Clotted cream is a must for a cream tea, scones just aren’t the same with anything else. It has a richer flavour to double cream and is considerably thicker in texture, so much so you need a knife to spread it. It also comes with a buttery crust on the surface which is the sign that you have the real thing. However I appreciate that this is a West of England speciality and it may not be easy to get hold of elsewhere in the world. So I have investigated a method for making your own, if you want to get the whole "Traditional English Cream Tea" experience that is. It is worth the effort, and there isn’t much effort, so give it a go at least once.
Link to measurement conversion chart
Ingredients
- 1 litre Double Cream
You will also need
- a shallow ovenproof dish
Method
- Pre heat your oven to 90c
- Pour the cream into a shallow oven proof dish – preferably ceramic
- Cook for 2 hours in the oven
- Leave to cool
- Refrigerate for 24 hours to allow a golden crust to form
- Using a fish slice or spatula transfer the cream to a lidded container
- Keep refrigerated until required, eat within 2 weeks
Serving suggestions and variations
- Particularly nice with fresh scones and homemade jam
- Clotted cream can be used as an accompaniment with any hot or cold cake or pastry
- Try using to make ice-cream
- Can successfully be frozen but will need using within a month
- Cook in large ramekins if you don’t want to mix up the crust and cream for storage
- Recipe qty can be halved if you don’t want to make as much
Acknowledgements
I am certain there are regional tweaks and variations in the method for making clotted cream here, however this method is one I have researched and is pretty simple to follow. With any traditional dish there will be methods passed down through the generations, if you have never tried it how would you know the difference anyway. Some of the methods I have seen appeared to make hard work of it so keep it simple is what I say. My thanks go to Dick and James Strawbridge “Made at home” series for this one.
If you enjoyed this recipe you might also like to try the following desserts that will benefit from your Clotted Cream Efforts:
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Happy eating!