We love making our own butter. (Can’t wait to get a mini-cow… yep.. a little sweet Mini-Moo!)
And I found on eBay a while back, a beautiful old butter mold! And I got a little butter stamp. It’s a cheery little sun. But the mold is beautiful. Fellow said it was old, and Amish made, and when you look at it, it’s delightfully built with little dovetail joints and a lovely patina. Couldn’t wait to give it a try.
Yep, I did give is very complete dunking in boiling water, and then even popped it in the microwave a minute or so. Then rinsed it good in a weak bleach water solution. Wanted to make sure it was good and clean.
Isn’t it pretty? I can’t believe I won it for only $18. It seems like it should be so much more. But I guess, butter molds are not quite the rage any more.
Well, I shook up 2 quarts of cream and got my butter ready to go. I have hence learned that I really should have had my mold in either ice water or in the freezer… it would have worked much better.
But you basically just load her up. Pull back that little knobbed flat board to the back and put in your fresh butter. Invert on a plate and press HARD. It’s a great way to get that extra little bit of buttermilk out of your butter.
Pull off the mold and you have a pound of butter ready to go. As you can see, my block was a little too warm and creamy still, so I took a butter knife and smoothed it out a bit. My next blocks were MUCH better, but I forgot to take a picture! I chilled the mold in the freezer for about 15-20 minutes. I think next time, I’m going to pop the mold in the freezer when I start to shake the cream and make the butter. Then it would be perfect timing.
Lastly, I pressed my little sun mold into the top of each chunk of butter. Again, I think chilling the press would have made for a little better impression. Still learning! But it still was super cool. I’ll get the hang of it in no time. I do like the way it makes neat little blocks of butter though. When we get our cow, this will be a great way to work with the extra milk and pop a bunch of yummy homemade butter in the freezer. And of course, make up for friends!!!
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Very cool!! I’ve never made butter, but I actually remember my Mom churning butter in an old butter churn when I was little. Don’t remember us having a butter mold though. Don’t remember how she did that, I just ate it haha. I’ve been babystepping with making stuff at home, so far, just yogurt, kefir and a cream cheese. I want to make clotted cream next and then maybe butter. Your mold is beautiful. So great to see it being used instead of uselessly decorating a country kitchen somewhere.
I have a box mold just like yours! I found it in an antique shop on the coast last summer. I also have three little stamps/molds that hold maybe an ounce or two of butter each. I keep meaning to try them out, but I forget until the butter’s already made. I have used some cheap plastic soap molds for shaping butter for serving at the table, though. The molding works fine, but it’s kind of a pain to clean the little cracks & crevices on the molds (especially when you throw them into the dishwasher and the hot water warps the cheap plastic – I was lazy, I paid for it).