Earlier this week I had the privilege of hosting a party for some wonderful bloggers who live in my area. I had always wanted to meet the creators of some of the blogs that I loved reading so I decided to throw a party and invite them! We had such a fun time! I can’t wait to do it again. 🙂 As part of their “parting gift” at the end of the evening, each of the guests got a pint of Honey Butter Ambrosia and a mini loaf of my Mom’s English Muffin Bread. We had invited close to 70 bloggers, so my daughter Britta, daughter-in-law Kaitlyn and I made LOTS of honey butter & LOTS of english muffin bread!
We might have made a slight miscalculation of how much CREAM we needed for the honey butter however, because we ended up with A LOT leftover. Like a couple of QUARTS leftover. I just couldn’t bear the thought of it going to waste and I knew there was no way I would use up that much cream before it went bad….so….I decided to try something I’d never tried before. FREEZE it.
I don’t know why I’ve never tried freezing cream before, because it makes perfect sense! I even talk about freezing MILK in my post about “31 Things You Can Freeze To Save Time And Money.” But for some reason CREAM never occurred to me. Which is crazy because I never seem to use up all the cream I buy for a recipe before it goes bad. Then the spoiled cream goes right down the drain. What a waste!
I didn’t want to freeze the cream in one big chunk in the carton, because I knew that most of the time I would only need it in smaller quantities. So I utilized one of my silicone molds. I would guesstimate that each mold holds about 1/2 cup.
After I filled the molds I put them in the freezer until they were frozen solid.
I then stacked them in plastic storage bags so they took up less freezer space.
I wasn’t sure how it would hold up after being frozen and then thawed to use again, but I have used it several times now in different things and I haven’t been able to tell any difference!
When you are ready to use the cream, take it out and leave it in the refrigerator overnight.
Make sure you shake it well before using because the butterfat will separate. Use it as is in all your recipes that call for cream or whip it for a dessert topping. If you think it is a bit grainy, just add some powdered sugar and it should take care of the problem.
In case you’re wondering, like I was, you can ALSO freeze cream that is already WHIPPED.
I haven’t personally tried it yet, but from what I’ve read, all you do is whip the cream until it forms peaks, then spoon or pipe dollops onto a plastic-lined baking sheet and freeze. When the dollops are frozen, peel them off the plastic, place in a freezer container or bag and return to the freezer. They’ll keep for a couple of weeks.
When it’s time to serve a dessert that you want to decorate with a cream topping, place dollops on top and let stand about 10 minutes at room temperature. The cream will thaw but will still hold its shape.
Now that we are all armed with this money and time-saving tip, from this day forward there should not be a DROP of cream going down the drain. 🙂
What kinds of things do YOU freeze?
