Treat Yourself! A Recipe for Cranberry Scones and Clotted Cream

Spring is in the air, and somehow it’s May already!

Well, the first MOB Challenge, Wings & Stings: Exploring The World of Beaded Bugs, closed on April 30th with a multitude of participants and submissions of absolutely exquisite artwork. We now have the nearly impossible task of choosing “the best” of them and showing them off to the world.

The Beaded Square Project Deadline came on March 19th and with it came 541 individual squares from 18 different countries (and an absolutely foolish amount of bubble wrap) that we are still working on processing, photographing, and then onto mounting and building an actual exhibit for.

On top of this, we have been planning renovations to the space, and deciding on exhibit case construction, wall colors, website design, and all the behind the scene things that go into building a nonprofit museum. 

Needless to say, we’re a little tired and think we all deserve a treat for our hard work. 

The truth is, doing anything during a pandemic is hard work and everyone (yes, everyone) deserves something special for getting through this last year and especially through these last few months. 

In light of that, we are sharing with you our Director’s delicious Cranberry Scone and Clotted Cream recipe. Take a momentary break and make yourself something nice, because you absolutely deserve it.

Cranberry Scones

• 2 Cups Flour
• 1/3 Cup Sugar
• 1 tsp Baking Powder
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• 8 Tbs Butter (cut in)
• 1/2 Cup Dried Cranberries
• 1/2 Cup Sour Cream
• 1 Egg

1. Mix all the dry ingredients: Flour, Sugar, Baking Powder, Salt.

2. Cut in the butter. Use two butter knives to criss-cross cut the butter into smaller and smaller pieces. I then use my hands to break-up any larger pieces into the mixture. I will sometimes soften the butter a little in the microwave, but not melt it fully. The key with cutting in is to end with the mixture having an almost grainy texture.

3. In a separate bowl, mix the sour cream and egg. 

4. Mix in the egg mixture with the dry mixture.

5. Once this is an almost dough-like consistency, add in the cranberries. I use my hands in the last stages of mixing to make sure the cranberries get evenly distributed. 

6. Some people prefer triangular scones, but I tend to make them in slightly flattened ball shapes. This recipe usually makes about 12 round scones.

(These are a bit larger than I usually make them, so I baked them a little longer than normal.)

7. Bake at 350F for 15 - 18 minutes. The bottoms should be lightly golden and the tops just barely starting to golden. 

These are great by themselves, with butter or jam, or my personal preferred way to eat them is with Clotted Cream and Jam. 

Clotted Cream

This is a British delight: the creamiest thick spreading cream that you will want to put on every baked good. It’s hard to find ready-made in the US, so I’ve started making my own. It’s easy to do, but does require you to be present for at least 12 hours. 

You will need:

• 1 Pint of heavy cream (NOT ultra pasteurized, which means you may have to find regular pasteurized cream from a local source and not a grocery store.)
• An 11”x7” casserole dish (measurement can be approximate, this dish works best for me.)
• An oven that does not have a safety turn off after a set number of hours (if it does turn off, then you’ll have to watch the baking closely.)

1. Pour the cream into the casserole dish. You want it roughly no more than 3/4 inch deep and no less than 1/4 inch deep. The key with clotted cream is a lot of surface area.

2. Turn your oven to 170F - 180F degrees, often the lowest setting.

3. Bake uncovered for 12 hours. This works best overnight which is why it’s good to have an oven that won't shut off on you. If your oven has that safety feature, you’ll have to watch it and turn it back on accordingly. 

4. While baking, the cream will develop a skin on the top, that is supposed to happen so don’t worry. But it shouldn’t be burnt at all. When you take it out it wont look like much more than warm, oddly thick, sometimes lumpy, cream with a skin and you will think you screwed up. It’s perfectly fine, I promise. 

5. Let it cool to room temperature, cover, then put it in the fridge for at least 8 hours, or even overnight again. Once set, it will be very dense. When you pierce it with a spoon you will notice that the cream has separated into the thick top layer (the clotted cream) and a milky liquid that is basically buttermilk and can be used in other baking as such. 

6. Scoop out the dense clotted cream, it will be almost as thick as cream cheese, and keep the buttermilk in a separate container for other recipes. 

7. In a clean bowl using the spoon you scooped it with, stir and mash the clotted cream. You want the consistency somewhere between regular cream cheese and whipped cream cheese. Ultimately, it is your preference as to how thick you like it. If it’s too thick, add a little of the buttermilk back into it. The skin that formed from baking can stay on and get mushed up too, it won't completely re-absorb into the cream but it will be close. 

8. Keep chilled in the refrigerator and if there is more than you can eat in about a week, freeze the extra. Just remember to not microwave it when you want to use it again, let it naturally come up to room or fridge temp. 

Clotted cream should be served in big dollops lightly spread on the scone, and ideally with raspberry (or some other) jam. 

Enjoy the treat, it has been well earned. 

-Kristina Skillin
Director of Museum of Beadwork

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