I very recently discovered that there is a Dairy Farm in the area that sells fresh milk which has been batch pasteurized with NO additives! That means that when you get the milk it is non-homogenized and separates just like it should! It also yellows as the cows go out to pasture which is amazing to see visual proof that those beautiful Holstein cows are truly being grass fed!
Once I discovered this place, I HAD to make the hour long trip to grab some fresh heavy cream to make butter! I have made butter with the cream from the store and it’s definitely better than store-bought butter but it’s still not quite right – it’s a bit too white and you get so little butter off of it because it’s just not that thick!
As soon as we arrived home from the Dairy Farm, I got to work making my butter! If you don’t know how incredibly simple it is to make butter, you can check out the bottom of this post for simple instructions!
When you make butter, you get buttermilk. What better to do with real, fresh buttermilk than make the most amazingly fluffy and flavorful Buttermilk Pancakes!? That’s exactly what we did and I’m so glad we did 🙂
Here is the recipe:
Buttermilk Pancakes
These are best made with fresh REAL buttermilk! It will work with buttermilk from the store as well if you're in a pinch and have a craving for buttermilk pancakes.
- 1 Cup All Purpose Flour
- 1.5 tbsp Sugar
- 1 tsp Baking Powder
- 1/4 tsp Baking Soda
- 1/4 tsp Salt
- 1 1/8 Cup Buttermilk (Preferably Fresh!)
- 1/2 + tsp vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract (real)
- 2 tbsp Butter – melted and cooled (Bonus points if you use the butter from which the buttermilk was made!)
In a bowl, combine the buttermilk, beaten egg, vanilla extract, melted butter and baking soda (yep, really! We want the buttermilk to react with the baking soda!)
In a separate bowl, combine all remaining ingredients.
Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. You want them combined but not over-mixed – this will deflate your pancakes a bit which we don't want!
Use a 1/4 cup measuring cup for 4-5 inch pancakes and a 1/2 measuring cup for larger, plate sized pancakes! Be sure to keep the frying pan at a medium-high heat to control the cooking on the pancakes. You do not need oil but if you use some oil or butter your pancakes will get the delicious crispy edges that we all love.
Flip the pancakes when they are fully covered in little bubbles that are beginning to pop.
Enjoy your delicious pancakes with butter and syrup, berries and whipped cream, berries and greek yogurt or even PB and J! (or almond butter if you also have a peanut allergy in the home)
How to make butter
- Pour heavy cream into your stand mixer
- Set the mixer for medium-high speed
- Go get a coffee, clean up, do whatever you need while you wait for your cream to whip, then separate. Make sure you cover your mixer with a towel! It gets very messy when it separates from the buttermilk. You’re not going to have to watch it too closely, it is very slooshy (that’s a word right?) when it separates.
- Strain off the buttermilk into a separate bowl and put the butter solids into a piece of cheese cloth, flour sack or similar thin material. Twist to strain out most of the buttermilk – if you take ALL the buttermilk out it will get pretty crumbly on you.
- Here’s the weird part – rinse your butter with REALLY cold water! Your hands will get greasy in this process. You’re going to want to continue to rinse until the water is clear.
- Add salt at this point if you are planning to – I add about a 1/2 tsp of salt to a pound of butter (we do try to eat reduced sodium so you may want a bit more).
- Press the butter in a butter press or squish it into a glass storage jar or container! Don’t forget to leave some out for easy spreading 😉
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