Eat France on a dime!

Crème fraîche

 

              I love Crème fraîche! I sometimes feel I should've been born in France. I can picture it now, sitting on a corner at a patisserie sipping wine and eating madeleine. My confession for the day: I'm fascinated by anything and everything French. But I should probably tell you something you don’t know already. Okay. Back to this masterpiece called Crème fraîche. 

I love its creamy, slightly tangy, very rich, thickness. As a matter of fact, I substitute it for american sour cream. Chocolate cake, coffee cake, and pound cake are just a few mouth-watering delights that turn into signature treats, due to this phenomenal ingredient. Looking to add some additional flavor? You can also add vanilla bean, freshly picked summer berries, or even waffles anywhere the sour cream was originally required. Moving away from the desert domain, why not try using it for tacos by adding a small squeeze of the lime juice piquancy? Absolutely delicious!

Now at this point, I want to avoid doing you an injustice by not sharing all the facts. The truth is that crème fraîche can be expensive. The last time I checked, it was around $4.99/8oz. You might be thinking, that’s not too expensive, right? Well, when your plan is to use it for a cake, and then you decide that you want some pancakes, you’re going to have a problem. Confession number two: that’s exactly what I did. To be fair, it’s not an uncommon occurrence when you like to create things from scratch. I enjoy making things from scratch because I know exactly what’s going in, and where it’s coming from. In addition to the satisfaction of knowing you made it with you own two hands, it’s cheaper too! Who wouldn’t want that?!

I paid $2.39 for a pint of heavy cream, and one quart of buttermilk for $1.79. In total, that's $4.18. You’re already looking at $0.81 in saving! You only use 4 Tbls or ¼ cup of the buttermilk, and there are 16 ¼ cups in 32oz of buttermilk. Do the math, and it comes out to roughly $0.11 per ¼ cup. If you were to buy the heavy cream for $2.39 and use the buttermilk ($0.11), you've spent $2.50 for 2 cups of Crème fraîche instead of $4.99 for 1 cup. CONGRATULATIONS! You've double the product for half the price! 

So there you have it, with only 2 simple ingredients, and a bit of time, you'll have beautiful, thick, and creamy Crème fraîche.

Ingredients:

2 cups heavy cream

4T or 1/4 cup buttermilk

Method:

1. Pour the heavy cream and buttermilk in a glass bowl. 

2. Cover with plastic.

3. Set it on your countertop overnight in the morning give it a quick stir, and voilà Crème fraîche.

It will keep for about 5 days in the refrigerator.

Enjoy, and thanks for reading.

FOOD IS LOVE!