The Model Bakery’s English Muffins

Here it is…February already. It seems the Husband and I made it through the recent blizzard event, lovingly dubbed “Snowzilla” relatively unscathed. And tomorrow, my favourite varmint, Punxsutawney Phil, will be stepping out of his burrow at Gobbler’s Knob and letting everyone know if there will be 6 more weeks of winter or if perhaps Spring is on the way. Groundhog Day is nigh!

One extraordinary rodent!

Phil & all the folks up in Punxsutawney aren’t the only folks celebrating now. February 1st, which falls half way between Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox, also marks the festivals of Imbolc, St. Brigid’s Day and Candlemas, all of which are associated with fertility, fire, purification and weather divination. Quite an auspicious time of year! I’m very happy to be marking an event today as well. February 1st just happens to be the 5th year anniversary of  the my cooking blog! Yup… Five years ago today I posted my first recipe. It was for Cream Tea Scones with Currants.

I’ve posted some tasty “Anniversary Edition” recipes since then as well like Banana Rum Muffins:

And last year I was able to successfully bake up a genuine Crack Pie!

So the pressure was on to pick a great dish to share on this my 5th Year blogging and I definitely have a winner for you: The Model Bakery’s English Muffins!

I mean who doesn’t love an English Muffin? With all of those delightful nooks and crannies, it’s just the perfect vehicle for lashings of salty butter and sweet fruity jam. Seems I’m not alone in my adoration of the muffin. Folks have been enjoying these for a long, long while. Certainly you’ve heard the traditional English nursery rhyme “The Muffin Man”

Oh Do you know the muffin man,
The muffin man, the muffin man,
Do you know the muffin man,
Who lives in Drury Lane?

In Victorian England folks were able to have fresh “muffins” delivered right to their door by a fellow known as….you guessed it, The Muffin Man. In 1874, Samuel Bath Thomas moved from Plymouth England to New York City. Once there he set up a bakery and began selling what he called “toaster crumpets”. They were similar to English crumpets but were thinner and pre-sliced. He was the founder of Thomas’s English Muffins which are still sold in many groceries today.

And whilst I’m thankful to Mr. Thomas, having enjoyed the convenience of easily buying a packet of English Muffins, whenever the mood struck me, I’ve got tell you…those store-bought muffins don’t really hold a candle to these homemade gems! Oh Good Lawd above! Once you taste these big honking, tender, moist & fluffy Homemade Muffins, you’ll be hooked. Sooooo worth the effort. You’ll never be found in the Muffin aisle of your local grocery again. (Sorry Mr. Thomas!)

Now there are many recipes out there for homemade English Muffins, but this one from the Model Bakery reigns supreme! There is a reason their muffins were featured on Food Network’s Best Thing I Ever Ate. The Model Bakery has been open in Napa for over 80 years. Dedicated to authentic artisan baking traditions, they specialize in Artisan Breads but also will tempt you with a complete range of pastry products. And if you’re not planning on visiting Napa anytime soon, they not only mail order some of their delicious baked goods, but have also published a great cookbook: The Model Bakery Cookbook: 75 Favorite Recipes from the Beloved Napa Valley Bakery , so that you can bake them at home. I’m telling you these muffins are just heavenly. Larger than your usual English Muffin, they bake up wonderfully fluffy and light as a cloud, yet are substantial enough to hold up to any breakfast sandwich you might send their way.

And with this dough, you don’t have to fiddle around with any old-fashioned muffin rings. You cook them up on a griddle, completely free form.  If you can resist eating the whole dozen in one sitting, a feat of self-restraint that would definitely be worthy of admiration, I’m glad to say these little darlings freeze well, allowing you to have these awesome muffins on hand at the drop of a hat! So what are you waiting for…

• Servings: 12 Muffins
• Difficulty: easy, but several steps and dough rising times to be factored in
• Print

From: The Model Bakery Cookbook

Special thanks to Steven & Julie, fellow baking enthusiasts, for sharing this killer recipe with me!

