Pour your cream, straight from the fridge, into your mixer and add the whisk attachment.

Then, put a splash guard, a plastic grocery store bag OR a large tea towel over the kitchen aid to avoid splashes. Lock the head and turn the speed to 8.

Your cream will go through phases: first, it will expand in volume and turn into a light fluffy whipped cream. Scoop some up, add some sugar and top your coffee while you wait!.

Next, it will start becoming thinner and look a bit darker and sort of gradient.

After some time, you'll start to hear a different sound, sort of a splashing: this is when the fat begins separating!

Resist the urge to stop the mixer and let it continue until the butter globules are mostly all sticking to each other and the whisk attachment.

Your buttermilk (the liquid leftover) should be mostly smooth and not have too many globs of butter in it. If it does, turn your mixer back on high (feel free to go full speed here) for another 10-20 seconds.

Now, wash your hands really well and gather the butter all together against the side of the kitchen aid bowl. It should stick to the side fairly well enough for you to pour your buttermilk into a container and stick in the fridge.

Next, you want to wash your buttermilk with cold water. This is to remove any remaining buttermilk that may be hiding in your butter in order to keep it from going rancid quicker.

There are two methods to do this: wash by hand or use the dough hook attachment on your kitchen aid.

Either way, add about a cup or two of cold water your kitchen aid bowl.

Wash your butter, squeezing and kneading it with your hands, folding it in and over itself, dumping the water out and adding more water until your water is mostly clear.

If you'd prefer, you can simply wash it under the kitchen faucet, too.

Make sure to squeeze all the water out of your butter. Sometimes, I like to take a paper towel and soak up any extra moisture.

Now, it's time to add your salt! Take a square of parchment paper (large enough to wrap your butter in later) and lay your butter on the parchment paper.

I usually do 1-2 teaspoons of salt per pound of butter. You don't have to salt it, however it helps preserve your butter and again, keep it from going rancid quicker.

If you'd like to preserve your butter even more and keep it on the counter in your kitchen, this would be the time to add your capsule of Vitamin E. Just cut off the end of the capsule with some scissors and drizzle over your butter and fold in and over itself.

I prefer to use a wooden paddle like this one to shape my butter. If you have butter molds, you can use those too!

Go ahead and shape your butter however you'd like! Once your finished, wrap it up and stick into a zip lock freezer bag, label the date, and throw it in the freezer or refrigerator. Or place in a butter bell on your counter.