# Scones!........And clotted cream (see post 13)!



## IrishLass (Jun 1, 2015)

I'm so happy that I just wanted to share that my quest for a great British-type scone recipe is over and that I finally found my scone nirvana! 



I've never been to Britain, but for a short period of time in my teenage years I lived near a bakery owned and operated by a couple of British ex-pats, and my mom would often stop by there after work and buy some of their scones to bring home.

Anyway, to make a long story short, I fell in love with those currant-studded scones and I've always wanted to re-create them in my kitchen, but success has always eluded me until just this past weekend when I happened upon a Cook's Illustrated recipe entitled 'British-Style Scones with Currants'. It looked promising, so I gave it a try (with a few tweaks), and WOW! Them's be the scones!!!

Without much further ado, here be the Cook's Illustrated recipe (with a few slight tweaks made by me):

Oh- before I begin, I just wanted to point out that I used King Arthur's all-purpose unbleached flour, which has a protein content of 11.7%.

-3 cups (15oz./425g) all purpose flour
-1/3 cup (2.5oz./71g) sugar
-2 tablespoons (1 oz./29g) double-acting baking powder
-1/4 teaspoon salt if you are using salted butter. If using unsalted butter, use 1/2 teaspoon salt instead. I used salted butter and reduced my salt amount.
-8 tablespoons (1/2 cup/4 oz./113g) butter
-1/4 cup (40g) raisins, chopped (the original recipe calls for 3/4 cup dried currants, which I thought sounded a bit too excessive for my tastes. My tweak worked perfectly for me.
-1 cup (8 oz./227g) whole milk
-2 large eggs (mine weighed a total of 102g for what it's worth)

*Prep:
1)* Cube the butter and let it sit at room temp. for about 1/2 hour to soften. (yes, you heard me right- we want softened butter for this)
*2)* Adjust your oven rack to the upper middle position and preheat it to 500 degreesF/260C
*3)* Line a 13" x 18" (33cm x 45.7cm) baking sheet with parchment paper
*4)* Weigh out the milk and whisk the 2 eggs into it until well-combined, then remove 2 tablespoons of the mixture into a separate small bowl (to brush the top of the scones with later before baking) Set aside.
*5)* Chop your raisins (if using), or measure out your currants and set aside.
*6)* Into a food processor (or into a large bowl if you don't have a food processor), weigh out/add together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.

*Directions:
A)* If using the processor, give the flour mixture about 5 pulses on high to combine. If using a bowl, combine the flour mixture well with a wire whisk.
*B)* Adding the softened butter: If using the processor, toss the butter on top of the flour mixture and pulse about 20 times or until there is no longer any visible pieces of butter left. The mixture should resemble uniformly fine, pale yellow, powdery sand. If not using a processor, the best way to mix in the butter is either by using a pastry cutter or even better- just use your hands/fingertips. Whatever you do, just don't stop mixing until all the butter is incorporated and you have what looks like uniformly fine, pale yellow, powdery sand.
*c)* If you used a processor, transfer the 'sand' to a large mixing bowl and stir in the chopped raisins or the currants. If you used a large bowl to begin with, keep the sand where it is just toss in the chopped raisins or currants and mix them in.
*D)* Adding the milk/egg mixture: Whilst stirring with a blunt knife or a spatula (I used a blunt knife), pour the milk/egg mixture (minus the 2 tbsp you set aside in a small bowl) into the flour/raisin mixture and continue strirring just until no dry bits are left.
*E)* Flour your hands and your workspace, then dump the fairly wet dough onto your well-floured workspace and gather into a ball.
*F)* Next, you are going to do the most scandalalous, unthinkable thing to your scone dough. You are actually going to knead it with your floured hands until the surface is smooth and free of cracks, about 25 to 30 times (it took 30 gentle kneads for me to get it smooth and crack-free).
*G)* Gently press the dough into a disk shape and then roll out into a 1" thick x 9" round. Make sure you don't roll it too flat. It needs to be no less than 1".
*H)* Using a 2.5" round cutter, press swiftly and directly straight down into the dough (don't use a twisting motion as you're going down). Only when you've hit rock-bottom can you hazard a twist- but only a very slight twist to merely release the scone and cutter from the main body of dough. Place it on your lined baking sheet, then stamp out as many rounds in like manner as you can, placing them gently onto your parchment-lined baking sheet as you go.
*I)* Gather up the remaining dough scraps into a ball and roll out to 1", and stamp out as many more scones as you can until all the dough is used up, and place them on your baking sheet. The last 1 or 2 scones may need to be hand-shaped. I ended up with 15 perfectly shaped scones and 2 oddballs, for a total of 17 scones.
*J)* Brush the tops of the scones with the set-aside milk/egg mixture. Make sure to only brush the very tops of the scones so that none runs down the sides of your scones, or else it may interfere with the oven rise (so I hear). By the way, I did not need to use all of my egg/milk mixture. I had plenty leftover, so don't worry about running low.
*K)* Place the scone-laden baking sheet in the oven, turn the temp down to 425F/218C and bake 10 to 12 minutes, making sure to rotate the baking sheet halfway through baking. Mine took 11 minutes, by the way.
*L)* Transfer the hot scones to a wire rack and cool 10 minutes before eating.
*M)* Once completely cool, any left-over scones that you don't eat can be wrapped and frozen. To serve, just unwrap and re-heat in a 300F/149C oven for 15 minutes (directly from the freezer).