Ingredients:

For the Biga:

• 1/4 cup / 60 ml water
• 1/2 cup/ 75g bread flour
• 1/4 teaspoon instant (also called quick-rising or bread machine) yeast

For the Dough:

• 1 1/3 cups / 315 ml water
• 3/4 tsp instant (also called quick-rising or bread machine) yeast
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 3 1/2 cups/ 510g unbleached all-purpose flour, as needed

Additional Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup/ 35g yellow cornmeal, preferably stone-ground
• 6 tablespoons melted Clarified Butter (recipe follows) as needed

Directions:

To make the biga: At least 1 day before cooking the muffins, combine the flour, water, and yeast in a small bowl to make a sticky dough. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 12 hours or up to 24 hours. The biga will rise slightly.

To make the dough: Combine the biga, water, yeast, olive oil, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer. Affix the bowl to the mixer and fi t with the paddle attachment. Mix on low-speed until the mixture looks creamy, about 1 minute. Mix in 3 cups/435 g of the flour to make a soft, sticky dough. Turn off the mixer, cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and let stand for 20 minutes. (To make by hand, combine the water, biga, yeast, oil, and salt in a large bowl and break up the biga with a wooden spoon. Stir until the biga dissolves. Mix in enough flour to make a cohesive but tacky dough. Cover and let stand for 20 minutes.)

Mix in enough of the remaining flour to make a soft dough that barely cleans the mixer bowl. Replace the paddle with the dough hook. Knead on medium-low speed (if the dough climbs up the hook, just pull it down) until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes. Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured work surface to check its texture. It should feel tacky but not stick to the work surface. (To make by hand, knead on a floured work surface, adding more flour as necessary, until the dough is smooth and feels tacky, about 10 minutes.)

Shape the dough into a ball. Oil a medium bowl. Put the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil, leaving the dough smooth-side up. Cover with plastic wrap. Let stand in a warm place until almost doubled in volume, about 2 hours. (The dough can also be refrigerated for 8 to 12 hours. Let stand at room temperature for 1 hour before proceeding to the next step.)

Using a bowl scraper, scrape the dough out of the bowl onto a lightly floured work surface. Cut into twelve equal pieces. Shape each into a 4-in/10-cm round. Sprinkle an even layer of cornmeal over a half-sheet pan. Place the rounds on the cornmeal about 1 in/2.5 cm apart. Turn the rounds to coat both sides with cornmeal. Loosely cover the pan with plastic wrap. Let stand in a warm place until the rounds have increased in volume by half and a finger pressed into a round leaves an impression for a few seconds before filling up, about 1 hour.

Melt 2 Tbsp of the clarified butter in a large, heavy skillet (preferably cast-iron) over medium heat until melted and hot, but not smoking. In batches, add the dough rounds to the skillet. Cook, adjusting the heat as needed so the muffins brown without scorching, adding more clarified butter as needed. The undersides should be nicely browned, about 6 minutes. Turn and cook until the other sides are browned and the muffins are puffed, about 6 minutes more. Transfer to a paper towel–lined half-sheet pan and let cool. (It will be tempting to eat these hot off the griddle, but let them stand for at least 20 minutes to complete the cooking with carry-over heat.) Repeat with the remaining muffins, wiping the cornmeal out of the skillet with paper towels and adding more clarified butter as needed.

Split each muffin in half horizontally with a serrated knife. Toast in a broiler or toaster oven (they may be too thick for a standard toaster) until lightly browned. Serve hot. (The muffins can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days.

To make the clarified butter: Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat until completely melted and boiling. Cook until the butter stops sputtering, about 1 minute. Remove from the heat and let stand for 5 minutes. Skim the foam from the surface of the butter.

Line a wire sieve with dampened, wrung-out cheesecloth and place over a medium bowl. Carefully pour the clear, yellow melted butter through the sieve, leaving the milky residue behind in the saucepan. (Discard the residue.) Pour into a small container and cover. Refrigerate until ready to use. (Psssst: If you can’t be bothered making your own clarified butter, you can just go buy some Ghee off the supermarket shelf or order on Amazon!)

Enjoy!

