How to Make Whipped Honey (& 5 Delicious Creamed Honey Flavors)
If you have crystallized honey on hand, you’re ready to learn how to make whipped honey! Creamed honey seriously couldn’t be easier to make and tastes heavenly spread on toast or drizzled over yogurt!
Do you love the sweet, floral flavor of honey? You’ll love making your own infused honey recipes to add extra flavor to teas, scones, and more! Try my vanilla honey or cinnamon infused honey for a special treat.
Have you ever had an old jar of honey changing from a golden, smooth liquid into a firm, chunky mess? Crystallizing is a natural process honey undergoes, especially when it’s been exposed to cold temperatures or moisture.
Although this crystallized honey is no longer ideal for spreading over toast, the good news is that you can easily turn it into something new and lovely: creamed honey!
This process breaks down those sugar crystals to make your hardened local raw honey perfectly spreadable again.
In this easy recipe, I’m breaking down everything you need to know about turning your solidified honey into the loveliest, most perfect spread for toast and more.
Don’t forget to print your free creamed honey labels!
What is Creamed Honey?
Creamed honey is a specific type of honey made by the process of whipping crystallized honey into a creamy consistency.
And no, there’s no cream involved!
If you’re a baker at all, you’ve probably had to “cream” your butter and sugar together. This term simply refers to a process of blending things together until they’re smooth and creamy.
As you run the crystallized honey in your stand mixer, the large crystals will break down into small crystals. The honey will take on a very pale, opaque color, sometimes even turning white.
It tastes just like regular honey, except I find it to be a bit toned down. It has a smooth, rich, marshmallow-like texture and delicious flavor. It’s not quite as intense so it adds a gentle sweetness and floral flavor in any application.
Creamed Honey Benefits
Since you are not heating the honey, creamed honey has all the same benefits as your favorite honey.
I like to use it when my raw honey crystallizes as it allows me to change the texture without adding any heat, which may break down the enzymes and proteins in raw honey.
One of my favorite benefits of creamed honey is that it lets you repurpose crystallized (solid state) natural honey without having to fuss with heating the honey to take it back to a liquid state. You just chuck it in the mixer and let it whip until it’s ready!
Creamed Honey Uses
There are so many ways to use creamed honey. Here are some of my favorite ways to use it up:
- Make homemade whipped honey butter
- Drizzle over Greek yogurt with fresh fruit
- Use as a topping for pancakes and waffles
- Spread onto fresh dinner rolls
- Spoon onto homemade bread
- Jar up this delicious recipe for a thoughtful gift
- Add additional flavorings for tons of flavor
Equipment
Making creamed honey takes some time and your arms will surely appreciate it if you use some modern technology.
I prefer to use my KitchenAid stand mixer for this process as I can let it run while I’m tinkering around in the kitchen. Since we will be whipped the honey for at least 20 minutes, this is a big help!
You can use a handheld electric mixer, but you’ll probably want a helper to swap out when your arms get tired.
Creamed Honey Ingredients
There’s only one ingredient required to make creamed honey: honey.
However, there are so many types of honey! Can you use every type of honey?
I only recommend using real, pure honey. Make sure there are no other sweeteners or additives. I prefer to use raw honey but you can use conventionally processed honey, too.
The easiest way to make creamed honey is to whip crystallized honey.
Especially if you use raw honey, you probably have a jar of honey solidifying in the pantry somewhere. You can whip this one its own without adding anything else.
Additionally, you can also make creamed honey by whipping together both crystallized and liquid honey. It’s important that you have the larger crystals in crystallized honey to make your homemade creamed honey.
It’s not recommended to use regular liquid honey as there won’t be any crystals to break down to make the creamy texture.
In this situation, you can use some regular creamed honey as a seed to start the creaming method. This is called seed honey, as it introduces the necessary sugar crystals to make your creamed honey perfectly smooth.
Otherwise, the specific type of honey doesn’t matter. Use clover honey, orange blossom honey, leftover lavender infused honey, etc. It’s more important that the honey is crystallized than anything else.
Creamed Honey vs Whipped Honey
You can use the terms “creamed honey” and “whipped honey” interchangeably. They both use the creaming process to give honey a creamy texture.
