Can you make whipped cream with half and half?
If you can, what, if anything, do you have to do differently?
asked Nov 4, 2012 at 23:06
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2Where do you live. What is "half and half" in your country?– TFDCommented Nov 5, 2012 at 0:01
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1What I would do differently is throw the half and half away.– RobCommented Nov 5, 2012 at 1:15
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Adding Lecithin will help stabilize the foam/cream. At least you can do a foam using only milk and Lecithin, so half and half and a small amount of Lecithin <1% should work also. The cream will probably be more foamy/airy and less creamy.– StefanCommented Nov 5, 2012 at 7:26
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OK I am not sure what will work, however, half and half on it's own DOES NOT serve as a substitute and whoever suggested adding clarified butter to up the fat content, must have never tasted it, because it is disgusting! Next time, I'll just drive to the nearest convenience store and buy the heavy cream.– user22983Commented Feb 3, 2014 at 3:21
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1I have tried with 18% BF "table cream", with an electric beater, and I could not get it whipped. I ignored the "30% or more" rule-of-thumb in Kristina Lopez's excellent answer, and I paid the price.– Jeff RoeCommented Sep 1, 2015 at 4:20
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3 Answers
A general rule-of-thumb is that a butterfat content of 30% or more is required to produce whipped cream. Half and half (called half cream in the UK), which is comprised of half milk and half cream has a butterfat content between 10 - and 12.5% butterfat, based on various sources discovered in my research.
That being said, I've read that half and half can be foamed by beating it and can even achieve some very soft creaminess if whipped while almost frozen. It certainly would not taste like whipped cream or have the rich mouth feel of whipped cream - at least without adding something to stabilize the mixture which is beyond my experience.
As an aside, I have a "light, no-bake" cheesecake recipe that requires evaporated milk to be beaten but it must be thoroughly chilled before it will work.
Here is a link to a wikipedia page that includes a chart with explanations of all milk products:
answered Nov 5, 2012 at 5:09
The short answer is no, half and half doesn't have the fat content necessary. You will have to add something with high fat content. As stated above you could try adding some evaporated milk, or even clarified butter to bring up the fat content. Or a bit of heavy cream in it would bring it to a high enough fat level.
I've never tried with half and half, but you could try making it with evaporated milk instead.
You need evaporated milk whipped with 1 tsp. of lemon juice. You can also whip coconut cream for a similar substitute.
