Accidental Butter

I was making an ice cream order late one evening last week, and left the double cream whisking too long in my vintage Kenwood Chef. 

My ice cream order had to be put on hold until the next day, but I did have some lovely butter for my toast the following morning.

Makes about 150g butter

300ml double cream
Salt to taste

Whisk the double cream until it goes past the whipped cream stage, and begins to collapse down into what looks like cottage cheese.

Add a pinch or two of salt to taste. You could also experiment with other fillings at this stage such as chilli flakes, chopped herbs, crushed garlic. 

Give the butter one more quick whizz to mix in the salt/flavouring.

Get a small bowl of ice cold water ready next to the mixer. Quickly scoop and squish all the butter curds together with your hands and place them the cold water to stop it getting too soft to handle. 

Gently squeeze the butter into your desired shape whilst in the cold water.

Place in a seal container in the fridge. The butter will last as long as the best before date on the cream you used.

Looking at Sainsbury's website (October 2025), 300ml Sainsbury’s organic double cream currently costs £1.70, whereas 250g Sainsbury’s organic butter costs £3.15. 

NB the liquid left in the mixing bowl is buttermilk, which can be used in scones, soda bread, pancakes etc