the rosemary, garlic powder, cayenne pepper and salt to the butter. Using a spatula, mix in the spices to the butter. Start with less and build slowly. It’s easier to add than it is to remove a spice.
• Store butter in an airtight container in the fridge.

Recipe notes: The entire process took about 12 minutes or so for the cream to transform into butter. The amount of butter you get will depend on the amount of cream that you use. That is why I didn’t specify how much of each spice to use. When you’re working with cayenne pepper, start out with a small amount and taste as you go. The heat from the cayenne can build quickly. Be careful if you’re sensitive to spicy foods. The salt I used on top of the butter is a Hawaiian sea salt.