I was wandering through Whole Foods the other day and spotted this beautiful display of fresh berries. Right at the top of the display was a gorgeous container of fresh whipped cream.
It got me to thinking and I decided to try making my own whipped cream at home. After all the display looked so fantastic that my mouth was watering and this is a great time of year to get all sorts of fresh fruit to go with the whipped cream.
So I can tell you this is incredibly simple to make and you can do it in about 5 minutes.
The nice thing about making your own is not only the taste but that you can control the ingredients.
I happen to have some Cool Whip in my fridge at the moment and I was looking at the ingredients. Yikes!
This whipped cream is a snap to make with just 3 ingredients and the taste is out of this world. So fresh, so light and about 100x better then what you get from the can or tub.
Here is how you can make your own whipped topping- this really couldn’t be easier and I hope you give it a shot.
1. Basically you just whip the heck out of heavy cream. You can whip by hand or with a mixer. I used my KitchenAid. It makes a nicer whipped cream if the bowl and whisk are cold. I placed the bowl and whisk attachment in the freezer for about 20 minutes beforehand.
2. Measure 1 cup of heavy cream into your bowl. Don’t use half and half- use heavy cream.
3. In the mixer you want to just mix away until you start to see peaks forming. I had the mixer on medium to high speed and I would say it took about 4 minutes. If you over mix you will have butter on your hands so don’t walk away.
4. Once you start to see the peaks forming add 1 teaspoon of vanilla and 2 tablespoons of powdered sugar. (You can substitute regular sugar but powdered sugar keeps a smoother texture.)
5. Mix a bit more until it starts to thicken and it looks like whipped cream.
Now turn off the mixer and enjoy!!
The girls and I had a bit of a feast with a bowl of berries and scones. This does taste much different then what you buy at the store. It has a much cleaner and fresher taste in my opinion. You can adjust the amount of sugar to suit your tastes.
And you can put this in a container and store in the fridge for 2-3 days. Just whisk it a little to get it nice and fluffy again.
You can mix in whatever floats your boat here to make this really wonderful. I am going to treat myself to hot chocolate tonight and I think I am going to add a bit of cinnamon to my whipped cream. I was thinking that I might try a little coconut milk in the whipped cream the next time I buy mangoes at the store.
If you decide to try this out, I’d love to hear what you think!
And if you want to try homemade hot chocolate, this Copycat Starbucks Hot Chocolate recipe is my favorite:
Another idea is to whip this up and pop it in a container and add it to a care package of food. You can see more meal ideas for new parents or sick friends here. This would be so yummy with a huge fruit salad and some pastries.
This has always made me curious before..and I even made some for a peanut butter pie and it was AMAZING! But then I became mystified at how you make it low fat or fat free like my cool whip…do you have any ideas?
Meghan,
I am not sure how to make it lower in calories. I totally understand what you are saying because that was a thought for me too. What I finally decided is that it is much better for me to have a fresh squeezed orange juice with calories in it then a Diet Coke with no calories. 😛 Does that make sense?
I completely understand and agree..the amount of crazy ingredients in things is scary. We are about 75% organic now..amazon market has been a huge blessing with helping with that( I live in a tiny town in the middle of corn) so finding reasonably priced organic food is challenging.
Now that I make my own whipped cream, it’s hard to eat cool whip. Too sweet and tastes funny.
Been making whipped cream ever since I learned about the dangers of partially hydrogenated oils. Yet, it is an uphill battle because its in everything even some organic products. I also learned that low-fat and sugar free stuff eventually converts to sugar in your body. Netflix has a documentary called, Change. Watch it.
Totally off the subject of whipped cream, but you mentioned it in your post so I want to ask. What do you look for when buying mangoes? I just bought some. I cut into one last night and it was disgusting. I know I like them because I’ve had them at other places. And since I’m asking about produce, here’s another question. How do you think your monthly guide to produce applies to those of us in other regions of the country? I was super-excited to see artichokes and asparagus on the February list. I kept watching my ads and looking at the grocery store, but never got lucky. The artichokes never hit below $3 each and they were tiny and not something I’d buy. We used to live on the west coast, where they were huge and delicious and worth a couple bucks!
Jessica,
There isn’t really any blanket guide that will guarantee what every person can get as far as fresh stuff :(. The weather, store availability and even transportation will all factor in. For example in California, we don’t really see Vidalia onions. We usually get the Walla Walla onions which have a different flavor but Washington is much closer then Georgia for transporting products.
