Clotted Cream

Last summer, 2019, my oldest son, Aiden, and I got to go on a school trip to England and Scotland (did I mention it was really an EPIC summer?). You remember when we were able to travel and go places. Sigh. We missed a full day of our tour due to a traffic jam, aka stuck on a bus with 20 teenagers for 8 hours. Good times. Anyway to make it up to us, the tour company scheduled high tea for us at Kensington Palace.

This was the real deal with tea, clotted cream and scones, finger sandwiches, and desserts. Hands down the best thing we ate while we were there.

I’ve never been much of a tea drinker, but I changed my mind that day. I only drink herbal teas, so the maitre d suggested their mint tea. Oh my goodness! 2 lumps of sugar because I have, ya know, a sweet tooth, and some cream and I thought I’d died and gone to heaven…even though it was like 90 degrees outside, and I’m pretty sure the Brits don’t really believe in air conditioning.

The other amazing part of the meal was the clotted cream. As an American, I’ve only had this once or twice before in my life, and the name doesn’t exactly inspire images of the most appealing sorts of food, but…think the creamiest softest butter you’ve ever had on steroids. It’s amazing, especially with a nice fresh and flaky scone (think buttermilk biscuit) and preserves. My mouth is watering as a write this.

Being from the States means there is really not much opportunity to eat clotted cream, and it’s definitely not something I’ve ever seen at the corner market. But, I found it is actually one of the THE easiest things in the world to make. It just takes a little time.

The ingredients are super simple—-cream. That’s it. You’ll need 1 quart of pasteurized cream. Just make sure it’s not ultra pasteurized, which I admit is a little harder to come by these days. I get mine from a local dairy.

Pour the cream into a 9×9 glass pan and bake it in the oven for 12 hours at 180 degrees. Please ignore my dirty oven. 🙂

Remove from oven and allow it to cool until it gets to room temperature. Cover it with plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator until it’s completely chilled.

When you pull it out of the fridge, it will have a crust or a thick layer on top. If you lift up one corner, you can pour off the liquid underneath. You may want to hold onto the liquid. It’s great for baking with. Biscuits maybe? Just sayin.

What’s left in the pan is now the clotted cream. Scoop it into a jar and cover. Some of it will be a little crusty in texture. You can just leave it as is or stir it all together and the crust part will blend in with the rest. It will keep in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. I use it like butter. So yummy!

Clotted Cream

From the Kitchen of Lynnae Hymas

Serves: 6-10

Prep Time: 10 min

Cook Time: 12 hours (plus another 12-24 hours to chill)

INGREDIENTS:

1 qt. pasteurized cream

INSTRUCTIONS:

Pour the cream into a 9×9 inch pan.  Bake in a 180°F oven for 12 hours.  Cool to room temperature and then cover and refrigerate until completely chilled, 12-24 hours.  Lifting one corner of the now crusted cream, pour off the liquid.  The liquid can be preserved and used in baking as a liquid substitute. You can then scoop up the clotted cream and store in in a smaller container in the refrigerator for up to a week.