Most people buy Cool Whip or other already-prepared whipped-cream products for the convenience of it. What they fail to realize is that homemade whipped cream is very easy to make, and it’s far more delicious! Once you get the knack of making your own whipped cream, you will likely never go back to Cool Whip.
Making homemade whipped cream is simple, and the results are out of this world. You will only need three ingredients to make your whipped cream: heavy whipping cream, pure vanilla extract and granulated sugar. Below find fail-proof tips for making homemade whipped cream.
* Buy a half pint of heavy whipping cream
You can find heavy whipping cream in your supermarket’s dairy section. It’s usually near the Half & Half. You can get a half pint or pint of the heavy whipping cream. As the instructions in this article are for a half pint, be sure to double if you use a full pint.
* Get high-quality vanilla extract
When making whipped cream, you want to use real vanilla extract, not the imitation vanilla. While the vanilla extract is a bit more expensive, it will last a long time and is worth the investment. If you can afford to splurge, some of the very best vanilla you can buy is Nielsen-Massey Vanilla. It’s truly a taste of heaven on earth.
* Chill the cream in the freezer prior to making
Place the half pint of whipping cream in your freezer about 10 minutes before you’re ready to make your whipped cream. The really cold cream will do better when you whip it.
* Use a small glass mixing bowl
Next, you want to use a small glass mixing bowl for preparing your whipped cream. It needs to be larger than a soup bowl, but not too large. You may need to try out more than one to figure out the best one. If your set of mixing bowls has three sizes, the smaller-sized one should be fine.
* Prepare the whipped cream
Here’s the super easy, fail-proof part. Pour your cold whipped cream into the glass mixing bowl. Add one four teaspoons of granulated sugar and one teaspoon of vanilla. Using the whisk on your electric mixer, start on a low speed. Wait about 20 seconds, and move the speed up to the medium setting on your electric mixer. You will see some bubbles start to form in the cream as you beat it. Wait about 20 more seconds, and move the setting up to the highest speed.
Continue to whip the ingredients for another 1-2 minutes until the cream starts to thicken. You will see it change in consistency, and it will start to form small peaks. Once this happens, you can taste the whipped cream to see if you want to add more vanilla or sugar.
And that’s it. You now have a bowl of out-of-this-world homemade whipped cream. Better yet, it took only about five minutes to prepare it! Once you start making this wonderful treat, you will truly wonder why you weren’t making it before.