My scones (they came out so incredibly soft, light and fluffy):







Oh and to top things off (quite literally!), I also came up with a mock Devonshire/clotted cream recipe, based on having read a smattering of British cooking blogs into the wee hours of the morning. I've never tasted real clotted cream, so I didn't have anything concrete to base it on except for other's descriptions, so I hope those of you who are British don't judge my efforts too harshly. For what it's worth, it tastes great to me and my hubby and son:

My faux clotted cream (this makes a scant cup):

-3 oz./85g mascarpone cheese.
-3 oz./ 85g heavy cream (35% fat)
-14g (1 tbsp) softened butter (I used Kerry Gold brand, salted- it's all I had on hand).
-1 smidge (1/32 tsp.) vanilla extract
-1/2 tsp. caster sugar

In a 2-cup measuring cup, whisk the butter with a small whisk to lighten it up a bit, and then whisk in the mascarpone until smooth and fluffy. Next, whisk in about 1 tbsp. of the heavy cream until nice and fluffy, then lightly whisk in the remaining cream, the vanilla and the sugar until the consistency is thick, but of a slightly loose/flowing/soft-peak nature. In other words, don't whisk the cream so hard that the cream becomes too stiff. Place in a covered jar and store in fridge.

I know it's against mock clotted cream protocol- at least from what I hear if you want to make it taste as close to the real thing as possible- but I find that adding those very small amounts of sugar and vanilla (and even the tiny bit of salt from the salted butter) adds a nice, very subtle hint of flavor that keeps it from being too bland/1-dimensional, but without going overboard.

Here's a pic (I guess I would feel at home in Cornwall since I found out that I prefer putting the jam on first instead of the cream, lol):








IrishLass


----------



## galaxyMLP (Jun 1, 2015)

I'm not going to lie and say that I read all of it but I read enough to know that I will be trying this some day! They look so yummy and I looove me some scones. Your pictures are so pretty and from what I read you give detailed instructions.  sorry if you're mad that I didn't read it all! I will before I make them of course!


----------



## snappyllama (Jun 1, 2015)

Those look divine!  I'm saving the recipe and drooling a little on my keyboard.


----------



## TheDragonGirl (Jun 1, 2015)

Those look great, I'm going to have to give this one a try when I'm in a baking mood, I've even got the right flour


----------



## clairissa (Jun 1, 2015)

OMG!  They look fabulous!  I will definitely have to try that recipe.  Thanks for posting.


----------



## jules92207 (Jun 1, 2015)

Oh Irish, those look incredible! Scones is definitely on my to do list, thanks for the instructions!


----------



## Relle (Jun 2, 2015)

Lovely looking scones IL. I make scones quite a bit and use a recipe from my Commonsense Cookbook from school.

2 cups SR Flour
2 tblsps butter
Pinch salt
Milk

Sieve flour, rub in butter until it resembles breadcrumbs. Make a well in the centre and add enough milk to bring it altogether. Knead and press dough out with hand the thickness  for a scone. Cut out with scone cutter brush tops with milk and put on a greased tray just touching each other  and bake for 15 mins at 450F.


----------



## shunt2011 (Jun 2, 2015)

Those look and sound awesome.  I love scones and make the several times a year.  I'll be trying these this weekend.  Thank you for sharing!!


----------



## kchaystack (Jun 2, 2015)

My partner is a Brit.  He is always going on about when he visits we need to have a cream tea.  

According to what I have researched, making clotted cream is as easy as taking fresh heavy cream, and putting it into a shallow dish and setting it in a oven at its lowest setting over night.  It should make a butter like substance.   But it only lasts a day or 2 before going bad, so eat fast! 

The problem is that you can not use ultra pasteurized cream.  Which is what you get in most groceries.  I have found a local co-op that sells from a local dairy, tho so this is on my things to try.


----------



## soapswirl (Jun 2, 2015)

Mmm scones! As a resident in the west country I can say your scones certainly look the part! And yes jam before cream! I can't get my head around the mascarpone clotted cream though!


----------



## gemsupthepoley (Jun 3, 2015)

I've never really put much thought into it.  I made them as a bairn with my mum.  She still makes them regularly and they're just scones!!!     I did try and make them a few years back and it was a disaster!  I don't have the lightest of hands for baking.
Fresh home made scones with butter and home made jam and of course a wee dram.


----------



## Saponista (Jun 3, 2015)

*Scones!*

I'm in the west country to soap swirl. Can't beat a Devonshire cream tea. Mmmmmmm

In Devon it's cream before jam though. 

You could try the same recipe and add grated cheese irishlass. I love a buttered cheese scone.


----------



## IrishLass (Jun 3, 2015)

Thank you all! Let me know if any of you make them!

Saponista- a cheese version slathered in butter sounds awesome!

I actually had to make another batch yesterday (how utterly sad), because we munched our way right through that first batch in no time! But this time I added a bit of whole wheat flour to them (1 cup whole wheat flour to 2 cups of the all-purpose flour), and they came out just as lovely! I didn't change anything else in the recipe, except for the flour used for dusting my workspace- I didn't need to use as much of it to keep things from sticking to my counter as I needed to use with my 100% all-purpose batch.



kchaystack said:


> According to what I have researched, making clotted cream is as easy as taking fresh heavy cream, and putting it into a shallow dish and setting it in a oven at its lowest setting over night. It should make a butter like substance. But it only lasts a day or 2 before going bad, so eat fast!
> 
> The problem is that you can not use ultra pasteurized cream. Which is what you get in most groceries. I have found a local co-op that sells from a local dairy, tho so this is on my things to try.


