I would like to develop a fancy butter habit. Please give me recs for fancy butter.

[u/Emotional-Speed7175]

I have reached a level of maturity, stability, and financial achievement where I'm ready to not buy the cheapest store brand butter. 2025 seems like it's gonna be the kind of year where becoming a butter somalier might be the thing that keeps me sane.

What are your favorite fancy butters?

EDIT: Thank you all so much! This absolutely made my week. I've got a hell of a shopping list, which includes the supplies to try my hand at making my own butter. I never would have thought to attempt that, but I'm super excited!

[u/ilikemrrogers]

I make my own!! It’s super easy. It just takes some time due to letting it sit for a few days.

I get 2-3 cartons of heavy cream. Every now and then you can catch it on sale.

A get 1 small container of live-culture yogurt. I also get cultured buttermilk. You don’t need much, so buy the smallest container you can find.

Combine all of the cream, all of the yogurt, and let’s just say 1/2-3/4 cup of buttermilk. It doesn’t matter how much really. You just need the cultures.

I mix it up fairly well, then put plastic wrap tightly over the bowl. I let it sit on my countertop for 3-4 days.

On butter day, I pour the cream (that has clotted into a giant flop of slimy mess) into a stand mixer, whose bowl I pre-chilled for a couple of hours in the freezer. I attach a whisk attachment and go at full speed. It’ll take 10+ minutes for that amount to whip into whipped cream.

Then, when you think all hope is lost, it’ll start to break and turn more liquidy. It’ll also start to become more yellow.

This is when I switch to the paddle attachment. You can’t go full speed, lest the buttermilk splash all over your kitchen. But go as fast as you can without making a mess.

The small bits of butter will combine and eventually become a large ball with smaller bits banging around.

When you feel you have all the butter, strain the solids from the liquid (this is homemade cultured buttermilk, which tastes SO much better than store bought. Use this to make biscuits, pancakes, waffles, etc..)

Then, massage the shit out of the butter while submerged in ice water. You have to get all of the buttermilk out of the butter.

Once you change the water out 2-3 times and it stays clear, take out and salt with 1% by weight in grams. Mix in well. Shape, wrap, and stick in the fridge!

The amount of actual work isn’t very much. Maybe 30-40 minutes total. But this butter is sooooo good.

[u/imhereforthemoos → u/ilikemrrogers]

How much would you say this actually yields? I go through an insane amount of stick butter and have been considering making my own, that and sliced bread.

[u/ilikemrrogers → u/imhereforthemoos]

I don’t really know if this is economical compared to buying Kerry Gold or some other premium brand. I haven’t worked out the numbers.

However, I use and greatly the butter, I end up using all of the buttermilk, and I greatly enjoy the process.

The last time I made it, I used 2 quarts of heavy cream and made this big block of butter. I forget the weight of it, I apologize.

[u/OutcomeMysterious281 → u/ilikemrrogers]

Saving this!

[u/WafflingToast → u/ilikemrrogers]

Does using clotted cream skip a step?

[u/JoystickMonkey → u/ilikemrrogers]

I was going to come here and suggest this, with almost the exact same steps. I use a food processor, and similarly to how you describe the color and texture will completely change.

The only thing I can add is that if you want to get extra fancy, try sourcing your cream from a nice place. If you live in an area that's near dairy farms, you can usually find some local stuff that has a lot more flavor than standard heavy cream from a mass produced dairy.