Clotted Cream Recipe - Making Clotted Cream at Home is Much Easier Than You Think

Clotted cream is so easy to make at home. Please don't think that I'm saying that clotted cream is only easy for experienced bakers to make. Clotted cream is really easy for ANYONE to make, regardless of your kitchen expertise. You dump cream in a pot and put it in the oven. When it emerges, you have clotted cream. It's like magic!!

What is Clotted Cream? Aren't Clots a Bad Thing?

If you are in the United States and have never heard of clotted cream, don't feel bad. I hadn't heard of clotted cream until a visit to a local restaurant, The London Tea Room. Clotted cream is a topping typically served on scones at high tea. I think of it as a cross between butter and whipped cream.

UPDATE (01/15/10): Reader Marian sent me this important correction:

I looked at their [The London Tea Room] site. They offer AFTERNOON TEA and CREAM TEA, not HIGH tea, which is a totally different animal. Don't feel bad -- most Americans don't know the difference, including (alas!) some tea rooms. The first two are white collar experiences; a high tea is a blue collar meal, probably no scones at all, but a variety of meat dishes, puddings, cakes, etc -- VERY filling, and designed to satisfy the factory worker or farm laborer as soon as he gets home and is too hungry to wait for the fashionable dinner hour of 8 pm.

How Did This Clotted Cream Recipe Compare to Store-Bought Clotted Cream?

I bought some English Luxury Clotted Cream and tasted mine alongside it. The texture was the same (like butter, but a bit creamier), however mine had a slightly sweeter, much fresher, and richer flavor. It was worlds better. There may be really amazing store-bought clotted cream options out there, but they are not readily available in St. Louis. The quality of your clotted cream, however, will depend on the quality of your heavy whipping cream, which brings me to my next section...

The Difficult Parts of Making Clotted Cream

There are two difficult parts to this clotted cream recipe:

1. Finding heavy whipping cream that isn't ultra-pasteurized. Clotting will work better with an unpasteurized or pasteurized (not ultra-pasteurized) cream. I didn't try making the recipe with an ultra-pasteurized cream so I can't say for sure whether or not it would work, but I suspect it wouldn't work well. For more information on ultra-pasteurization, check out the FAQ from the New England Cheese Making Society (I know we aren't making cheese here, but the information found there is very helpful in explaining the problem with ultra-pasteurization). It is also best to look for heavy whipping cream with as high a fat content as you can find. I used a local brand, Pevely, that had 40% fat.
   
2. Waiting. The clotted cream was in my oven for so long that it shut itself off. This has never happened before, and I learned from the experience that our oven shuts off automatically at twelve hours.
   

Clotted Cream Recipe

I got the recipe for clotted cream from Sustainable Table. As I said above, there isn't much to it. There is only one ingredient: heavy whipping cream. Use as much as you would like. I used two pints (4 cups) - be sure to see my notes above about about not using ultra-pasteurized cream. The clotted cream can be stored in the refrigerator for 3-4 days. Use it to top scones, pancakes, toast, or in my case, high tea cupcakes (post coming soon).

1. Pour the cream into a heavy-bottomed oven-safe pot. The cream should come up the side of the pot somewhere between one and three inches.
   
2. Cover the pot and put it in the oven on 180 F.
   
3. Leave the covered pot in the oven for at least 8 hours. My four cups took 12 hours (until my oven automatically turned off). You'll know it's done because there will be a thick yellowish skin above the cream, as shown above. That skin is the clotted cream.
   
4. Let the pot cool at room temperature, then put it in the refrigerator for another 8 hours.
5. Remove the clotted cream from the top of the pot. The cream that is underneath it can still be used for baking.

Apple Cider Doughnuts with Honey Glaze - Rosh Hashana Recipe

Each year around this time, I start seeing apple cider doughnuts showing up on food blogs and on Tastespotting and Foodgawker. These posts often mention buying apple cider doughnuts at local apple orchards. I've been apple picking many times in my life and I have never seen an apple cider doughnut. I love apple cider and I love doughnuts - and frankly, every time I read about these elusive apple cider doughnuts, I felt cheated. Why didn't my orchard make them? I had to make them myself to see if they were as good as I dreamed.