I’ve seen some recipes for whipped honey online that don’t spin the honey in the mixer for quite as long. They stop once the honey becomes creamy and has tiny crystals, not when the honey turns a very pale color.
Typically though, these terms mean the exact same thing.
How to Make Whipped Honey
- In the bowl of your stand mixer, add your honey (or combination of honeys).
- Using the whisk attachment, whip the honey at medium speed for about 20 minutes to start. Check on the mixture every 5 minutes or so to check the color and consistency (the crystals should be very fine or not noticeable), and to scrape down the sides.
- After 20 minutes, the honey is usable, but not as stable and may separate over time. If you’re using it right away or within the next week or so, feel free to stop here.
- To make real creamed honey, allow the honey to rest after the first round of whipping then whip for an additional 20 minutes. Rest again, then whip for an additional 20 minutes. Stop when the honey is very pale in color (almost white).
- Store in an airtight container in a cool, dark place.
How to Make Flavored Creamed Honey
Once you know how to make creamed honey, you’ll quickly find yourself dreaming up delicious flavor combinations. It’s incredibly easy to make flavored creamed honey and I’m sharing a handful of my favorite mix-ins and tips below.
Cinnamon Whipped Honey Recipe
This is the easiest way to make flavored creamed honey because you just have to add in ground cinnamon!
Add 1 tablespoon of ground cinnamon (ideally organic Ceylon cinnamon) to your creamed honey during the whipping process.
If your batch of cinnamon honey crystallizes, whip it until it’s creamy!
Vanilla Creamed Honey
For the most luxurious creamed honey, scrape the caviar out of one organic vanilla bean. Whip it into the creamed honey. Store in the fridge for up to a year.
This is a great way to use up my vanilla honey if it crystallizes, too.
Lemon Creamed Honey
The challenge with lemon creamed honey is that adding the juice will thin out the creamed honey and the fresh juice could go bad if stored at room temperature.
The trick is to use a heated infusion method. You’ll want to gently heat lemon peels (just the peel) in honey over low heat for about 10-20 minutes. Strain out the lemon peel and allow the mixture to cool completely.
If it crystallizes, you can whip it on its own. Otherwise, it will help to add a couple of tablespoons of regular creamed honey (or just crystallized honey) to the bowl of your mixer to speed up the process.
Store in the fridge for up to a year.
Lavender Creamed Honey
My favorite way to make lavender creamed honey is to whip up a crystallized jar of my lavender infused honey. This honey already has a delicious lavender flavor and I’ve strained out the buds.
Another option is to add food-grade lavender oil to honey while it’s being whipped.
Raspberry Creamed Honey
Although we don’t want to add fresh raspberries, which will thin the honey, you can absolutely add freeze-dried and crushed raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, or more!
You’ll need approximately 2 tablespoons of powdered, freeze-dried berries per 1 cup of honey. Mix following the creamed honey instructions above and enjoy!
How to Store Creamed Honey
Honey lasts forever, so shouldn’t creamed honey last forever too? Yes and no.
Regular, unflavored creamed honey has the same shelf life as regular honey. It should be stored in a cool, dark area in an airtight container like a glass jar.
Flavored honeys are a little bit trickier because any liquids or fresh ingredients can go bad in the honey. I recommend storing the lemon and vanilla creamed honey recipes above in the refrigerator. This will keep those fresh ingredients from going bad and will last up to a year.
Free Printable Creamed Honey Labels
Want to add these simple labels to your jars of whipped honey? Simply click the link below to download.
Where to Find Raw Honey
Looking for the best quality raw honey you can find? Try your local beekeeper or visit your local farmers market.
This is a great way to not only find the highest quality honey available but to also learn more about your local food system.
Plus, local honey is made from the pollen of all the plants in your area. People have used local honey to reduce allergy symptoms for years, although the research is still out on whether it really works.
FAQs
Technically, we’re comparing different states of honey. Raw or unprocessed honey is the simplest, purest form of honey. It’s spun to remove any particulates and not heated.
Creamed honey is made by whipping raw or conventional honey until it’s smooth and has a pale, opaque color.
