Kitchen Miracle

Whipped Cream. Food of the gods. Pretty much nothing can't be improved with a dab of the real stuff. So, dig out your hand mixer, and prepare to never buy a tub or can of the fake stuff again.

What you'll need:

mixer
largish bowl
carton of "heavy cream" or "whipping cream"
sugar (or other sweeteners)
vanilla

Okay -- the prep. Cream whips faster if everything is cold. So, put your beaters and bowl in the freezer at least 30 minutes ahead of time.

Get out the bowl, put the beaters into the mixer, pour the cream into the bowl. Start the beaters slow, and increase speed. When you can see that the volume has increased, add a couple spoonfuls of sugar (for a pint of cream, I generally add 2 soup spoons full of table sugar) and a few drops (1/2 tsp for those of you who measure) of vanilla. Keep beating until the cream is thick enough that you see thick tracks in the cream as the beaters work. You can beat the cream until it's fairly stiff -- or leave it a bit looser. Don't take it TOO far, or you'll start making butter.

Whipped cream is great on all sorts of desserts, on after dinner coffee, cake, pies, pudding, etc. I like to make REAL hot chocolate and top it with whipped cream and call it dessert.

Once you become an expert at making the basic stuff - you can experiment -- like add a small spoonful of instant coffee or espresso grains for coffee flavored cream -- or sweeten it with maple syrup or brown sugar --- I have a recipe that calls for mixing a bit of whiskey in with the cream before beating and sweetening with brown sugar.

Learn accomplish this kitchen miracle. Trust me -- people will LOVE you for it. LOVE YOU.