Rosh Hashana seemed like the perfect time of year to give apple cider doughnuts a try. L'Shana Tova roughly means "for a good year". On Rosh Hashana (the Jewish new year) we dip apples in honey to show our wish for a sweet new year. Why not make apple cider doughnuts dipped in honey this year?!

Apple cider doughnuts are typically baked, not fried. They are essentially cake doughnuts made with apple cider. Because apple cider doughnuts are cake, the doughnut recipe also worked as a cupcake! In the photo above, you see a doughnut on top of a cupcake - both made with the same batter.

Were the Apple Cider Doughnuts Worthy of My Dreams

Our dinner guest, St. Louis food blogger Andrew Mark Veety, said that my apple cider doughnuts would be "killer with a cup of coffee for breakfast." However, he and his wife both felt that they could hardly be called doughnuts. I had to agree. The apple cider doughnuts were moist, fluffy, and sweet, but tasted more like tiny apple muffins than doughnuts. These doughnuts could be a great way to trick your kid or yourself into eating something healthier than a typical fried doughnut, but if you are expecting a Krispy Kreme, don't bother making these.

Apple Cider Doughnut Recipe

To make these apple cider doughnuts, you'll need a doughnut pan. The cool thing is that you can make any cake recipe into a cake doughnut with one of these pans - so fun!! I prefer the mini doughnut pan - that way they fit on top of my cupcakes (I understand that this may not be your priority).

I found the recipe for the apple cider doughnuts on Jen's food blog, Milk and Cookies. Jen adapted the recipe from one found on Diana's Desserts. I am reprinting it here, with my notes.

Makes approximately 36 mini doughnuts or 12 cupcakes.

• 2 C all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 t baking powder
• 1 1/2 t baking soda
• 1/2 t salt
• 2 t ground cinnamon
• 1/2 t grated nutmeg
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 2/3 C packed brown sugar
• 1/2 C apple butter
• 1/3 C pure maple syrup
• 1/3 C apple cider
• 1/3 C plain yogurt
• 3 tbsp hazelnut oil, plus extra for coating the pan (If hazelnut oil is not available, you can substitute with macadamia nut oil or vegetable oil.)
• approximately 3 tbsp sugar for baking pans

1. In a mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg; set aside.
2. In another bowl, whisk together egg, brown sugar, apple butter, maple syrup, cider, yogurt and hazelnut oil.
3. Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir just until moistened.
4. Brush cavities of a doughnut pan with hazelnut oil and sprinkle with sugar. If making cupcakes, simply fill cupcake tin with cupcake liners.
   
5. For doughnuts, fill each cavity about halfway. For cupcakes, fill cupcake liners about 3/4 full.
   
6. Bake at 375 F for 10 to 15 minutes (doughnuts) or 20 minutes (cupcakes) or until the tops spring back when touched lightly.

Honey Glaze and Cinnamon/Sugar Topping

I topped each apple cider doughnut with a honey glaze and then dipped the doughnuts in cinnamon and sugar. For the honey glaze, simply combine and microwave two parts honey to every one part apple cider (i.e. 4 T honey and 2 T apple cider) until hot.

I used the same glaze to top the cupcakes, and I added some powdered sugar for kicks.

Monkey Bread Cupcakes with Banana and Chocolate

Monkey bread is balls of yeasty bread dipped in butter, cinnamon, and sugar. There isn't much that could make a monkey bread recipe better except the one thing that monkeys are known to love - bananas! And - if I were going to put bananas into a monkey bread recipe, why not throw in some chocolate, too?!

Since I haven't posted in a month, I wanted to come back with a recipe that was worth the wait. This monkey bread recipe is definitely it! Serve these monkey bread cupcakes with brunch (or on their own as brunch), as dessert, as a snack, or any time that you want to see someone's face light up.

Now, about that not posting for a month. I've haven't just been monkeying around. On August 17th, I gave birth to our little monkey.

