Substituting home-whipped butter in baking

In my baking, can I substitute
heavy cream whipped to the butter
stage for store-bought butter?
-Rick Beaudin, Bangor, ME
Susan Purdy replies: It's
probably not a good idea, because
the moisture and air
content of the butter will vary
too much for consistent results
in your baking If you do want to try whipping
cream to the butter stage,
the easiest way is to start with
1 cup (8 ounces) heavy cream
in the blender. (It's important
to use heavy cream because it
contains the full 36% butterfat
you need to make butter) .
Process on high speed until
stiff, 2 to 3 minutes. Add liz cup
ice water, cover, and blend on
high speed about 1 minute, or
until the mixture clearly separates into solid butter and a
milky whey. Strain through at
least four or five layers of
cheesecloth set in a sieve.
Twist the ends of the
cloth around the butter,
pressing with your
hands to expel as much liquid
as possible. Finally, remove the
butter from the cheesecloth
and knead it on the counter to
remove more liquid. Scrape
the butter onto clean paper
towels, patting and blotting it
until dry. Finally, press the
butter into a mold or dish.
With this blender method,
8 ounces heavy cream yields
about 3 ounces (or a generous
YJ cup) unsalted butter.
If you're really interested in
making your own butter, you
can order larger-capacity hand
or electric butter churns from
a farm-supply catalog.
Susan P urdy's latest book is
Let Them Eat Cake (William
Morrow, 1 997)

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