The Model Bakery’s English Muffins brought to you by: Runcible Eats (www.leaandjay.com)

Helpful Links to Kitchen Tools & Ingredients I used in making these English Muffins:

So this is a new feature I’m adding to my blog. Below you will find a list of Amazon Links to some of the Kitchen Tools and Ingredients which may not be found in your local grocery store, that I used in making the above recipe. You certainly don’t have to order them from Amazon if you’d prefer not to, but you can at least take a look at them there and then proceed as you wish. You also might be able to make the recipe perfectly well without any of these tools, but I use them and feel they make things much easier for me.

Oxo Good Grips Stainless Steel Food Scale

6 Quart Dough Rising Bucket

Kitchen Aid Artisan Series 5 Qt. Stand Mixer

SAF Instant Yeast

Le Creuset 11 3/4″ Cast Iron Frying Pan

Ghee (Clarified Butter)

 

Crack Pie

I’m so excited! Tomorrow my favourite varmint, Punxsutawney Phil, will be stepping out of his burrow at Gobbler’s Knob and letting everyone know if there will be 6 more weeks of winter or if perhaps Spring is one the way. Groundhog Day is nigh! The chances that he will see his shadow tomorrow in Pennsylvania, thus heralding the arrival of Spring, are not favourable. There is a big snow event happening up in that neck of the woods today and tomorrow. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what he has to say. Phil has been correct in his prognostications for the past two winters!

One extraordinary rodent!

Phil & all the folks up in Punxsutawney aren’t the only folks celebrating now. February 1st, which falls half way between Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox, also marks the festivals of Imbolc, St. Brigid’s Day and Candlemas, all of which are associated with fertility, fire, purification and weather divination. Quite an auspicious time of year! I’m very happy to be marking an event today as well. February 1st just happens to be the 4th year anniversary of  the my cooking blog! Yup… Four years ago today I posted my first recipe. It was for Cream Tea Scones with Currants.

I had been blogging for a little while at that point, but not about food. I originally started this blog as a way to get information out to folks who were planning to travel to Ireland to attend our wedding. I found out that I actually liked to blog and then it eventually morphed into the more food centric version that you see today. It was difficult to choose which recipe I wanted to share with you for this anniversary edition, but I ultimately decided that it just had to be Crack Pie. Maybe because I must be on crack to continue trying to publish 2 times a week and for 17 days straight St. Patrick’s Day blogapolooza starting March 1st… But also because Crack Pie is definitely one of those special occasion kind of desserts.

So I imagine you might be wondering, possibly with some trepidation, what is Crack Pie? Crack is definitely one of those words that just jumps out at you when you come across it huh? I remember one such occasion back when I was in college in Ireland. I hadn’t been there very long and was hanging out with some new-found friends in a local pub. One fellow was trying to convince me to come along with him to a house party nearby. When I hesitated a bit, he said “Ah come on, you should. They’ll be great crack there.” Uhhhh…excuse me?!! Well that is what I heard anyway. I soon learned (but not soon enough to attend said party) that I had misheard him. What he actually said was not “crack” but “craic” Irish for good times or fun, but unfortunately pronounced exactly the same way…. Kind of changes your whole imagery of the party huh? But wait, back to that pie….really? You haven’t heard of Crack Pie?!!

Come on! That particular confection has a cult following! Crack Pie, invented by Chef Christina Tosi, is one of the top-selling treats at the famous Momofuku Milk Bar in NYC. And when I say top-selling, just listen to this. a whole pie sells for $44. They sell 60 -90 Crack Pies every day or two! Hmmm…sounds like quite a few folks have developed a bit of a habit. Yup….if you like sweet…no wait a second….SWEET desserts, this rich, salty/sweet pie is insanely addictive! And I’m sure at this point you just want me to tell you what it is. Well, you can read the list of ingredients below, but that doesn’t really help and describing the taste is difficult. In consistency, it is like a Chess Pie or like a pecan pie, without the pecans, but the flavour is unique. The crust is made from crumbled oatmeal cookie

 

and the filling is gooey, buttery, bliss that tastes somewhat reminiscent of  that Corn Pop cereal you used to eat as a kid. Remember this stuff?!!

 

This is due to a secret, well not so secret, ingredient. Strangely adaptations of the recipe often leave it out. But more on this later.