 
I'm so glad you brought this up, because I actually just finished making some of the real stuff....well, as real as one can get in the States with our anemic cream that contains only 35% butterfat. lol

I made it out of 1-pint (16oz.) organic pasteurized whipping cream with 35% butterfat that I found at WholeFoods (made by Straus Family Creamery). It was the only one I could find around here that wasn't ultra-pasteurized.

This YouTube video gave me the inspiration and courage to try making it: [ame] I watched it several times and read all the comments below it at least twice before diving in.
If anyone from the US is wondering if it's possible to make it with our skimpy 35% butterfatted cream, I'm living proof that it can be done. You might not get the same yield that a cream with 55% butterfat will give you, but you will get plenty enough to enjoy nevertheless. My yield from my pint of cream was enough to _almost_ fill a pint jar (it was about 1.5" or so shy of the rim).

How I did it: I pretty much followed the instructions on the video, but made a few minor temperature tweaks along the way.

To start, I poured my cream into an 8" x 8" glass baking dish, and placed it (uncovered) into my preheated 180 degreeF oven just a couple of hours before going to bed. Everything I've read said it needs to bake for 12 hours, so I thought I'd let it do most of it's thing overnight.

When I was headed off to bed two hours later, I checked on it and saw that a thin, pale yellow crust was beginning to form, and it was very slightly bubbling underneath. I was very happy to see the crust forming, but the bubbling part concerned me and warned me my oven was too hot. Since I didn't want to wake up in the morning to burnt cream, I switched my oven over to its 'Warming' feature and turned the temp down to 165 degreesF, set a piece of foil to lightly rest on top of the dish, and then I went to bed.

I checked on it 8 hours later when I got out of bed and it looked quite lovely- there was a nice pale yellow crust on top with rivulets of melted butter interspersed here and there over it, and below the crust I could see that it was quite liquid and milky, but no bubbling (yay!). The video comments said this was quite normal, so I didn't overly worry myself about how fluid it looked under the crust, although I confess that I did experience a little anxiety at how thin the crust was.

By now it had been baking for 10 hours, and I wanted the crust to lightly caramelize around the edges before taking it out, so I uncovered the dish and increased the temp back up to 180F, since I was now awake and could keep my eye on it and turn the heat down if things got too hot again.

Two hours and 20 minutes later (for a total of 12 hours and 20 minutes) the edges of my crust took on really nice caramelized/light golden hue. I then removed the dish to the counter to cool to room temp. Once it was completely cool, I covered it and placed it in the fridge for about 7 hours to 'set up'.

I gotta say, I was somewhat anxious about things when I put it in the fridge, because the crust was thin and it was very fluid/milky underneath, but the comments under the video helped to re-assure me that all of that was fine/normal, and I felt encouraged to pay no mind to the fluidity and to just forge ahead nevertheless.

Seven hours later I was rewarded for following that sage advice, for underneath that crust was a lovely bunch of creamy goodness...as well as a fair bit of milky whey:







The chef guy in the video wrote in the comments section to just mix them both up together, so that's what I did, and then I put it in a pint canning jar and placed it in the fridge overnight. Results:






The texture is soft and somewhat fluffy, and very rich and creamy, with a bit of graininess from the crust interspersed throughout (those 'bumps' that you see are parts of the crust).

I could hardly wait to taste it so that I could compare it to my faux version. Verdict? The texture of the real thing (except for the bit of graininess from the bits of the crust) is spot on with my faux version, but I'll definitely need to tweak the taste of the faux version to better match the real. First, I'll need to omit the vanilla from the faux altogether. And as for the sugar, I'll keep it, but I'll need to heat it in a pan first to slightly caramelize it, and then I'll add only about 1/2 of my original amount to it. Oh- and I'll also have to increase the butter amount some to give it more of a buttery flavor (I think I'll start with a tbsp. more and tweak from there).

I must say, the taste of the real stuff is awesome! It has such a wonderful flavor combo of butter _and_ cream (I can definitely taste both individual flavors in there), and it has a very lovely, subtle, caramelized sweetness to it. It's quite yummy!

Would I make it again? In a heartbeat! :-o


IrishLass


----------



## IrishLass (Jun 4, 2015)

Saponista said:


> In Devon it's cream before jam though.


 
Apparently, that's the way Dr. Who eats them, too. lol  We were watching an episode of Dr. Who last night with Matt Smith as the doctor. He was in a tea room just about to take a bite of his scone when a mysterious, hooded creature interrupted him, and he put it back down on his plate. I couldn't help myself- I just had to see how the clotted cream and jam were situated on his scone.... It was cream on the bottom, jam on top.  

You might be interested (and happy) to know that my son had a proper Devon-style scone this morning. I watched him put his cream on the bottom and the jam on top. lol


IrishLass


----------



## reinbeau (Jun 4, 2015)

I've had real clotted cream when I was in southwestern England years ago - and it is truly to die for.  I've got to try these recipes (both the scones & the clotted cream)!


