Homemade Butter

 A rustic log of butter :)

I found a few methods on how to make butter online, and this is the method I used:

Ingredients:
2 c heavy cream
Mix-ins (salt, roasted garlic, etc.)

Directions:

1.  In the Kitchenaid mixer (with whisk attachment), beat the cream until whipped cream forms.
2. Continue mixing until things start to clump together and look ugly.  The butter will begin to separate from the buttermilk (see photo below).
3. Drain off the excess liquid....SAVE THIS! Buttermilk can be used in many recipes.  
4. Return the butter solids to the mixer and continue mixing- more buttermilk should separate.  You want to get as much out as possible.
5. Rinse the butter in extremely cold ice water. This will help the butter stay fresher. 
6. Once dry, you can mix in salt or other ingredients.  I thought sea salt would be a good option, but I forgot that since the crystals are large you end up with big salty bites- not so good.  Next time I will use kosher salt.

This is what the butter looks as it separates from the buttermilk:

...and the finished butter (hand is there for size comparison)