Whipped body butter and my recipe

A couple years ago I made whipped body butter.  I tested a recipe or two.  My first recipe melted at room temperature during the summer months.  The last one didn't.  I wondered how people would ship this body butter around the USA and it stay looking like it did when it was placed into a container.  I asked a couple of people and they stated it will stir right back up when it is cool.  To me that defeats the purpose of whipped butter.  I like it light and airy.  I don't make this butter to ship anywhere; however I will give it to friends and family.  Why do I like whipped body butter?  My skin is dry.  I like this to use just like a lotion.  Do you have dry heels?  Elbows?  Hands?  Lotion usually soaks in and leaves my skin is dry.  Lotion has oils and butters in it, but it also has a liquid, such as water.  With whipped butters, there is no added liquid.  My recipe is below.    



Whipped Body Butter by Dawn Jones
Heat sunflower oil and coconut oil in a microwave or in a double boiler.  Pour this heated liquid over the butters. It should help melt the butters, but cocoa butter is quite hard and you may need to continue slowly melting this mixture.  Once it has liquefied, place it into a bowl which is usable with a hand or electric mixer.  I have an electric mixer dedicated to soaping. Since the butters are organic and unrefined, I had to filter the mixture twice.  Organic and unrefined butters are not necessary for use in this whip.  You can use non-organic and refined butters.  There will be a different smell in the mixture since unrefined coconut oil smells of cocoa.  Cool the mixture in the refrigerator to where the oils and butters start to harden on the outside of the bowl.

This is what nut meats or skins were strained out in the butters.

Oils hardened around the outside edge of the bowl.

When this happens, scrape the edges and start mixing with your mixer.  If the mixture does not whip after mixing on high for a few minutes, place it back in the refrigerator to cool more.  Mix/whip this mixture until it looks like soft ice cream, but with more air pockets.  Add the tapioca flour, the mica, and the fragrance while continuing to mix/whip.  Mix/whip until this heavenly mixture is completely blended and place it into jars or containers.  Tap the bottom of the jar or container on a cloth at your table or counter area.  You want to remove excess air, but not break the jar/or container.  Add more mixture if you are able to fit more into the jar or container.   If you have looked at Etsy adds, you will notice the contents are piped into the container and an extra cup of mixture is placed on the top for photographic effects.  You should get at least 9 cups of whipped butter.  If there is not enough whip or fluff in your mixture, put it back in the refrigerator for a little while. Scrape the edges when you remove it from the frig, and whip on high speed for a little longer.

10 ounces organic unrefined shea butter 
10 ounces organic unrefined cocoa butter
6 ounces sunflower oil
6 ounces coconut oil
2 teaspoons tapioca flour
2 teaspoons colloidal oatmeal 
2 teaspoons mica (Stellar White and White Russian sparkle mix)
1 teaspoon of fragrance oil or essential oil.  You may want to start with a couple of drops and fragrance as you strong as you like your lotion.  (Reminder from an asthmatic:  People do not want to smell your lotion before you get into the room.)
Mica---optional  I have used Stellar White and White Russian sparkle mix, yellow, or pink.   

Whipped Butter.

Vintage rickrack, paper roses, strips of rose sparkle fabric, and a vintage button cover adorn these jars/containers.  The two jars on the left are new jars from Ball.  I think they call them friendship jars.

Easy Baked Custard Recipe

Since we have plenty of eggs from our girls, I have been working on recipes for easy custard and coconut custard pie. I really have not had custard since I was a kid.  I think it is an acquired taste.  LOL  I tried an easy coconut custard pie recipe from the Internet, and there was too little coconut on the bottom, and too much on the top.  The recipe also called for butter and I prefer to have less milk fats since I do not digest them well.  I am still working on the coconut custard pie recipe, but I have a handle on easy plain custard, after a little trial and error.   I try to make our food nutritious and as low in fat and added calories as I can be without our food tasting like cardboard.  Two of my kids put ranch dressing and catchup on most anything, so it wouldn't matter how the food really tastes.  LOL  I personally like the custard to be chilled and served with a fruit sauce.  The custard I made this morning was served with a cranberry sauce I made around Christmas time.  The cranberry sauce has a little liquor kick so I really enjoyed my custard!

Ingredients:
8 eggs
3 cups milk
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup tapioca flour
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg 
1/2 cup raisins (optional, they will mostly lay on the bottom of the pan)  

Mix everything in a mixing bowl, (a blender would also work).   Place the items into the mixing bowl in the order I have listed.  If using an electric mixer, place the mixer on a low speed and make sure the eggs mix well.  Pour the mixture into a greased baking pan and bake in a 350 degree oven.  The pan I use is an odd size, but a standard 9" X 13" pan would would work as well.

Note:  I don't place my custard in a water bath like traditional custard is made. 
 

Once the custard bakes about 30 min., becomes darker on the top, starts to pulling away from the sides, and has a couple of cracks on the top, turn off the oven and leave the pan in the oven for an additional 15 minutes.   I like the flavor when the custard is cold, but it can equally be enjoyed when served warm.  

I ordered a small magnet for my car.  It arrived this week and here it is unpacked.  What do you think?

Some blogs have picture days that only show farm pictures.  I thought I would show you some of my pictures too.

Do you wonder where I found the corners, frames, fonts, etc. for my pictures?  I use PicMonkey to do most of the work.  I prefer downloading pictures to Microsoft Picture Manager first and toss out any that are fuzzy.  Then I crop using Microsoft.  From there I go to PicMonkey. The only problem is that PicMonkey is very slow.  Sometimes I give up and open another window to start over.   

We were talking at work a couple of days ago about blogs.  We were opposed to most blogs just 6 or 7 years ago.  Who wanted to read about what other people who have a life are doing?   Who wanted to see others going on vacations and read about his or child loosing a tooth or what they ate for dinner?  Well, it seems that most of us do.  I have tried to make my blog a little more educational.  I am not a journalist, as anyone reading this knows.  My spelling and grammar are not as good as I would like, but I try.  I hope it is not too difficult to follow my writing.  You are all welcome to contact me if you wish.  I do enjoy reading comments and you can also follow me by clicking on the button that says follow.  

I hope you find this recipe to work well for you.  I enjoy cooking when using my urban back yard farm.  Blessings to you and yours!  Dawnie