----------



## IrishLass (Jun 5, 2015)

I'm going to do something wild and crazy- I'm going try making clotted cream using ultra-pasteurized cream. I was reading/researching on the interwebs last night and I came across a comment underneath somebody's blog that suggested adding a little calcium chloride to the ultra-pasteurized cream before heating it. Lo and behold- I just so happen to have some on hand from my cheese-making endeavors (I like to make my own mascarpone). Calcium is what helps cream/milk to be able to set a curd, and it (the naturally occurring calcium) gets a bit messed up under ultra-pasteurization, so many cheese-makers who can't find anything but ultra-pasteurized milk/cream will add back the calcium in the form of calcium chloride to help things set up (at the rate of 1/2 tsp. per gallon). So that is what I am going to try to do today/tonight. I'll let y'all know how it goes!


IrishLass


----------



## not_ally (Jun 5, 2015)

OMG, clotted cream.  I didn't click on this link until I saw that, IL, I can eat that stuff out of the jar (which is pretty much all you can buy in the States), if I make it to a ripe old age I will eat tons of tons of it and hope I die with a spoonful in my hand and a smile on my face.  You evil woman, I am craving scones with clotted cream and jam now.


----------



## Rowan (Jun 6, 2015)

I love scones and clotted cream so much. I could eat them every day!  I live on the south coast and agree with Saponista, cream first and then jam!  One of my best friends and I pop out to a a place near Lewes where they have the best scones and cotted cream. It's to die for.   If anyone is visiting Southern England you'll have to pop in and we'll go out for scones and talk soap!  

I can't wait to try Irish Lass's recipe. Your scones look amazing and I loove new recipes.


----------



## IrishLass (Jun 7, 2015)

Well, my experiment with clotted cream using ultra-pasteurized heavy whipping cream with a 35% butterfat didn't turn out half bad (a lot better than I had hoped, actually)........ 12.6 oz./358g of my original 32 oz. amount of heavy cream turned into excellent clotty goodness; almost 3 oz. evaporated off; and 16.45 oz./467g remained a milky liquid that was the consistency of creamy whole milk (which I will use to make more scones). This is the creamy goodness that greeted me this morning as I started skimming it off the top:






And this is what it looked like once I had separated all the clotty goodness away from the liquid milky part and gave things a stir:







And this is what it looked like sitting atop a nicely warmed scone (notice I slathered it on both ways, lol ):






So, using ultra-pasteurized need not be a total bust if you add a little calcium chloride to the cream beforehand. The yield might not be as high as when using just regular pasteurized, but there's plenty enough for the whole family to enjoy, and the leftover liquid can be used to make a couple of batches of scones- win/win!

By the way, I used 1 quart of UP heavy whipping cream and 1/8 tsp. liquid calcium chloride that I bought online from New England Cheesemakers, although I hear that you can also buy the calcium chloride from home-brewing supply stores.

I baked the cream uncovered in an 8" x 8" baking dish in my oven @ 180F/82C for 2 hours, turned the oven down to 165F/74C when I went to bed, and then turned it back up to 180F/82C about 8 hours later when I got up, and continued baking 6 hours more (for a total of 16 hours). It was uncovered the whole time. I baked this one longer than my first batch because it took that long for the crust of this batch to get to a nice golden color.

I then cooled it down to room temp on my counter (lightly covered over the dish with cheesecloth), and then once it was completely cooled down, I refrigerated (covered with foil) for about 13 hours.


IrishLass


----------



## Rowan (Jun 7, 2015)

OMG, I'm so hungry right now. They look absolutely gorgeous!


----------



## not_ally (Jun 7, 2015)

That ultrapasteurized cream is gorgeous.  I don't think it is fair to post these pictures until you figure out how to can/jar and sell them to us so that we can all share.


----------



## IrishLass (Jun 9, 2015)

not_ally said:


> That ultrapasteurized cream is gorgeous. I don't think it is fair to post these pictures until you figure out how to can/jar and sell them to us so that we can all share.


 
I've been looking high and low for info on how to can/jar this wonderful stuff, but I keep running into a brick wall that says it's too risky and/or not advisable because of the low pH and high fat/density. :cry:

It can be frozen, though. :-o You may have to whip it some once it thaws, but it's do-able according to the many blogs I've read, which I'm of the mind to agree with since I freeze my homemade mascarpone all the time with great results, and it's just as fatty/rich and has the same kind of creamy texture as clotted cream, minus the lumpy clots, that is. I just take my beaters to it once it's thawed, and it's as good as new.

For what it's worth, my first batch of clotted cream (which I had mixed with all the leftover liquid whey, if you recall) lasted 6 days in my fridge before starting to take on a very slight cheesy/sour taste- although I only had a small bit of it left by then.

My second batch made with the ultra-pasteurized cream, which was not mixed with any of the leftover liquid, still tastes as fresh as when I made it a few days ago.

Oh- one more thing...... I just found out that WholeFoods sells another brand of regular pasteurized heavy whipping cream (Organic Valley brand), and it has 40% butterfat! I'm using that next time!


IrishLass


----------



## not_ally (Jun 9, 2015)

I wish I lived in your neighborhood.  I would be stopping over to look at soaps, get advice, and offer my services as a taster every day (imagine IL wiping her brow in relief that I am safely ensconced in LA )


----------



## IrishLass (Jul 5, 2015)

I just thought I'd give an update as I sit here devouring a homemade scone topped with homemade clotted cream & blueberry jam, and sipping a cup of Twinning's English Breakfast tea. Yum, yum, yum!

