The Old Fashioned Way: Clotted Cream and Scones – How to make old fashioned British-style Clotted Cream and warm, freshly baked English scones.
I have, and always have been, a voracious reader of English novels, and I’d often come upon references to “a cream tea.” This, I believed, was tea with cream in it until I reached the part where the characters tucked into scones and clotted cream. When I first traveled to England I had clotted cream myself, in a little teashop in Devon. It’s what heaven would taste like should heaven have a taste, I thought. And, as is my usual process, I then wondered how such a thing was made.
To American ears, clotted sounds like something’s gone wrong. To us, clotted refers to a bodily healing process, so it’s hard to make the leap to something tasty. But in England, clotted simply describes the look of the cream as it clings together. Once you bite into a golden scone spread thickly with this unctuous concoction, dotted with fresh sliced strawberries, you won’t care what it’s called because it is simply delicious. Clotted cream is also called Cornish cream and Devonshire cream (a nod to its geographical origins). Each area will claim that their clotted cream tastes different from any other. Devon’s cream’s flavor supposedly arises from the peat fires it is cooked over. I have to assume this is the way it once tasted historically, because in the UK today burning peat is frowned upon. Cornwall’s cream is said to have a coarser texture. Incidentally, Cornish Cream was awarded the EU’s Protected Designation of Origin status in 1998. In the past, clotted cream was also called clowtyd, clouted, clowted, and clawted.
In Devon, the clouting of cream goes back to the Tavistock Abbey estates in the early part of the fourteenth century. Because they had no churns to make butter, they scalded their milk. The resulting clotted cream was stirred and then made into butter. During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in Cornwall, clotted cream and butter became the best ways to preserve milk. Later, in British dairies, farmers’ wives would set out a bowl of cream to “settle” for several hours. They would then scald it and let it simmer overnight on their kitchen ranges. As it cooled the next day, the thick, yellow cream was skimmed off and layered into a bowl. Countries other than England also enjoy clotted cream. In Serbia it’s called kajmak, in Turkey it’s kaymak, and in India it’s malai. Clotted cream is often described as having a nutty flavor, which is achieved by cooking the cream without boiling it
Clotted cream is hard to find, if not impossible, in the United States, but it is simple to make. It takes a lot of cream to make a small amount of clotted cream. Hmm, you might say, as you survey the small amount of clotted cream that is yielded, but understand that clotted cream is really the cream of the cream of the crop. A pint of cream makes a little less than half a cup of the good stuff. If you’re cooking for a crowd, plan accordingly and make multiple batches!
Here is a recipe from Cornish Recipes Ancient & Modern by Edith Martin, published by the Women’s Institute in 1929:
Use new milk and strain at once, as soon as milked, into shallow pans. Allow it to stand for 24 hours in winter and 12 hours in summer. Then put the pan on the stove, or better still into a steamer containing water, and let it slowly heat until the cream begins to show a raised ring round the edge. When sufficiently cooked, place in a cool dairy and leave for 12 or 24 hours. Great care must be taken in moving the pans so that the cream is not broken, both in putting on the fire and taking off. When required skim off the cream in layers into a glass dish for the table, taking care to have a good “crust” on the top.
Here’s a simpler recipe, along with a recipe for a traditional English scone. Top a freshly baked scone with clotted cream and berries, and prepare to swoon!
Note from Tori: These are amazing for breakfast with homemade scrambled eggs on the side!
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Clotted Cream and English Scones
Ingredients
Clotted Cream
- 4 cups heavy cream (1 quart)
English Scones
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, diced
- 1 large egg, beaten
- 5 tablespoons milk
- 1 large egg, beaten (to glaze the tops of the scones)
NOTES
Instructions
To Make Clotted Cream
- In a double boiler over medium heat bring the cream to 175 degrees. If you don’t have a double boiler (and I don’t) place a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of water. Stir a little so that the cream heats evenly. Once you reach 175, bring up the temperature—180 to 200 degrees. Keep that temp for about 45 minutes to an hour. At this point the cream will take on a cracked, yellow skin. Next, remove the bowl or top of your double boiler and settle in a pan of ice water to cool quickly. Cover with plastic wrap and stow in the fridge overnight. Then carefully skim the clotted cream off the top with a shallow spoon and layer it into a bowl. It will keep for about a week in your fridge. Use the rest of the cream as you would regular cream (it will be thinner than heavy cream, but can still be added to beverages).Serve your clotted cream with strawberries or jam on a scone, a slice of pie, or anything that lends itself to cream.
To Make English Scones
- Preheat the oven to 425 and prepare a baking sheet with butter or parchment paper. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together and then work in the butter. Make a well in the middle and then add the egg and milk. Mix to form a soft dough.Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and then knead quickly until the dough comes together. Roll out the dough to an inch thick, then cut into rounds with a biscuit cutter or water glass. Move to the baking sheet and brush the tops with the beaten egg. Bake for 8 minutes or until golden.
Nutrition
tried this recipe?
Let us know in the comments!
Research Sources:
Thorne, John (1996). Simple Cooking. North Point Press, New York, NY.
