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
Roger bromby poole dorset u k says
How phill wallace explains is correct as back in 1944 I can remember getting off the horse and cart and going into the farmhouse kitchen and watching it being scooped up off the pans that’s a good memory for a 75yer old Milkie in it
Phil Wallace says
I’m from Devon and well remember my aunt (a farmer’s wife) making clotted cream from raw milk in an enamel bowl. The cream was skimmed off with a perforated metal disc and, as you say, has a thinner, slightly runny component to it. The taste was devine and different from even the best shop-bought cream now, which tends to be too thick to spread. As to whether it’s jam or cream first, in Devon where I lived it was always jam first. I think the person who mentioned the cream needing to be thick enough to spread jam on hasn’t tried traditional clotted cream.
Frances Cameron says
I hail from the UK and now live in Australia. In all my time living in my home land I do not recall eating scones warm. I hate them served warm which is what happens in Oz all the time. The same with muffins.
Joye says
I usually by Devon cream in a jar from World Market for about 8 dollars. Today I tried your recipe to go with some bakery scones, and the clotted cream is heavenly! Less expensive and so much better tasting than store bought.Thank you so much!
Elyce says
I tried the scone recipe last night, and I think there’s some kind of mistake printed here. I ended up with six super-tall scones that were uncooked in the middle. After about ten minutes of bake time, I lowered the temperature to 375, ripped them in half, and baked them uncooked sides up for another 8 minutes. I would advise rolling them to a *half* inch thick before cutting them out with a biscuit cutter.
The taste was fine, though!
Tori Avey says
Hi Elyce, thank you for the feedback. Sharon, who shared this recipe, is out of town at the moment but she will double check the recipe when she gets back and let us know if there is a misprint. Sorry your first try wasn’t quite right, glad the flavor was nice!
Stuart Peake says
I use sour cream and strawberry jam.
JK says
As a British person, I’ve tried my fair share of cream teas: scones with clotted cream/jam and a cup of tea – with milk. Heavenly! Although I’ve never tried to make the cream myself, I’m pretty sure it shouldn’t look like the cream you show in your pictures (I would send it back if someone served me that – sorry if that sounds rude). The cream definitely should NOT be runny. It should be thick, spreadable and hold it’s form. Check out the wiki page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clotted_cream) to see what it should be like. It should be a white, smooth, fluffier version of butter. If you try to spread jam on top of the cream here (as is the proper Devon way) you’ll make a complete mess. The cream should be thick enough that you can spread jam on top and it all stays together on top of the scone. No drips!! Sorry if this sounds condescending, but one shouldn’t give the wrong perception of something that is a British classic.
Tori Avey says
JK, this blog is called The History Kitchen, we explore old fashioned methods of food preparation. Sharon is outlining the old fashioned farmhouse way of making clotted cream. It won’t look like the clotted cream sold in shops in jars because it is skimmed from fresh cream, hence the drips. It’s just a different method of producing the same product; the clotted cream you see here is actually more traditional than the thicker spreadable form you’ve grown accustomed to. For a thicker cream you could strain the gathered clotted cream through a few layers of cheesecloth. It is delicious either way.
Anna says
I bought Somerdale Devon Cream in a jar in a Canadian supermarket today and I’m so glad to have read JK’s reply. When I opened the jar, I discovered thick, spreadable cream. I expected it to be runny and thought that I had bought the wrong product for my soon to be British tea party. However, thank you JK, for now I know that it will be a success.
nick says
the scone witch in ottawa serves some with ther scones and let me tell ya mmmm. good!
Emily says
I’ve never need to use a doyble boiler this long before – almost all the water boiled off and nearly ruined my pan! The cream looks good, though, it’s out in the fridge for tomorrow morning!
Devesh says
Making clotted cream is very easy, if you can get non-homogenized milk – either direct from your dairy farmer or gourmet grocery stores.
In a shallow pan bring the milk to a boil at medium heat, at which point a layer forms on the surface. Cover it with a wire mesh (we use a splatter screen) and let it cool a little before putting it in the refrigerator for several hours to overnight. We usually get about a half inch thick layer of clotted cream which can be carefully skimmed off the top.
Mike says
Since I live in Thailand and cream is not available here, apart from imported whipping cream. Whatever that is. I have looked for a recipe using pasteurized milk, which I can buy with 40% fat content . So the ancient recipe you so readily overlooked printed above your double cream recipe, to produce clotted cream, looks to be my best bet. Though, if it were clarified a bit more for me to use in my kitchen, I would be obliged to you. As I am dreaming of a lovely cream tea.
Christine says
Hi, third time making clotted cream. This time it’s gone a bit bitty is it because fatty layer on bottom when I put into another container?
Thanks for receipt…
Chani says
Clotted cream was recently listed as one of the 120 top items of British cuisine. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clotted_cream.
Subsequently it was ranked as the least healthy of those items, which translates to: it is delicious and good for you. Try it once at least.
June love says
Wegmans stock clotted cream 🙂
J says
Might have to make this!
Sandra says
Ever so glad Marks & Spencer is back in Amsterdam! Will visit them soon for the christmaspudding, mince pies and all other lovely british food.
Clotted cream is not for sale in Holland too, but its easy to make. Mix 100 ml creme fraiche with 200 ml mascarpone, very gently, use a wooden spoon (no machine!) if you do well, you have a nice lobbed clotted cream within 10 minutes.
Jan says
Clotted cream recipe calls for heavy cream. Is this the same thing as heavy whipping cream?
Tori Avey says
Yes. 🙂
kay says
Hi im from Devon , where cream teas are very popular also in Cornwall and depending where your from ie ; Devon or Cornwall depends on how you eat cream teas in Devon they put the cream on first then jam , in Cornwall its the jam first then the cream .
sky says
hi im from devon to i love clotted cream and scones i have just made some clotted cream bye lol
Sarah Morris says
Clotted cream is not the equivalent to creamed cheese american style, far from… Clotted cream is 100% cream taken from the milk, if anything it is similar to the Italian mascarpone in looks and taste but not as creamy and is classed as a curd cheese and not cream. I am from the west country and have eaten clotted cream all my life, it’s the best :-), my mum is from devon and bestowed the clotted cream eating habit on me from a very early age, as in clotted cream and strawberry jam sandwiches 🙂 YUMMMMM
Victoria Narcisi says
There goes my juicing schedule.