Friday, April 8, 2011

Whip It Good

Hi everyone! My "Small Measures with Ashley" post is up over on Design Sponge. This week I'm sharing tips on making homemade butter. If you've never made your own butter before, I highly encourage you to jump on it. NOTHING matches the flavor of just-whipped butter. You'll suddenly find yourself coming up with all sorts of "needs" for its use: Naked toast? Put some butter on it! Steamed broccoli? Put some butter on it! Saltine cracker? Put some butter on it. Consider yourself forewarned...(incidentally, this is reminding me of the Portlandia "Put A Bird On It" skit...Fred & Carrie should really do an "Ashevillia" spin-off; there are SO many consistent characters here that are RIPE for characterization!).

I'm deep in the throes of writing-deadline land. My new technique of getting Huxley to take naps in our bed is really working out well. Wish I'd had that idea months ago! It makes sense; it's the place he sleeps each night already, so napping there is familiar, and safe, and reliable. Hopefully he'll go down again today for almost two hours like he did yesterday, and even that came on the heels of falling asleep in our jogging stroller while Hubs took him for a long walk down our driveway and along a country road nearby! 'Atta boy.

Oh, and as for the book I'm working on, I've got to remain a bit mum on the topic for now. I promise to share more as it progresses, but, for the time being, my editor has asked me to keep tight-lipped on all the details. I can, however, share that it won't be part of my Homemade Living series. It's food-related, though, and I can assure you you'll love it. Promise.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

6 comments:

Tam. said...

Thanks for sharing. I love homemade butter, it's so easy to make. I can't wait to see what the next book is!

Shalet said...

Love that Portlandia skit. I was introduced to it *after* I put a bird on it.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=202333483134357&set=a.129257690441937.13990.125841857450187&theater

And I'm from Oregon to boot (though not Portland). Clearly I am one of the flock. And on that note -- off to check our your butter post. I haven't made butter since kindergarten!

Melanie J. said...

Hey sweet lady! OK, you've inspired me to try it this weekend. I was wondering how it would work with a stand mixer. Does the cutting motion of the blades of the food processor work it up faster than say the whisk attachment on a Kitchenaid? I have both, but was curious if you or any commenters have tried it that way. P.S. LOVE your stuff!

ashley english said...

hey, melanie. sorry for the tardy reply. both processing methods work equally well. i'm preferential to the food processor, as the splashing action is nil when contained inside the processor, as opposed to the open rim of the stand mixer. that said, they'll both do the job. be well, you!

M. Larson said...

Hi Ashley, I tried the butter in the food processor this weekend but I don't think I did it quite right as I couldn't get it to look like your picture and I might have processed it too long!? I ran it about 12 minutes because it looked too liquidy before that but then it all wanted to come through the sieve instead of just the buttermilk. Oh well, I might try it again!

ashley english said...

M. Larson-My guess is it was over-processed. It should only take about 8-ish minutes in the food processor to come together. You still want it fairly soft and smooth. Give it another go. Nothing beats the taste of homemade butter!