Now the version of Crack Pie that I have here is from Christina Tosi herself.  I felt it was important to make it as closely as I could to the real deal Crack Pie. I will say this does present a couple of challenges. The first is that her recipe, unlike some other versions which have been adapted, is for two pies. That meant I did indeed make two of those babies. I didn’t try to half the recipe and you shouldn’t either. Part of what makes Crack Pie Crack Pie is that it spends some quality time in the freezer. Chef Tosi claims that it is essential to achieve the correct consistency. So I put both pies in the freezer and after we gobbled one down, it was great knowing that I had another just waiting for the perfect occasion to emerge. Another thing that Tosi’s Crack Pies have in them, that is missing from most of the clone recipes I found is the elusive corn powder.

Corn powder is made from taking freeze-dried corn and simply grinding it up into a powder in your food processor. It not only acts as a binder but it also gives the pie its unique Corn Pop – like taste. Corn starch and corn flour are not good substitutes if you are trying for authentic. You can buy Corn Powder from the Momofuku Milk Bar or you can find freeze-dried corn at the ever so handy Amazon. I have an Amazon Prime membership and freeze-dried corn was delivered to my door on a Sunday, which I think is pretty dang amazing! So plan ahead if you want to make an authentic Crack Pie. And believe me….you do. Following the recipe, or should I say recipes, because like all Chef Tosi creations there is a recipe, within a recipe, within a recipe to master before you reach your final goal. But Oh…it is so worth it. One bite of that salty/sweet nirvana known as Crack Pie (hah! one bite….I should say “once you’ve come up for air” cause you will not stop at one bite…) and you’ll be convinced. So  go ahead and make this legendary confection. Your sweet tooth (or teeth) as the case may be, will thank you – once they get over that initial sugar ache!

• Servings: Two 10 inch pies each serving 8 - 10
• Difficulty: easy
• Print

recipe from: Chef Christina Tosi at Momofuku Milk Bar or perhaps you should invest in the Momofuku Milk Bar cookbook for even more yummy treats!

Ingredients:

• 1 recipe oat cookie
• 15 g (1 tbs tightly packed) light brown sugar
• 1 g (1/4 tsp) salt
• 55 g (4 tbs) butter, melted, or as needed
• 1 recipe crack pie® filling
• confectioners’ sugar, for dusting

Directions:

Pre heat the oven to 350°F.

Put the oat cookie, brown sugar, and salt in a food processor and pulse it on and off until the cookie is broken down into a wet sand. (If you don’t have a food processor, you can fake it till you make it and crumble the oat cookie diligently with your hands.)

Transfer the crumbs to a bowl, add the butter, and knead the butter and ground cookie mixture until moist enough to form into a ball. If it is not moist enough to do so, melt an additional 14 to 25 g (1 to 1½ tablespoons) butter and knead it in.

Divide the oat crust evenly between 2 (9-inch) pie tins. Using your fingers and the palms of your hands, press the oat cookie crust firmly into each pie tin, making sure the bottom and sides of the tin are evenly covered. Use the pie shells immediately, or wrap well in plastic and store at room temperature for up to 5 days or in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.

Put both pie shells on a sheet pan. divide the crack pie® filling evenly between the crusts; the filling should fill them three-quarters of the way full. Bake for 15 minutes only. The pies should be golden brown on top but will still be very jiggly. (I baked mine for about 20 minutes here)

Open the oven door and reduce the oven temperature to 325°F. Depending on your oven, it may take 5 minutes or longer for the oven to cool to the new temperature. Keep the pies in the oven during this process. When the oven reaches 325°F, close the door and bake the pies for 5 minutes longer. The pies should still be jiggly in the bull’s-eye center but not around the outer edges. If the filling is still too jiggly, leave the pies in the oven for an additional
5 minutes or so. (I don’t know what was up with my oven, or perhaps it was because I was using 9 inch pie tins rather than 10 inch ones, but I had to bake my pies about 30 more minutes before it was even remotely set. Don’t despair if this happens to you. Have patience. Some how I managed and my Crack Pies were fantastic! And finally, remember that the very center of the pie will still look jiggly when you take it out of the oven. You’ll be afraid that it isn’t done, but it is. Remember to over-cooketh a Crack Pie is a sin!)

