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

[not_ally]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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

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]

I will have to give these a try. Thanks IrishLass

 

[not_ally]

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]

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). :wtf:

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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.

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]

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]

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.

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.

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]

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]

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]

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 ....