Anyway, two weeks ago today, I made another batch of clotted cream, this time using 1 quart of Trader Joe's house-brand of pasteurized heavy whipping cream (their refrigerated kind- not their shelf-stable kind).

Results? My yield of clotted cream weighed out at a generous 21.35 oz./605g, with a leftover of 4.04 oz./116g of whey (the remaining 6.6 oz. of my starting liquid weight was lost to evaporation). I was able to fill a 1-pint canning jar all the way to the very top with clotted cream, and a half-pint canning jar about half-way up (I drank the whey, btw).....

....and oh, my goodness- the consistency of this batch is so dense and so much richer/creamier than my previous 2 attempts. Even when refrigerated, it stays a beautiful creamy/dollop-able consistency (instead of going all rock hard like refrigerated butter).

Also- it hasn't hasn't developed any separation issues at all in it's 2-week life (doesn't need to be stirred), and the best part of all, it's still good! It hasn't gone 'off' at all yet! I put that down to the fact that I sanitised my canning jars first with Star-San, the same kind of stuff I use to sanitize my lotion-making equipment and bottles (and also what many home-brewers use to sanitize their beer bottles and beer-making equipment). Also- I always use a clean utensil to scoop the cream out each time, which I'm sure helps.

Once my present batch of clotted cream is gone (only a wee bit left now), I will be making another batch, but this time with Organic Valley Heavy Whipping Cream (from WholeFoods), which according to Organic Valley's website, contains 40% butterfat. I'll let you know how it goes!

I guess I'm officially addicted to clotted cream now! 


Also- I'll hopefully be testing out a gluten-free English-type scone recipe this week (for my SIL who has problems with gluten). I'll let you know how that goes too!


IrishLass


----------



## Aline (Jul 5, 2015)

That is very ambitious making your own clotted cream!

I am from the UK and during the summer before going to uni I worked at an outdoor cream tea cafe next to Snowshill Church (in the Cotswolds) run every summer by a farmer's wife. The happy summer memory is a little tainted by remembering how sick I felt at the end of the day from stuffing my face!


----------



## IrishLass (Jul 6, 2015)

Aline said:


> That is very ambitious making your own clotted cream!


 
It's pretty funny, but I actually feel more ambitious trying my hand at making a gluten-free scone than I do making clotted cream !  Making clotted cream is much more easier to make than I ever imagined (at least once I was able to find heavy cream that wasn't ultra-pasteurized, that is). lol




Aline said:


> I am from the UK and during the summer before going to uni I worked at an outdoor cream tea cafe next to Snowshill Church (in the Cotswolds) run every summer by a farmer's wife. The happy summer memory is a little tainted by remembering how sick I felt at the end of the day from stuffing my face!


 
That sounds to me like the perfect job..... apart from getting sick of course! I know only too well what you mean about stuffing your face when it comes to scones and clotted cream. I've been very good these past 2 weeks, though- I've been limiting myself to one or 2 cream scones at the most per any given day. 


IrishLass


----------



## lsg (Jul 6, 2015)

I will have to give these a try.  Thanks IrishLass


----------



## not_ally (Jul 6, 2015)

MMM [imagine Homer Simpson voice] CLOTTTED CREEEEAAM!!!  It is a toss up whether that or bacon is better, but I think Homer would approve.


----------



## IrishLass (Jul 8, 2015)

I just had the weirdest thing happen today. I attempted to make a new batch of clotted cream using a quart of the Organic Valley brand of heavy whipping cream from WholeFoods, and instead of clotted cream, I ended up with 17 oz. of butter (yes- _butter_) and 12 oz. of what very much resembles whole milk (instead of thin-looking whey). :Kitten Love:

I took a second look at the ingredients on the carton just in case I bought the wrong kind....... It is labeled as "Heavy Whipping Cream" (so far so good)............, and the ingredients are: "Organic Cream (milk), Carrageenan".

Hmmmm.......

In comparison, the Trader Joe's brand that I used a few weeks ago to make the most incredibly lovely clotted cream had these ingredients: "Organic Grade A Pasteurized Heavy Cream" (I like the sound of those ingredients much, much better).

Here is the difference. The creamy dollop on the right is one of my last dollops of the lovely clotted cream I made from the Trader Joe brand of heavy whipping cream a few weeks ago, and the solid yellow blob on the left is the result of my latest clotted cream attempt, made with the Organic Valley brand:









No comparison, if you ask me. Methinks I shall be using Trader Joe's brand from now on to make clotted cream. TJ's gave me a much higher yield of clotted cream with just a mere 4 oz. of thin, watery whey left over, and the finished texture was absolutely creamy/dreamy like thick whipped cream, which stayed that way (soft and creamy) even when chilled in the fridge. Although you probably can't tell from the picture, that yellow blob of butter on the left is quite hard after being in the fridge for only a few hours now.

On the bright side, at least I now have a couple of canning jars of homemade butter with a delicious, slightly caramelized taste to spread on toast and other things.

