Easter Preparations

Okay so I have made my first butter lamb (for my mother-in-law). So here is what we did.
We had cold cream and poured about a pint into a quart jar and added 5 ice cubes and put on the lid- tight. Then we all took turns shaking the cream. We ended up shaking this jar for about 20-30 minutes. As you shake the jar you will get to the point that your thinking maybe this really isn't working and then all of the sudden you have a lump in the middle of the jar along with watered down buttermilk. I usually drain off the buttermilk/water and then put the butter into a bowl. I took a wooden spoon and worked the butter (a lot like kneading bread) to work out the rest of the water.
Then I used the butter lamb kit that my mother-in-law had and pressed the butter into both sides. You need to make sure that you get butter clear into the nose (I didn't the first time and had to fix it. A noseless lamb just won't work) Clip the mold together and freeze for at least an hour. I pulled the lamb out of the freezer and ran it under warm water for a couple seconds - you could feel it let go of the form.  I continued to follow the directions and took off the clips, opened the front and then flipped it onto a plate, but it fell a little harder than I was planning and now our lamb has a flat nose this year.

The Butter Lamb kit

Our flat nosed lamb for this year

We have made butter here in various ways, but actually putting it into the mold and molding it was a new step for us and kind of fun. Thanks Grandma for the butter mold.