Leftover Whipped Cream/Homemade Whipped Cream

Have you ever had some heavy whipping cream leftover and not known what to do with it? This would happen to me all the time and I would end up throwing it out because it went bad. Then one day I made an ice cream cake with whipped cream on top, the next day when we went to eat it, I saw how the whipped cream froze and it got me thinking. What if I whipped up my leftover whipping cream and then froze it. Then it hit me, I could use my pipping bag and experiment with different pipping tips and practice my technique. Plus it would be perfect for hot chocolate. I would have whipped cream for hot chocolate without having to whip it from fresh or buy a can of it. So now I never have to throw out leftover whipped cream because it went bad.

It is really simple to make these. All you have to do is whip up the whipping cream with your desired sweetener until stiff peaks form. Then transfer the whipped cream to a pipping bag fitted with desired tip, then pipe mounds of whipped cream onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silpat. Place the baking sheet into the freeze until the whipped cream is frozen. Once frozen, transfer the mounds into a freezer bag and keep in the freeze until you make your next mug of hot chocolate. Add a frozen whipped cream mound to a mug of hot chocolate and the whipped cream will start to melt in the hot chocolate just like fresh whipped cream would, it will just melt a little slower.

I am including my recipe for making homemade whipping cream if you are new to making whipping cream or are not sure about the ratio for heavy cream and sweeteners.

Homemade Whipped Cream

Ingredients:

• 1 cup cold heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons powdered sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Place bowl and whisk beater into the freezer for at least 15 minutes before using.
2. Remove the bowl and whisk from the freezer and add the heavy cream, powdered sugar and vanilla extract to the bowl.
3. Using the whisk attachment, whip the cream on low to medium speed until the mixture begins to thicken.
4. Increase the speed and continue to beat until stiff peaks form. When you lift the whisk out of the whipped cream the whipped cream should stay on the whisk without falling off and the peak in the bowl remains upright.

Enjoy!!!

Notes:
Putting the bowl and whisk into the freezer helps the cream to whip up better, however, it will still whip up if you do not have time for this step. Just make sure the heavy cream is cold.

If you want your whipped cream sweeter you can always add more powdered sugar. I would taste it as soft peaks form, the whipped cream forms a peak and then falls over when the whisk is removed, and add more powdered sugar if it is not sweet enough for your liking.

If you whip your heavy cream too long it will start to turn to butter. So watch carefully while you are whipping it, especially once it reaches the soft peak stage.