I guess it's back to Trader Joe's for me, and back to the drawing board! lol


IrishLass


----------



## not_ally (Jul 8, 2015)

I'm actually really glad you posted this IL, the last time this thread came up it sent me on a frenzy of clotted cream googling.  I know now more than I will ever need to about it   I was headed to TJ's tomorrow to get some heavy cream.  But probably would have tried the Whole Food version at some point, so you saved me some frustration down the road, and also made me realize that I need to check the ingredients when I buy, not just the pasteurized/ultra pasteurized difference.  

After looking at your posts and a bunch of recipes, I think I am going to take the lazy person's way out, just pour it into a heavy pan and then the oven overnight, then fridge etc.  I was so hungry for clotted cream after looking at all those posts!


----------



## IrishLass (Jul 9, 2015)

Let me know how it goes, not_ally! 

I just came back from Trader Joe's myself with 2 pints of the Trader Joe brand of heavy whipping cream in tow. As soon as I got home, I poured the contents into my Pyrex baking dish and popped it into the oven. Normally, I've been letting it bake overnight, but since I felt so cheated out of having fresh clotted cream yesterday, I just didn't want to wait until tonight to start baking it. lol I figure it should be ready to come out of the oven at about 10pm tonight, then I'll let it cool at room temp and pop it in the fridge before I go to bed (I'm a night owl, btw). And then in the morning, I'm having scones and clotted cream! 

I'll let you know how it goes!


IrishLass


----------



## not_ally (Jul 9, 2015)

I definitely want to know, please do.  I did not go to TJ's yet, I took my mom to Best Buy and Costco, and that was exhausting (and expensive).  I am a one person and dogs household, I have no reason to ever, ever, go to Costco, and I always come back with stuff I bought because it tasted so good when I sampled it, but no place to put it in the freezer ...

I had another question, but you had already answered it in your lovely long posts earlier.  Belated thank you!

ETA:  So frustrating, IL, I don't use my gas oven much (I CPOP in a little electric convection oven, that would just be too expensive and ineffective on a 12 hr cook) and just noticed that the measurements start at 240F.  While that marking is clearly not the lowest temp - the 240F marking is at about the 10 pm mark if the heat measure was a clock - I don't know what the minimum temp actually is, I have googled the stove and can't find it.  All the recipes seem to say 180 is about as high as you should go.  

I think I am going to make two attempts at this tonight, one using the undetermined lowest temp in the oven, and one in a crockpot set at the lowest setting and using a double boiler thingie with water in the bottom and the cream container on top.  I guess it will be interesting, if nothing else.


----------



## IrishLass (Jul 9, 2015)

I know what you mean about Cosco. We're a household of 3 in a small house and are only able to buy a limited amount of practical things that we know will get used up and not take up a lot of room - like olive oil for soaping! 

I did something that made me so happy today (besides buying cream to make clotted cream, that is  ). I made a batch of gluten-free scones that actually came out successful! I've been trying to come up with a GF recipe for my SIL who has gluten issues. This was my second attempt. My first attempt a few days ago came out so bad it went into the trash. I absolutely hate throwing away food, but trust me, _it was necessary_. Thankfully, it was only a half batch of 5 scones. Five very dense, dry, mealy-mouth-feel/textured scones that could have been used for doorstops. lol 

In comparison, the batch I made today was the difference between night and day. It was a half batch, too, but they came out so delightfully (and surprisingly) good that I wish I had made a full batch. If I had not made them myself, I would never in a million years have suspected they were gluten-free- they are _that_ good. My SIL will be so pleased!

They are beautifully light in weight with a tender, bready/biscuity, airy crumb- just like the regular scones I've been making with the recipe I posted at the beginning of this thread. And the mouth-feel of these is just like my regular scones, which is so many miles above the pathetic mealy attempt that I threw away the other day. 

Anyway, here is the (successful) recipe I used today. It's a slight tweak of Epicurious's recipe entitled, 'Best Gluten Free Scones' that I found online. This is the full recipe complete with my tweaks, by the way. I split the below full recipe exactly in half to make my experimental batch today and it worked great. My tweaks/special notes to the recipe are in red:

-1 3/4 cups (224g) gluten-free multi-purpose flour (I used Cup 4 Cup brand)
-1/3 cup (71g) granulated sugar
-2 tbsp. (20g) teff flour (my tweak to add some whole-grain- and hopefully slight wheaty-tasting goodness to it. It worked ncely, btw)
-1 tbsp. (12g) buttermilk powder (my tweak to hopefully combat any possible blandness....it worked, too, btw)
-1 tbsp. (15g) baking powder (I used Rumford double-acting baking powder)
-1/4 tsp. baking soda (added because of my buttermilk powder addition)
-1/2 cup (113g) cold butter, cubed
-2 large eggs
-1/3 cup (74g) cold whole milk 
-1/2 tsp. xanthan gum (I used Bob's Red Mill brand)
-1/2 tsp. salt
-1/4 cup (40g) dried currants (down from 3/4 cup additions in the original recipe, because I don't like gobs of dried fruit. 1/4 cup is plenty.)
-1 tsp. vanilla extract