McGee, Harold (1984). On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen. Scribner, New York, NY.
Trewin, Carol (2005). Gourmet Cornwall. Alison Hodge, Cornwall, UK.
Lane, John. In Praise of Devon: A Guide to its People, Places, and Character. Green Books, Cambridge, UK.
Mendelson, Anne (2008). Milk: The Surprising Story of Milk through the Ages. Knopf, New York, NY
Linda Smith says
Very, very interesting. Sounds easy enough, but I’d manage to screw it up… lol
Denise Braithwaite says
not keen on the clotted cream but the scones sound delish!
Linda Chatterjee says
You can buy it in a jars at Jungle Jims etc. (Ultra heat treated for freshness.)
Jasmine Hall says
I love this! I´m going to make a vegan version for my tea party on Monday <3
Linda Merryman says
likes your site…I always enjoy reading your posts and recipes!
Helen says
Writing this from London, England. Marks and Spencer do lovely scones. Clotted cream is sold everywhere in supermarkets. The proper way to have it is to split the warmed scones in half across. Spread jam on it first then add a big dollop of clotted cream to top it all. Perfect with a strong cuppa (tea with milk). Utter delight. In the US, if clotted cream is difficult to find, use thick cream and whip it up. Pretty close to the real McCoy.
Janeen Nicholas says
Stacey Silverman, thought of you!
Carol Diane O´Brocki says
Boy does this look GOOD!
Heather Menges says
Why clot cream when you can whip it, whip it good!
Jules says
Cos clotted cream is completely different to whipped cream! You could use whipped cream in a cream tea, (Scones, Clotted Cream, Strawberry Jam and tea with milk) but the Cornish would frown on you and possibly accuse you of ‘cheating’. It simply doesn’t taste the same. The real question with a cream tea is do you put the jam or the clotted cream on the scone first??
Debbie Cardwell says
Looks delicious!
Lori Bianchi says
Shabbat shalom!
Marcy Blacker says
Waistline? What waistline?
Lauren Dubin says
Is clotted cream supposed to be the British version of American cream cheese? Looks more like cottage cheese beaten a bit and with perhaps that sour type of taste. Tell me if I´m wrong.
Tori Avey says
Lauren, if you click through you’ll see the process for making clotted cream. It’s a thicker, clotted version of heavy whipping cream. The flavor is creamy, not cheesy or sour.
Eric says
Clotted Cream is 55% milkfat. The fat content is so high that it starts to clot. Clotting is just the cream globules combining to make curds, which are also the lumps in cottage cheese. The long heating time necessary for it to get to the 55% (or so) milkfat stage causes it to take on the characteristic flavour.
Cream types are all basically made the same way and defined by their milkfat content. Common types of cream in the UK alss include double cream, which is 48% milkfat; whipping cream, which is 35% milkfat; single cream, which is 18% milkfat (this is the grade of cream immediately after separation and does not involve any reduction; half cream (aka half and half), which is 12% milkfat by the addition of whole milk to decrease the milkfat content.
All these creams can be made from whole milk, preferably raw, though pasteurised is acceptable, but never using ultra-pasteurised milk (it will barely coalesce, aka clot, at all).
Cottage Cheese is actually a soft, unaged cheese, that involves the same low heat as making heavier creams but involves the addition of rennet (creates large curds) or white vinegar or lemon juice (creates small curds) to cause it to acidify and curdle. The rennet method is slightly slower, but the result is less acidic. If the curds are washed, then it is sweet cottage cheese. If the curds are unwashed, and thoroughly drained, and often pressed into a dense lump, it is farmers cheese. If the milk is first ripened (mildly soured) and then processed to be farmers cheese, it is called Quark… and so on.
K. Grote says
Eric, clotted cream is clotted cream…not clotted (or “curded,” if you will) milk! The clotting occurs through a long cooking process (10 to 12 hours in a dish in the oven at a low (180F is about right) temp. The pan water method certainly works too. But the curds in cottage cheese are “milk” curds, entirely different animal.
Vicci Lucas says
The first scones I ever had were in of all places Idaho! This small restaurant served them and it was love at first bite. The ones I have had since were dry and icky. This looks like it may be the same as the Idaho ones!
Charla Hearn Judice says
Happiest part of my day today! It´s horribly hard to find clotted cream and I miss it from when I was in GB. Thank you!
Phil Trupp says
Very British. A must on any visit to Old Blighty. And now, thanks to the Shiksa, we may enjoy them here.
Paul McCool says
I learned from an nice old British lady. She taught me to do fish and chips, too…
Judy says
Hi Paul can you please give the recipe for the fish and chips .Thank you…
Andrea Burd says
Proper Tea Time!!
Karen Clark Phelps says
I make brilliant scones, but clotted cream still eludes me sigh.
Julie Wagz says
I´m assuming it tastes reallllly delicious, and I love creamy foods, but “Clotted” half kills it…..lol
revsharkie says
Call it Devonshire cream, then, and enjoy it. It’s wonderful stuff. I first had it with fresh raspberries and a meringue in Ireland many years ago.