Gently take the pan of crack pies® out of the oven and transfer to a rack to cool to room temperature. (You can speed up the cooling process by carefully transferring the pies to the fridge or freezer if you’re in a hurry.) Then freeze your pies for at least 3 hours, or overnight, to condense the filling for a dense final product—freezing is the signature technique and result of a perfectly executed crack pie®.

If not serving the pies right away, wrap well in plastic wrap. In the fridge, they will keep fresh for 5 days; in the freezer, they will keep for 1 month. Transfer the pie(s) from the freezer to the refrigerator to defrost a minimum of 1 hour before you’re ready to get in there.

Serve your crack pie® cold! Decorate your pie(s) with confectioners’ sugar, either passing it through a fine sieve or dispatching pinches with your fingers.

Oat Cookie

Ingredients:

• 115 g (8 tbs) butter, at room temperature
• 75 g (1/3 cup tightly packed) light brown sugar
• 40 g (3 tbs) granulated sugar
• 1 egg yolk
• 80 g (1/2 cup) flour
• 120 g (1 1/2 cups) old-fashioned rolled oats
• 0.5 g (1/8 tsp) baking powder
• 0.25 g (pinch) baking soda
• 2 g (1/2 tsp) kosher salt
• pam or other nonstick cooking spray (optional)

Directions:

Heat the oven to 350°F.

Combine the butter and sugars in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and cream together on medium-high for 2 to 3 minutes, until fluffy and pale yellow in color. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula. On low speed, add the egg yolk and increase the speed to medium­ high and beat for 1 to 2 minutes, until the sugar granules fully dissolve and the mixture is a pale white.

On low speed, add the flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. mix for a minute, until your dough comes together and any remnants of dry ingredients have been incorporated. The dough will be a slightly fluffy, fatty mixture in comparison to your average cookie dough. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Pam-spray a quarter sheet pan and line with parchment, or just line the pan with a silpat. Plop the cookie dough in the center of the pan and, with a spatula, spread it out until it is 1/4 inch thick. The dough won’t end up covering the entire pan; this is ok.

Bake for 15 minutes, or until it resembles an oatmeal cookie-caramelized on top and puffed slightly but set firmly. Cool completely before using. wrapped well in plastic, the oat cookie will keep fresh in the fridge for up to 1 week.

Crack Pie® Filling

You must use a stand mixer with a paddle attachment to make this filling. It only takes a minute, but it makes all the difference in the homogenization and smooth, silky final product. I repeat: a hand whisk and a bowl or a granny hand mixer will not produce the same results. Also, keep the mixer on low speed through the entire mixing process. If you try to mix the filling on higher speed, you will incorporate too much air and your pie will not be dense and gooey-the essence of crack pie®.

This recipe makes the filling for two Crack Pies.

Ingredients:

• 300 g (1 1/2 cups) granulated sugar
• 180 g (3/4 cup tightly packed) light brown sugar
• 20 g (1/4 cup) milk powder
• 24 g (1/4 cup) corn powder
• 6 g (1 1/2 tsp) kosher salt
• 225 g (16 tbs) butter, melted
• 160 g (3/4 cup) heavy cream
• 2 g (1/2 tsp) vanilla extract
• 8 egg yolks**

Directions:

Combine the sugar, brown sugar, milk powder, corn powder, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and mix on low speed until evenly blended.

Add the melted butter and paddle for 2 to 3 minutes until all the dry ingredients are moist.

Add the heavy cream and vanilla and continue mixing on low for 2 to 3 minutes until any white streaks from the cream have completely disap­peared into the mixture. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula.

Add the egg yolks, paddling them into the mixture just to combine; be careful not to aerate the mixture, but be certain the mixture is glossy and homogenous. mix on low speed until it is.

Use the filling right away, or store it in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 week.

**note: It will be the death of your wildly dense pie filling if there is any bit of egg white in the mixture. I believe the easiest, and best, way to separate an egg is to do so in your hands. You may also use the two half-shells to separate the eggs, but the cracked shells can tear the yolk open, and you may not totally separate all the white. If you do this by hand,you can feel when you get every last bit of white away from the yolk. Remember to wash your hands under warm soapy water for 30 seconds or more before and after you handle raw eggs!

