Ingredients

1/2 pint heavy cream
1 pint glass jar with tight lid
1 small marble
buttermold or small bowl
wooden spoon

Directions

Pour cream into glass jar. Add marble (to aid in mixing) and screw on the lid, making sure the jar doesn't leak. Shake the jar in a figure-eight pattern. Soon you'll no longer hear the marble moving in the thick cream, and then butter will start to form. Keep shaking until you have separated all the butter from the buttermilk. Drain off the buttermilk (you can drink it if you like), wash the butter in cold water, and pack it down into a buttermold or bowl with wooden spoon. Refrigerate until you're ready to eat. From "The Little House Cookbook: Frontier Foods from Laura Ingalls Wilder's Classic Stories," by Barbara M. Walker. Illustrations by Garth Williams.