A Taste of Scotland {Recipes: Chocolate Chip Scones and Homemade Clotted Cream}

Scotland has become a big part of our family since my daughter decide to go to university there for her master's degree. While visiting my daughter in Scotland last spring, she took me to a restaurant that had these wonderful chocolate chip scones served with clotted cream and jam. Right after returning home, The New York Times featured a recipe for Extra-Tender Chocolate Chip Scones that looked similar to the ones I had in Scotland. Clotted cream is hard to find in the US, so I decided to make my own. One of the by-products of making clotted cream is whey. Instead of wasting it, I used it in the scones instead of the heavy cream the original recipe called for; it worked beautifully. 

In September, my daughter came home for a visit, and we had a baking day making these scones with clotted cream. It was fun to bring a taste of Scotland here to the California desert. 

Chocolate Chip Scones 

This recipe is modified from one found in the NYT Cooking section. The original recipe can be found here: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/776535584-extra-tender-chocolate-chip-scones.

2-1/2 cake flour

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon salt
  1 cup cold whey left from making clotted cream, whole milk or heavy cream
  1 large egg
  2 teaspoons vanilla
  1/2 cup cold butter, cut into 1/4 inch cubes
  3/4 cups semisweet chocolate chips 
  1 tablespoon heavy cream
  1-1/2 tablespoons Demerara sugar (optional)
  Flaky sea salt (optional)
  
  
  Line a large baking sheet with parchment or silicone cookie sheet liner; set aside. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together cake flour, all-purpose flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt; set aside. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together whey (or, if using, whole milk or heavy cream), egg, and vanilla until well combined; set aside. Add cubed butter into flour mixture. Using your hands, rub in the butter until no larger than small pea-size pieces remain. Add the cream mixture and stir gently with a fork until dough starts to form. Fold in chocolate chips with a flexible spatula just until well distributed in the dough, being careful not to over-mix. Turn dough out onto a work surface (no flour needed). Pat the dough, incorporating in any dry bits, into a 4"x6" rectangle. Using a bench scraper or sharp knife, cut dough into 6 even pieces. The scones can be left squared, or you can use your hand to slightly round them. Place on the prepared baking sheet 2" apart. Cover baking sheet with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes or up to overnight. This step relaxes the gluten, which helps make a more tender crumb. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 375ºF. Brush the tops of the scones with heavy cream and sprinkle with Demerara sugar and flaky salt, if using. Bake for 24–26 minutes, or until light golden brown. Cool the scones on a baking sheet for 10 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack and cool at least 10 minutes more before serving.
  
  

• Makes 6 scones. 

  Homemade Clotted Cream

  Note that there are numerous recipes for clotted cream online with very good, step-by-step instructions. It is very simple to make and this is what my daughter and I did after perusing several recipes. All recipes are basically the same.
  
  
  
  
  
  24 ounces heavy whipping cream, NOT ultra-pasteurized (this affects the texture)
  
  
  Pre-heat the oven to 175-180ºF. Some ovens have 200ºF as the lowest setting. This temperature works, but you may want to take the cream out earlier than the time given. Pour cream into a shallow baking dish; I used my 1.7L covered baking dish, but a 9" square baking dish would work well. The cream should be 1" to 2" deep. Bake in a pre-heated oven for 12 hours; check after 10 hours if the oven's lowest temperature is 200ºF. Do not stir or disturb cream while baking. After baking, carefully remove from oven and let cool to room temperature. Once cooled to room temperature, cover with a lid to a baking dish or plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 8 hours to overnight. Scrape off the thickened cream off the top and place into an airtight storage container (a pint canning works well). Set aside the liquid whey on the bottom of the baking dish to use for scones. My daughter likes some of the solid bits of the clotted cream, so we did not stir it. You can stir the clotted cream for a smoother, silkier, consistency. A little whey can be added if the clotted cream seems too dry.
  
  

  

  
  
  Enjoy!