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It isn’t a proper afternoon tea without clotted cream. I discovered that it is quite easy to make; it just requires a long cook time. For my first batch, I had great success cooking in the oven for 8 hours, but there is a faster way. For the second batch, I used the “quick” method, which is just 1 hour on the stovetop. With either method, you will still need to chill the cream in the fridge to let it thicken, but overall, the latter method does speed things up considerably.
I came upon this recipe from Chef Darina Allen of Ballymaloe Cooking School in Cork, Ireland. I had the pleasure of sitting in on a baking class, where she shared her tips for making Irish scones. FYI, she tops scones with jam first, then clotted cream. In her re-released book, Forgotten Skills of Cooking, she shares a clotted cream recipe with traditional and cheat methods.
Note: Double cream in Europe has 48% butterfat. Here in the U.S., heavy cream, which has a minimum 36% butterfat, is the typical substitute. The higher the fat content the better; there will be less leftover liquid and more of the top cream layer.
Clotted Cream Recipe
Makes about 300 ml (1/2 pint) clotted cream
Clotted cream is not a part of my own traditional food culture but it is a forgotten skill in everyday cooking and is so gorgeous and so easy to make that it is really worth doing every now and then. You can make clotted cream on any stove or in a cool oven—just make sure the heat is low. Even a temperature as low as 110°F will do!
It’s best to use unpasteurized cream like they do in Devon and Cornwall, where clotted cream has its own appellation. You can use gently pasteurized cream, but homogenized cream or cream that has been ultra-pasteurized will not work for this recipe.
Ingredients:
1.2 litres (2 pints) double cream or heavy cream
Traditional Method:
Pour the cream into a heavy sauce pan and heat gently on the lowest heat for 5-6 hours, by which time it will have a rich, deep-yellow wrinkled crust (use a diffuser mat if necessary). The cream must not boil or simmer.
Leave the cream to cool overnight, but preferably not in a fridge (I leave it in a cold pantry).
Next day, lift off the crust, or “clout” as my Cornish son-in-law calls it. Spoon the cream into sterilized glass jars, cover and store in the fridge. The clotted cream is on top, and the thick cream leftover when the clotted cream is removed can be used as double cream and it keeps for ages – several weeks at least.
If your cooker doesn’t go low enough, then put the cream into an earthenware bowl, set it in a bain marie and proceed as above.
“Quick” (Cheat’s Method):
Put the cream into a double-boiler, or put a heavy bowl (with the cream in it) into a saucepan of hot water. Heat until the temperature of the cream reaches 75-82°C (170-180°F). It mustn’t go above 88°C (190°F) or boil.
Hold the cream at the same temperature for 45 minutes to an hour. After an hour, fill a bowl with iced water and transfer the saucepan into the bowl to cool quickly.
Leave overnight, fill into jars, cover and refrigerate as above.
Recipe reprinted with permission from Forgotten Skills of Cooking: The Time-Honored Ways Are the Best by Darina Allen, (Kyle Books, 2025).