Three types of homemade butter

Dairy butter, coconut butter and sunflower seed butter. Three completely different type of butter that you can easily make at home full of healthy fats and vitamins. Once you’ve got the hang of these butters, the butter world is your oyster!

Butter

Butter contains healthy saturated fats which keep you feeling fuller for longer and is full of vitamins A, E and K2 and linoleic acid. It’s also plain delicious.

Ingredients:

• 600ml cream
• salt to taste

Method:

Simply pour the cream into a food processor or blender and whisk until lumps of butter appear, and eventually form a big lump. There will be chunks of yellow and buttermilk will separate itself.

It takes about five minutes on a medium speed. Remove the lump of butter and douse it in a bowl of cold water, squeezing gently. This will remove the excess buttermilk and will allow you to store the butter for longer

Rinse the lump under a running tap until the water runs clean, then put in a container and add salt to taste. I find the butter to be rather pale compared to the butter you buy in supermarkets.

Coconut Butter

Coconut butter tastes decadent and so very bad for you except it’s not. It’s packed full of essential fatty acids and is reportedly full of lauric acid, which boosts immunity and destroys harmful bacteria, viruses, and fungus.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups dried, shredded, unsweetened coconut
• salt to taste

Method:

Like the dairy butter put the dried coconut in the food processor or blender. Mix on high speed, scraping down the sides often for approximately 18 or 19 minutes, until a thick paste is formed.

• 3 Minutes – The coconut breaks down into clumps
• 5 to 8 Minutes – The coconut starts to look more sandy and paste-like. Scrape down the sides of the processor as often as necessary to continue processing the coconut.
• 11 to 15 Minutes – The coconut starts to pull together into a buttery paste. Continue to scrape down the sides of the processor regularly.
• Finished – The coconut has been ground to the consistency of peanut butter, thick and spreadable. Add salt to taste if desired.

Sunflower Seed Butter

Sunflower seeds are a high in vitamins including vitamin E, B1, selenium and copper amongst a host of others and are a healthy source of essential fatty acids. The butter tastes nutty, smokey, bold and is simply delicious.

Ingredients:

• 6 cups raw sunflower seeds
• salt to taste
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Method:

Place the seeds on a baking tray and toast in an 180C oven for 20-25 minutes, moving them around often, until golden and fragrant.

Be careful to not take the seeds too far. Sunflower seeds are very delicate and will burn fairly easily. You want them to be a very light golden colour, no more.

Let the seeds cool for a few minutes then transfer them to your food processor or blender.

Process for a total of 25-30 minutes, stopping every 2 to 3 minutes or so to break down the clumped-up mixture and scrape the sides a bit.

After about 20 minutes, the seeds should start releasing their oil and the butter will finally relax and become creamy. From this point, you will want to let it run for 5 to 10 minutes until really smooth and creamy.

Now add the salt and vanilla extract and process for another minute.

Enjoy!