Enjoy!

Crack Pie® brought to you by: Runcible Eats (www.leaandjay.com)

 

Happy Imbolc, St. Brigid’s Day, Candlemas and Groundhog (Hedgehog) Day!

So all of the above mentioned celebrations take place on February 1st or 2nd and have associations with fertility, fire, purification and weather prognostication. Imbolc is an old, pagan Celtic festival which marks the first day of Spring and a re-awakening of the earth. It falls halfway between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox. The festival was later adopted by the Catholic church and re-named St. Brigid’s Day. St. Brigid is one of Ireland’s patron saints who lived in the early 6th Century and is associated with fire. In other parts of Europe, the Catholic Church declared this day Candlemas or the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin. It seems Jewish women went through a purification ceremony 40 days after giving birth to a male child (80 days after if the child was female…) February 2nd is 39 days after Christmas. People mark this day by both lighting candles and bringing candles to the church for the priest to bless. They are then kept in the home to be lit in times of need. When European settlers came to the America, they brought their along their own traditions for this day. All included some forms of weather divination based on the behaviour of various animals-snakes, badgers or hedgehogs. Not finding a lot of badgers or hedgehogs here, they substituted our native groundhog as the new oracle. Hence, we celebrate Groundhog Day. I must admit though, I really like hedgehogs, so Hedgehog Day would be pretty cool. Badger Day, on the other hand could be downright dangerous! A traditional poem states:

If Candlemas be bright and fair

Winter will have another year

But if it be dark with clouds and rain

Winter is gone, and will not come again.

Sounds a lot like the criteria for Groundhog Day here, but without mentioning the animal. If good ole Punxsutawney Phil comes out of his comfy den into bright and fair weather and sees his shadow, he’ll run back in thus predicting that we will have six more weeks of winter weather.

The critter himself

I certainly don’t know what will happen tomorrow, but I think Pennsylvania is currently suffering a big winter storm and is unlikely to experience any sunshine.

What Phil will likely see...

I looked around for a recipe that would be good for marking the above mentioned holidays. Milk, cheese and dairy products are associated with Imbolc and St. Brigid’s Day, so I made Cream Tea Scones with Currants. These scones are really great. They aren’t super sweet, which is how scones are usually made here in the US, but are more the traditional type scone you’d have with tea.

Cream Tea Scones with Currants

• 2 cups all-purpose four, plus extra for sprinkling
• 1 Tbsp granulated sugar
• 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 4 Tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 2 large eggs
• 2/3 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 cup dried currants
• 1 heaping Tbsp raw sugar

Preheat the oven to 400° F (200° C) Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a bowl, stir together the flour, granulated sugar, baking power and salt. Add the butter to the flour mixture. Using a pastry blender or 2 knives, cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs and cream. Add all but 2 Tbsp of the egg mixture to the flour mixture all at once and stir until a sticky dough forms. Quickly stir in the currants, just until evenly distributed.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Knead gently until the dough holds together, about 6 times. The dough should be soft; do not overknead. Divide into 2 equal portions and pat each portion into a round about 1 inch thick and 6 inches in diameter. Cut each round into 4 equal wedges.

Place the wedges 2 inches apart on the prepared sheet. Brush each wedge with the reserved egg mixture and sprinkle with the raw sugar. Bake the scones until golden brown, about 15 minutes.

Makes 8 scones. Recipe from The Williams-Sonoma Baking Book.

I topped my scones with fresh strawberries and Devonshire Double Cream (clotted cream).

Actual clotted cream is difficult to find in the US. However, you can find jars of Double Devon Cream which is very similar to the fresh clotted cream.

English Double Devon Cream...YUM!

Its a bit pricey, but really worth it! Devon cream is the creamiest of cream. It is the consistency of butter or sour cream and tastes amazing spread on scones. Jay had his first taste of a scone with clotted cream on the last day of our honeymoon in Ireland and he absolutely loved it! Whipped cream on scones is nice, but if you haven’t tried clotted cream, go out and spring for some of this goodness.