If you find yourself craving the taste and creamy consistency of half and half but there’s none in your refrigerator, you can make some with a bit of butter and milk.

With butter, you can transform whole or low-fat milk into half and half by adding a tablespoon of butter for every cup of milk and mixing them thoroughly.

Melt a tablespoon of butter in a measuring container and add milk until it reaches the one-cup mark. The exact substitute is one tablespoon of butter and ⅞ cup of milk.

Make sure the butter is real, as you'll need the butterfat for the half and half incarnation. Avoid salted butter so that it won't affect the taste or composition.

Your new butter-milk concoction may not be a perfect half and half substitute, but it works just fine for sauces, creaming up puddings, homemade vanilla ice cream, or baked goods.