Home Made Sweet Butter and Creme Fraiche

I read about this in Eric Ripert's cookbook "On the Line" and have been making it with my own adaptations ever since, 2 pounds at a time. It keeps very well - and for weeks - in the freezer and is very useful for more things than spreading on bread, I assure you. It is terrific for Beurre Blanc and I have used it recently for puff pastry and it marries very well with the basic pastry mixture of flour and water. I have also added it to tomato sauce just before serving and for stretching leftover sauces on pasta dishes, risotto, etc. It is a very spreadable butter for bread or toast, too!

2 quarts heavy cream

6 Tbs. Creme Fraiche (recipe for that to follow)

Salt (optional - I don't use it)

Pour all the Cream in a stand mixer (with a splash guard rim if you have it). Cover the entire bowl around the beater with several layers of tea towels to absorb any of the splashing liquid. Add the Creme Fraiche and beat at a moderate speed for a few minutes and then maintain at a higher speed (8 or 9 on a KitchenAid stand mixer, using the whisk attachment) and mix it for 15 minutes. The cream will have turned into very thick butter and there will be quite a bit of buttermilk at the bottom of the bowl. During the mixing, you may have to monitor the distribution to ensure that the butter isn't sticking to the whisk or beaters lopsidedly. Stop blending, remove towels and guard and remove the butter from the whisk and the bottom of the bowl and replace all covers and continue to beat the cream for the required time. Place the butter on a clean, dry tea towel. Pour the buttermilk (about 3 cups into a glass Ball jar and reserve for later use. Return to the butter and knead into a ball and then into a log, squeezing out as much liquid as you can. I use a pastry scraper to scrape away any butter that sticks to the towel. Take a good sized piece of wax paper and place the butter on the paper and take one end of the paper and cover the butter. Roll the butter into a log and then wrap the log in the wax paper ensuring that all surfaces are covered with the paper maintaining the shape of a log. Do this with the rest of the butter. I separate the butter into 6-8 parts to have as many logs as I want and then wrap them and put them in a ZipLock freezer bag and freeze. I use a log as I need them.

The residual buttermilk will keep in the fridge for about 2 weeks and can be turned into Creme Fraiche by adding 3-5 tablespoons of buttermilk into 4 cups of heavy cream. Cover the jar and let sit un-refrigerated for 12 hours or overnight. Place in the refrigerator and use as needed. Can be used after a few hours and will keep for a week, although, I use a Ball Jar for mine and it's lasted in the fridge for more than 2 weeks and was still perfectly edible!