A relative of mine goes through the trouble of making home-made pumpkin pies every Thanksgiving, crust and all, only to top the off with store bought whipped cream in a can.

Please!

Whipped cream is amazingly simple to make. All you need is a metal bowl and a hand mixer. It works best if you stick the bowl and mixer attachments in the freezer for a bit first, but it’s not essential.

1. Add 1 cup of heavy cream (or whipping cream). Don’t substitute.
2. Add 1 teaspoon of sugar
3. Add a few drops of vanilla extract (optional, but adds a bit of flavor).
4. Whip using for a couple minutes with an electric hand mixer. I like to start at low speed and steadily ramp up as the mixture thickens.

It’s done when it’s the texture of…whipped cream. It will hold peaks when you remove the mixer wands from the cream.

So easy, and so much better than the canned stuff. You can store leftovers in the fridge.