You can make creamed honey with crystallized raw honey or regular, conventional honey from the grocery store. It’s more about the crystallization process than the specific type of honey.
Creaming is a great skill to learn if you use local honey as it will typically crystallize over time. This is the best way to repurpose that solidified raw honey without heating it.
Seed honey refers to either crystallized honey or a previous batch of creamed honey you can use to introduce honey crystals into your batch of freshly creamed honey.
This term confused me when I first started creaming honey and made me think this process had to be way more complicated than I thought. Did I need to buy some fancy type of honey inoculator to introduce seeds or something??
It’s definitely way easier than that. Just remember that creamed honey relies on the natural crystallization process. You need a small amount of sugar crystals to start the process, otherwise, the honey will not change color or thicken up.
Most people recommend using a 1:10 ratio of seed honey to regular honey, so you don’t need much to start the seeding process! This means you need just over 1 1/2 tablespoons of seed honey (crystalized honey or creamed honey) to cream 1 cup of liquid honey.
No. You can make creamed honey by whipping just crystallized honey. Since this process takes a fair amount of time, many people like to add some liquid honey to make a larger batch and distribute the tiny crystals across a larger mixture. This results in a smoother consistency.
Especially if you use raw honey, it’s normal to have a jar of honey crystallize over time. You can either reliquify the honey by heating the jar in warm water on the stove or you can make creamed honey.
To melt it on the stove: Add your jar of honey into a saucepan filled with water as high as you can get it to the go without it spilling into the container. Heat it over low heat until you notice the honey liquefying and the crystals dissolving.
To make creamed honey: Whip crystallized honey in the bowl of a stand mixer for 20 minutes at a time until the honey takes on a smooth, pale, and opaque quality.
Related Posts
- Lavender Infused Honey
- Vanilla Honey
- Cinnamon Infused Honey
- Vanilla Bean Paste
- Vanilla Maple Syrup
- Cinnamon Maple Syrup
- Lavender Liqueur
Creamed Honey
Equipment
- 1 mason jar
- 1 skinny spatula
Ingredients
- 1 cup honey, crystallized
- 1 tbs creamed honey, optional
Instructions
- In the bowl of your stand mixer, add your honey (or combination of honeys).
- Using the whisk attachment, whip the honey at medium speed for about 20 minutes to start. Check on the mixture every 5 minutes or so to check the color and consistency (the crystals should be very fine or not noticeable), and to scrape down the sides.
- After 20 minutes, the honey is usable, but not as stable and may separate over time. If you’re using it right away or within the next week or so, feel free to stop here.
- To make real creamed honey, allow the honey to rest after the first round of whipping then whip for an additional 20 minutes. Rest again, then whip for an additional 20 minutes. Stop when the honey is very pale in color.
- Store in an airtight container in a cool, dark place.
Notes
Cinnamon Creamed Honey
Add 1 T of ground cinnamon to 1 cup of honey.Vanilla Creamed Honey
Mix the flecks from one vanilla bean in 1 cup of honey or whip crystallized vanilla honey. It’s best to store in the fridge to prevent any moisture in the vanilla bean from causing spoilage.Lemon Creamed Honey
Make an infused lemon honey by gently heating lemon peels (just the peel) in honey over low heat for about 10-20 minutes. Strain out the lemon peel and allow the mixture to cool completely. If it crystallizes, you can whip it on its own. Otherwise, it will help to add a couple of tablespoons of regular creamed honey (or just crystallized honey) to the bowl of your mixer to speed up the process. Store in the fridge for up to a year.Lavender Creamed Honey
Whip up a crystallized jar of my lavender infused honey or add a few drops of food-grade lavender oil to honey while it’s being whipped.Raspberry Creamed Honey
Mix 2 T of powdered, freeze-dried berries per 1 cup of honey. Mix following the creamed honey instructions above and enjoy! Feel free to use any type of freeze-dried berry (blueberry, blackberry, strawberry, etc).Did this help you learn how to make whipped honey?
I’d love to know if these tips and this recipe helped or not! Feel free to add comments with more questions or your experience. You can also give this recipe a 5-star rating to help other people know this recipe will answer their questions!
This is so easy and I can’t wait to make this at home. Thank you!