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Cream Scones are lovely when cut in half and spread with clotted cream and jam. The perfect cream scone has a crisp exterior with an interior that is light and fluffy with a rich buttery flavor. Because so many find scone making a challenge, I have turned to a few experts to see what advise they can give us. First, from the U.K., Tamasin Day-Lewis in her excellent book "Tamasin's Kitchen Bible" gives us a few tips. She tells us it is best if all the ingredients are cold, to add the liquid to the dry ingredients all at once, and then to mix everything together quickly and lightly. Next, Australian Stephanie Alexander in "The Cook's Companion" gives us good advise when cutting the scones. She says if we twist the cutter through the scone dough, rather than cutting straight down, the scones will rise higher during baking. So with this information in mind, let's get baking. As I said above, cream scones are lovely with clotted cream and jam. But there are other ways to serve these scones. For example, if you don't have clotted cream, these scones are delicious with softly whipped cream and jam, or butter and jam. Other times you may want to spread them with a tangy lemon curd. Cream scones can also be used to make a Strawberry Shortcake. When strawberries are in season, split these scones in half and fill them with the lightly sweetened strawberries and cream. If you are unfamiliar with Devonshire (or Devon) Cream, it is a thick, rich, yellowish cream with a lovely sweet flavor that contains about 60% butterfat. This clotted cream is produced commercially in Devon, Cornwall, and Somerset England. At one time it was quite difficult to find in North America but that is not the case today. You can find it not only in specialty food stores but also in a lot of regular grocery stores (in the deli section). But even if you cannot find it or it is too expensive, an excellent alternative is make the 'mock' Devonshire Cream recipe on the site or just whip some heavy cream with a little sugar and vanilla extract. |
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