Homemade clotted cream is not out of reach in the US. Using non ultra-pasteurized heavy cream and a precision temperature you can achieve thick and creamy, delicious homemade clotted cream. This recipe is a sous vide clotted cream recipe.
Once you have tried this sous vide recipe you are going to want to try my sous vide recipes for homemade mascarpone cheese and vanilla bean honey. Be sure to check out my complete collection of sous vide recipes.
Homemade Clotted Cream
Keep reading to learn how to make homemade clotted cream using the oven method.
We enjoyed clotted cream for the first time when we took the kids to London this past summer. We stopped by a tea house outside of Windsor Castle so we could have a true tea time. Outside of a castle, how perfect could that be? We were very American and asked way to many questions and I am sure we broke a thousand rules but we enjoyed ourselves and did our best to learn about what tea time in London is about.
The one piece of the tea time that my youngest daughter loved the most, beyond the lemon ginger tea, was the clotted cream. I knew it was hard to find in the US because of the way we pasteurize our dairy products but I was determined to find a way to bring a bit of our trip to London home.
Clotted Cream Ingredients:
- Non Ultra-Pasteurized Heavy Cream
Sous Vide Set Up
This is my sous vide set up. It is a large, wide pot with a rectangle glass dish inside. The dish is resting on water filled mason jars and the water is above the heavy cream line but not over the top of the glass dish.
Everything is covered in plastic wrap to keep evaporation down.
Homemade Clotted Cream Sous Vide
In a large, open dish, pour in 1 pint of non ultra-pasteurized heavy cream. You NEED to read the label and make sure it DOES NOT SAY Ultra-Pasteurized. Depending on your area this might prove to be difficult to find. If you have a local dairy, go see them. Chances are they will have what you are looking for and you are supporting local dairy farms! If you are in a more populated area, go to the fanciest grocery store you can find. They have all the hard to find things.
If you use ultra- pasteurized cream this will NOT work. One more time for the people in the back. If you use ultra- pasteurized cream this will NOT work.
Set your sous vide to 180 F 82.2 C and place your glass dish in the bath.
I tried to do this in mason jars and it did not produce the yield I was looking for.
The more surface area you have, the better your yields will be.
Set your timer for 12 hours.
YES.
12 hours.
I am sure one upon a time, long ago this was done in a brick oven as it cooled over night or on top of a stove with residual heat. BUT I don't have either of those. I have Sous Vide and this is what is working for me.
After the 12 hours in the sous vide bath, remove the clotted cream pan and place in the refrigerator to chill completely.
I found an additional 12 hours is needed for the crust of clotted cream to form and chill completely.
Homemade Clotted Cream
Here we are almost 24 hours later and when the crust is pulled back.
The yellow bits are much like the texture of butter.
The back side is super creamy.
I found that 1 pint of heavy cream yielded about 4 ounces of homemade clotted cream. I am sure results vary.
Buttermilk
Don't toss this!!! No. Don't do it. Use the leftover buttermilk to make scones. MMM. Yummy scones with homemade clotted cream.
Clotted cream in the oven
The entire process CAN be done in your oven. Set the temperature as low as possible, 180 if at all possible.
Place the wide pan, preferably a 9x12 pan in the oven and cook for 12 hours.
Proceed as above.
The benefit of using sous vide is that there is less energy used and your kitchen is not as hot.
Ingredients
- 1 pint non ultra pasteurized heavy cream
Instructions
- Set your sous vide to 180 F 82.2 C
- Set your timer for 12 hours.
- After the 12 hours in the sous vide bath, remove the clotted cream pan and place in the refrigerator to chill completely.
Nutrition
I am Sarah Mock. Welcome!
Sarah Mock is a classically trained Chef and graduate of Johnson & Wales University. A culinary blogger for 16 years Sarah helps the home cook prepare her recipes with professional results.
Jamiee Wade says
I am not sure how you do this in a pan inside the sous vide box/container. Could you put it in a large sealed bag?
D H says
If your heavy cream only says pasteurized, not ultra... and after 12 hours at 180 F it still does nothing, what might be the error?
Marta says
THANK YOU! I have been trying to figure out homemade clotted cream FOREVER!