While I couldn't be happier with my Clotted Cream - Oven Method, I have friends whose oven either does not have that low of a temperature setting or does not hold a very steady temperature or will time out before 12 hours is up. I even have friends in studio apartments without an oven. So I wanted to come up with a good and easy stovetop method.
As with the oven method, this does not require your standing at the stove for hours on end. Once you get it going, you can pretty much just go about your business. This must not be stirred or jostled, so it benefits from benign neglect once you have your just-barely-a-simmer temperature established.
Do you love clotted cream as much as I do?
Clotted Cream – Stovetop Method
(Makes about 1 cup)
1 pint (16 fluid ounces/473 ml) heavy whipping cream
1 Fill base of double boiler with water to about 1.5 inches (in mine, that means 1 quart). Bring to barely a simmer. Place double boiler insert over the water. It must not touch the simmering water.
Tip: If you don’t have a double boiler, you can use a stainless steel or glass mixing bowl over a large saucepan.
2 Pour 2 cups (16 fluid ounces/473 ml) of heavy whipping cream into top of double boiler. The cream should not be more than 1 inch deep. Leave the lid off. Check by ear every once in a while to make sure the water is barely simmering. If you have an instant-read thermometer, it should register somewhere in the 185F/85C to 200F/94C range.
3 Gently heat the cream at barely a simmer, uncovered, never stirring, for 4 hours. Being careful to not slosh the cream around, remove the top pan from the base and set it on a wire rack to cool at room temperature for 1 hour. Then cover and refrigerate for 12 hours.
4 Lift up a "corner" of the chilled clotted cream and pour off the liquid* underneath into a 1-cup glass measure; use it in your next batch of scones, pancakes, or whatever you happen to be making. Scoop up layer of clotted cream into jar or serving dish. Keeps for several days, covered and refrigerated. Or you can freeze it
* When you pour off that liquid, you don't have to get every last drop out. Usually the underside of the clotted cream layer is quite wet and might actually drip as you spoon it into a container. The contents of the container can seem quite wet, but it all melds together in the refrigerator.
Note: These cute little 4-ounce freezer-safe canning/storage jars with plastic caps are perfect for clotted cream. One recipe makes two jars.
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Jean
Jean