Butter in a Jar

Today I have a fun activity for the kids, even mummy and daddy will like this one :-)

I hate wet weather days (although it is good for the garden), my 2 year old is an out door fella. So when it is raining outside all hell breaks loose inside. I am always on the look out for some fun activities that we can do together and if he learns something in the process that is even better. Usually we stick to cooking. He is my little Junior Master chef in the making.

(My Monkeys first attempt at bread rolls, proud mummy moment!)

The other day I was doing  a little bit of web surfing for activities and recipes to add to my list and I found this wonderful activity on this site.  It has some great ideas, I have grabbed a lot of ideas from it.

Butter in a Jar

All you need for this activity is:

- Cream (thick cream not light)

- A jar with a lid

First make sure that you sterilise the jar well. I just pour boiling water into the jar. If you put a metal spoon in the jar first it will take a lot of the heat shock so the jar wont break. Leave that for a few minutes to do its thing and get the cream out of the fridge.

 Once the jar has been sitting for a few minutes pour the water out and give it a good dry with some paper towel. Half fill the jar with cream and screw that lid on tight.  Hand it over to your little monkey and tell them to shake away!   Seriously, that is all you do to get butter from the cream. So simple and fun.

 It took me about 7 minutes of shaking to get the butter but expect it to take a bit longer for your little monkey, and they might need a little help.   

 Shake, Shake, Shake

You will hear when it starts to change. The cream slosh sound will stop and when you open up the lid you will have whipped cream at this stage. Keep going. It will feel like nothing is happening and then all of a sudden you will hear that slosh again and the cream will become lumpy. Give it a good last few shakes and you will  have a lump of butter sloshing around in buttermilk. 

Pour out the buttermilk and place the butter in a bowl. Pour over cold water and give it a little massage until the water runs clean. You don't want any buttermilk in the butter or it will go off very quickly.   

 And what do you do with the buttermilk?  Make pancakes of course!  Here is our yummy pancake recipe.

1/4 cup castor sugar

1/4 teaspoon of baking soda

1 cup self raising flour

1 1/4 cup of buttermilk

1 egg

Mix it all together making sure there are no lumps then cook in a fry pan on a low heat.  We love to add blueberries, mashed banana (little mans favorite) or chocolate chips.  They are the fluffiest pancakes ever!

So on the next rainy day ( or any day :-p ) grab some cream and a jar and make yourself some butter and pancakes. So much fun!

 Yum yum

What is the favourite rainy day activity in your house? 

Tiffany.