Meet Myles:

Jonathan and I tried to pose Myles with a cupcake, but he wasn't quite up for it yet. The best we could do was pose him in his monkey onesie. Myles likes to hang out in my Moby wrap while I'm working in the kitchen. He mostly sleeps, but some day he'll be my cupcake helper (even if it's just eating them).

Special Thanks to Scharffen Berger

For the chocolate portion of this monkey bread recipe, I used Scharffen Berger baking chunks. Scharffen Berger offered to send me some chocolate to try. I expected to get some of their chocolate bars (which I have tried before and have found to be fantastic to bake with or simply to eat). To my surprise, in addition to the bars, they sent along some baking chunks. I had never seen this product before, but I was really excited about it. They are a great alternative to chocolate chips. Not only are they of higher quality than most chocolate chips that you will encounter, but sometimes a chunk is just more fun than a chip. Thanks, Scharffen Berger, for the sample!

Monkey Bread Cupcake Recipe

I came up with my monkey bread cupcake recipe by modifying the King Arthur Flour monkey bread recipe. I changed it from a cake to cupcakes, dipped the batter in butter instead of water (more calories, but more yum), and added the banana and chocolate. Also, I gave my cupcakes a cinnamon glaze. Here is the modified recipe:

Makes 12 cupcakes

• 1/2 C lukewarm water
• 1 T vegetable oil
• 1 large egg
• 1 t salt
• 1 T sugar
• 2 T instant yeast or rapid rise yeast
  
• 2 C all-purpose flour
• 1/2 C granulated sugar
• 1 T cinnamon
• 1 ripe banana, cut into small slices
• chocolate chips or baking chunks to taste (about 2 oz)
• 2 T unsalted butter, melted
  

1. Place water, vegetable oil, egg, salt, sugar, and yeast in a medium bowl and mix well.
2. Add 1 cup of the flour, stirring to blend.
3. Add the second cup of flour, stirring to make a cohesive dough.
4. Let the dough rest for 5 minutes; this gives the flour a chance to absorb the liquid, making it easier to knead.
5. Knead the dough — by hand, mixer, or bread machine — until it's soft and smooth.
6. Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl or large measuring cup, cover it, and let the dough rise for 30 to 60 minutes or until it's doubled in size.
7. Gently deflate the dough.
8. Mix the cinnamon and sugar in a small bowl.
9. Place cupcake liners into a cupcake tin and lightly grease them with butter or cooking spray.
   
10. Pull off a small piece of dough. How small? You should get 24 pieces out of the batter so that you can have two pieces in each cupcake. However, unless you are having a dinner party for exactly 12 people, it doesn't really matter and you can make the pieces whatever size you would like.
11. Stretch the piece out, put a banana slice and several chocolate chips or baking chunks inside, and then roll it into a ball.
    

12. Dip the ball in the melted butter.

13. Dip the ball in the cinnamon and sugar.

14. Put the ball into the cupcake liner. You should be able to fit two balls into each cupcake liner.
15. Cover the cupcake tin and let the bread rise for 30 to 60 minutes, until it's visibly puffy. Towards the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 350 F.
16. Uncover the cupcake tin and bake the monkey bread for 25 to 30 minutes, until it's golden brown and feels set.
17. While the monkey bread is baking, prepare the glaze.
    

Cinnamon Glaze Recipe

• 1/2 C powdered sugar
• 1 T milk
• 1/4 t cinnamon

1. Mix all of the ingredients together.
2. Drizzle over the hot cupcakes.
3. The cupcakes are best served warm. If you can't eat them immediately, reheat them in microwave for about 15 seconds before serving.
   

Cupcake Hero Banana

Cupcake Hero was one of the first blog events that I ever entered. After a long hiatus, it is back, and it's now hosted my one of my fav cupcake bloggers, I Heart Cuppycakes. This month's theme is banana, and these monkey bread cupcakes with banana and chocolate are my entry! I'm looking forward to seeing all of the other entries, but I hope that I'm top banana.