How to Make Cream at Home Without Heavy Cream

You can easily create a cream substitute at home without using heavy cream by incorporating extra fat into regular milk. This method works well for recipes requiring a creamy texture.

This simple technique utilizes the fat content in butter to increase the richness of regular milk, mimicking the consistency of heavy cream.

• Ingredients:
  • Unsalted butter
  • Full-fat milk
• Instructions:
  1. Melt unsalted butter.
  2. Let the melted butter cool slightly.
  3. Whisk the cooled butter into the full-fat milk, using a ratio of 1 part melted butter to 3 parts milk by volume. For example, for every ¼ cup of butter, use ¾ cup of milk.

This mixture can be used as a substitute for heavy cream in many recipes, though the flavor will differ slightly. The fat content provides the creamy texture desired. Note that this substitute is not ideal for whipping into stiff peaks as heavy cream would be.

Multiple sources confirm this method: One source states that you can make a great substitute by melting unsalted butter and whisking it into milk using a ratio of 1 part melted butter to 3 parts milk. (Source). Another source suggests using full-fat milk and unsalted butter with at least 80% fat content. (Source)

Alternative Methods (for Whipped Cream)

While the butter-milk mixture above works for adding creaminess to recipes, creating whipped cream without heavy cream requires different techniques. Many recipes online use full-fat milk with added ingredients like powdered sugar and vanilla to achieve a whipped texture. (Source) These recipes often involve techniques like incorporating gelatin to help stabilize the whipped mixture. (Source)

These alternative methods often result in a lighter, less rich whipped topping compared to the whipped cream made with heavy cream.