When I used to live in Seattle I wouldn’t see anywhere near as much fresh fruit as I do now that I am in a warmer climate.
Sometimes in California we get better prices on Texas Grapefruit then people in Texas which is so strange. I know the stores I shop at also influence the produce that I see. For example, Sprouts has little tiny organic apples but I can literally go next door to Costco and get big lovely organic apples.
So there are tons of things that go into it. I can only tell you what is in season and then other issues out of anyone’s control- weather, storms, transport etc.. etc… will all factor in.
Thank you. I love reading your recipes. We don’t have whipped cream that often but will usually make it fresh when we do. Yes, you can taste the difference and it is relatively easy. The scones look delicious. Did you make them?
Barbara,
I try not to bake much these days because I tend to have no off button when it comes to fresh baked stuff :P. I have never been great at making scones either- those are the Blueberry Immaculate Baking Company scones that you just pop in the oven from a can :). But I do love baking and it is very rare that I buy something. Things always taste better homemade.
You can’t really make low fat whip cream b/c cream is full fat. You can use sugar free substitutes. I’m on a low carb diet and homemade whip cream is my once a week dessert. Stevia is natural sugar substitute, but in my opinion has a strange after taste. Splenda has the least amount of aftertaste. One thing I do recommend for whipcream is rather than regular vanilla, use a clear vanilla, or almond extract (love that nutty flavor). Then you won’t end up with the brown tinge. I also add some cocoa powder and you’ve got instant chocolate mousse! Lastly, keep a close eye on your mixer, a few seconds too long and you’ll have butter. Try it some time, just let it keep whipping. After it becomes solid just drain off the liquid (keep it for buttermilk).
Kim,
I actually have planned to make flavored butters sometime soon :). Mine didn’t turn brown from vanilla but the almond would probably be really good.
Some people on Facebook said they don’t use sugar at all- I think maybe you could work down to just the cream if you reduce it little by little.
Just wanderin how mych does this make
You can’t make whipped cream any less fat. It is the fat content that makes it ‘whip’.
If you are worried about what you are putting into your body it is like butter versus margarine.
Do you want something natural or chemical in your system?
For me, it is a no-brainer.
To me whipped cream is and always has been made from heavy cream. The likes of Cool Whip and similar products are nothing like real whipped cream. And it is traditionally not sweetened or flavours added either. The idea of whipped cream is to tone down or complement very rich foods, so why would you add ingredients to make the cream itself richer? Kinda like adding spices to steamed rice to serve with a spicy meal.
Lynne,
Thank you for sharing your opinion. If you prefer to skip the sugar that is fine! It isn’t a tremendous amount of sweetener so I really don’t think this makes a heavy dessert. I had it just today with blackberries. The berries were on the tart side so the tiny bit of sweetness helped a lot. If I had made some sort of heavy, rich, decadent chocolate dessert I may have skipped the extra sugar in the whipped cream. So what works for you may not work for the next person but that doesn’t mean it is wrong. I am not personally a fan of very rich foods as you mentioned so what might work for you wouldn’t work for me. I usually have this with fruits and they do often benefit from the extra bit of sweetness.
What about for vegans? Any suggestions?
Any ideas about us lactose sensitive people. I avoid whip cream but is there a recipe that could be dairy free? Thank youn
Sorry I am not sure about vegan or dairy free alternatives to heavy whipping cream :). Maybe you can google it and see what comes up.
For those of you inquiring about lactose free or non-dairy whipped cream: buy a couple of cans of the full fat coconut milk and put it in the refrigerator without opening it for a day. By doing this, the cream will settle at the top. Then open the cans, scoop the cream out of the top, and whip with a hand mixer for about a minute with some confectioners sugar if you want to add a little sweetness. Coconut whipped cream is very delicious and light as well.
I have made my own whipped cream for years. Pumpkin pie is the best with real whipped cream I just want to add here, since we’re being frugal, that you can also make your own powdered sugar by blending granulated sugar in your blender.
Charlene, Here’s a little tip for storing leftover whipped cream. Put it in the refrigerator in a loosely covered bowl, so air can get to it. It won’t get runny!
Yeah thanks for the tip!
It was really good. Thanks