1) Preheat oven to 400F/204C.
2) Grease a large baking sheet or line with parchment paper
3) In a large mixing bowl, whisk the multipurpose flour, sugar, buttermilk powder, teff flour, baking powder, baking soda, xanthan gum, salt. Set aside.
4) In a separate bowl whisk together the eggs, milk and vanilla until frothy. Set aside.
5) Work the cold, cubed butter into the flour mixture with your fingers until the mixture is crumbly with some pea-size pieces of butter still remaining. I worked the butter in until the mass looked like a bowl of course 'cornmeal and peas'.
6) Stir the currants into the 'cornmeal and peas'.
7) Add the frothy egg/milk/vanilla mixture to the flour mixture and stir until blended. The dough should be cohesive but very wet and sticky. [Mine resembled something akin to cupcake/muffin batter and I was almost tempted to add a bunch more flour to it, but thankfully I resisted the temptation].
 8 ) Place the very wet/sticky but cohesive mass onto a GF floured surface, then with GF floured hands gently pat it out to a disc of 1" thickness. Do not attempt to roll it out (or to knead it either, btw). The dough will be way too sticky for that, and adding more flour will only create a dry, dense result (Obey these directions to a 'T' and resist like crazy the urge to make the dough smooth and non-sticky like regular dough. This went totally against every bread-baking instinct within me, but GF dough is not anything like regular dough and needs to be treated much differently. I was so glad I resisted temptation!).
9) Using a GF floured 2.5" biscuit cutter, cut straight down into the 1"-thick disc of moist, delicate dough and cut into rounds as best as you can in spite of the stickiness/delicateness, and _gently_ place onto the prepared baking sheet.
10) Lightly brush milk on top of the scones and then place the baking sheet, uncovered, into the freezer (yes-I said the freezer!) for 15 minutes.
11) After chilling for 15 minutes, place the baking sheet into the pre-heated oven on the upper middle rack and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden brown. (mine took 17.5 minutes)
12) Remove from oven and transfer scones to a cooling rack. Let rest 5 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!


IrishLass


----------



## not_ally (Jul 10, 2015)

IL, that is kind of hard to believe, that gluten-free scones can be good.  I met JBlaney couple of weeks ago, she was kind enough to bring along several kinds of gorgeous bakery desserts to our little LA soaper meet up (at Seawolfe's house, she and her husband are awesome in real life, as is J), one gluten free and the others not.  I am afraid I did not even try the gluten free one, I have had bad experiences.  Will email her about these scones (J, I hope it is ok to reveal that you have training in making pastries/baking), I am sure she will be v. interested.  

When I got to TJ's I bought 4 pints of the cream to make the two batches, and couldn't face the idea of making scones as well, so bought something in their bakery aisle called "shortbread cakes" which looked scone-like.  DO NOT BUY THESE.  There are four of them in the pack, and they are so delicious you will try to eat all of them, and it will make you feel sick.  Although since there are three of you, you might be able to avoid such gluttony ....


----------



## IrishLass (Jul 11, 2015)

not_ally said:


> IL, that is kind of hard to believe, that gluten-free scones can be good.


 
I know only too well what you mean. I've tried some pretty pathetic tasting GF goods....but also a few surprisingly good-tasting ones, so I knew it was at least not out of the realm of possibility.

I had my son try one of the GF scones that I made from the above recipe and he could hardly believe they were GF (he said they were delicious), so that's at least one other positive confirmation (besides mine) that we've got a keeper recipe on our hands. I need to get hubby to try one today to get his opinion.




			
				not_ally said:
			
		

> When I got to TJ's I bought 4 pints of the cream to make the two batches, and couldn't face the idea of making scones as well, so bought something in their bakery aisle called "shortbread cakes" which looked scone-like. DO NOT BUY THESE. There are four of them in the pack, and they are so delicious you will try to eat all of them, and it will make you feel sick. Although since there are three of you, you might be able to avoid such gluttony ....


 
Ooooh! They sound lovely! If I ever get lazy of making them, I now know where to go buy some in a pinch!

Have you made your clotted cream yet? Mine came out lovely:







IrishLass


----------



## not_ally (Jul 11, 2015)

I did! I started pouring the cream into the pot I was putting into the oven and realized I was going to be low on the 1-3 inch measure that most people seem to recommend.  So just gave up on the crockpot and poured it all into the oven bound pan.  Turned it to the lowest setting, left it there for 12 hrs and groaned when I saw it, it did not look like yours.  Darker, caramelized bits around the edges, and the clotted part on top seemed v. thin, it was mostly (thickish) whey.  I bunged it in the fridge anyway, left it there for 8 hrs.  I did end w/more clotted cream, but I have an awful lot of whey as well.  They both taste great though!

I think I am going to actually make scones, though, those TJs cakies are so rich themselves that combined w/the cream it is almost too much of a good thing!  B/t/w, you saved me from a mistake, when I was in TJ's I considered using their version of pasteurized cream, it was a little cheaper.  But it had carageenan, and I remembered your post!


----------



## IrishLass (Jul 12, 2015)

not_ally said:


> I did! I started pouring the cream into the pot I was putting into the oven and realized I was going to be low on the 1-3 inch measure that most people seem to recommend. So just gave up on the crockpot and poured it all into the oven bound pan. Turned it to the lowest setting, left it there for 12 hrs and groaned when I saw it, it did not look like yours. Darker, caramelized bits around the edges, and the clotted part on top seemed v. thin, it was mostly (thickish) whey.


 
Something I've learned is to not be discouraged at how liquid things seem when you take it out of the oven.  From reading all the comments below that video I posted earlier, the liquid consistency is perfectly normal and to be expected since heat causes butter and whipped cream to go into a melted/liquid-y state. For further encouragement, even after being cooled at room temperature for 2 hours before placing it in the fridge, mine is still quite fluid underneath the crust at that time. 




not_ally said:


> I bunged it in the fridge anyway, left it there for 8 hrs. I did end w/more clotted cream, but I have an awful lot of whey as well. They both taste great though!


 
It sounds like you didn't let it cool to room temp first before placing in the fridge? I ask because a good handful of the online comments I kept bumping into in my search had mentioned the importance of the hot cream having a slow cool down to room temp before putting it in the fridge, so what I do is I let mine sit on my counter on a cooling rack(uncovered) for about 2 hours to slowly cool down before placing it (covered) in the fridge. For what it's worth, the 2 TJ batches that I made that had the highest yields for me (21 to 22 oz. of clotted cream) were actually in the fridge for at least 12 hours before I took them out (not on purpose, but just because I was too busy to get to them out sooner). I don't know if the extra time in then fridge also contributed to the higher yield or not (besides the slow cool-down to room temp), but I just thought I'd mention that. 



not_ally said:


> I think I am going to actually make scones, though, those TJs cakies are so rich themselves that combined w/the cream it is almost too much of a good thing! B/t/w, you saved me from a mistake, when I was in TJ's I considered using their version of pasteurized cream, it was a little cheaper. But it had carageenan, and I remembered your post!


 
That's one nice thing about making your own- you can control how rich they are. For what it's worth, the ones that I make with the recipe posted here taste ever so slightly sweet, but quite basic/plain without the clotted cream and jam on top. Speaking of making one's own, I have to make another batch of scones today to go with my latest batch of clotted cream (we're down to only 2...yikes!). 

I've quite taken to using 2 cups of all-purpose flour and 1 cup of whole wheat whenever I make the posted recipe now, instead of 3 cups of AP. I should clarify that it is these particular scones with the added WW flour that my GF scones taste like. I truly can hardly tell the difference between them.

By the way, I had my hubby try one of the GF scones yesterday (he's my toughest critic with a _huge_ bias against GF baked goods because of all the horrible ones he's ever tried). Verdict? He loved them! He said that he couldn't tell the difference between them and my regular scones made with the 1/3 WW flour addition. His stamp of approval means that I most assuredly have a real, actual, honest to goodness keeper GF recipe in my hand! With his stamp of approval on it, I gave my SIL the GF recipe and she is going to try to make them today.


IrishLass


----------



## not_ally (Jul 14, 2015)

I am so sad, IL, I have been testing the clotted cream (over and over again , and I don't think my stomach can handle it.  I have never had a lactose intolerance (but have never been a big dairy consumer), I am wondering if I have developed one.  I might have to just try little bitty amounts, it is so delicious I am unwilling to accept a flat out moratorium.


----------



## lizard1232 (Jul 14, 2015)

So I have driven all over town to try to find heavy whipping cream that doesn't contain any additives and not even the "health food store" here stocks it. I am so incredibly bummed as I've been wanting to try this since you first posted about it...


----------



## not_ally (Jul 14, 2015)

Lizard, when I was googling I saw some posts about people that had to use the ultra pasteurized b/c they couldn't find the other stuff, and tinkered successfully.  It's worth a try, the stuff is so yummy ....


----------



## IrishLass (Jul 14, 2015)

Have you been eating spoonful after spoonful, not_ally? 

 

You need to be a good girl and eat just a little at a time.  

I find it to be very rich stuff and have been limiting myself to eating only one scone a day topped with about 1 heaping tbsp. total (about 1/2 tbsp. of it per each half of my scone). Too much more than that, and I feel like I've over-done it. Everything in moderation, I always say.


IrishLass


----------



## not_ally (Jul 14, 2015)

I um, might be eating more than that.  Sometimes just dispense with the scone and use a spoon as a delivery device   But feel a bit wonky even with smaller amts.  Am going to finish this batch up regardless, though.  Lizard, I wish you lived nearby, I would give you most of it!


----------



## lizard1232 (Jul 14, 2015)

Ha! I'd take you up on your offer in a heartbeat. I don't understand how a town this size doesn't have a TJs. Or really anything else worthwhile...


----------



## lizard1232 (Jul 19, 2015)

So I'm very excited! The fiance and I took a trip up to OKC. I finally found some cream without any additives at Whole Foods. Guess what I started last night?


----------



## not_ally (Jul 19, 2015)

Yay, Lizard!  Come back and tell us how it came out and what you are eating it with ....


----------



## IrishLass (Jul 19, 2015)

Yay! Let us know how it went! 


IrishLass


----------



## lizard1232 (Aug 23, 2015)

http://www.twopeasandtheirpod.com/raspberry-almond-scones/

Thought you guys might be interested in this. I plan on trying them out tomorrow.


----------



## not_ally (Aug 23, 2015)

OMG, Lizard, those are absolutely beautiful.  I might not even eat them if I were able to make something so pretty, must gaze at them! Let us know they they turn out.  Did you make the clotted cream to go w/them?


----------



## jules92207 (Aug 23, 2015)

lizard1232 said:


> http://www.twopeasandtheirpod.com/raspberry-almond-scones/
> 
> Thought you guys might be interested in this. I plan on trying them out tomorrow.



I love her and follow her religiously on Pinterest. This looks fabulous! Please let me know how they turn out.


----------

