When I spotted clotted cream being sold in Karstadt last week, I instantly decided that it was a sign from the universe that I needed to make scones at the weekend, so that’s just what I did. And what’s the obvious thing to do wih scones (well, yes, eat them of course… slightly less obvious than that, though)?
Answer: Afternoon tea:
The scones could have been just a little more risen (my self-raising flour was technically out of date), but inside they were as light and fluffy as they’re supposed to be. With clotted cream and jam, they made a delicous afternoon treat!
Jam first or cream first, which do you prefer?
Before moving to Germany, I don’t think I had ever purchased clotted cream in a supermarket… afternoon tea was an occasional treat reserved for cafés. On the rare occasions that we had scones at home (usually purchased from Greggs), they were fruit ones and we tended to toast them then smother them with butter. But I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to inject a little piece of “home” into my every day life. I love Germany and its food very much… but I can have Maultaschen for dinner any time. An afternoon tea is something special!
Do you like to inject little pieces of your old home into your life abroad, or have you embraced your new culture wholeheartedly? And for those of you who don’t live abroad, do you ever try to recreate meals from your travels into your every day life? Just curious. (You can call it nosy, if you like ;-))
Confuzzledom 
I lived in Germany for a year as a kid, and for a semester in college. I have an absolute obsession with Ritter Sport Marzipan – luckily it can be found in the States. I do miss good German brotchen and certain pastries; there is a store called German Gourmet in my metro area, but nowadays I cannot eat wheat, so brotchen are not an option. 😦 And on the rare occasion I eat sausage, I am *very* picky! 🙂
Yes! Ritter Sport Marzipan!!! I love it! Oh, my delight when I found those just a couple of days ago in an unassuming roadside coffee shop on Stock Island in the Florida Keys 🙂
Ritter Sport is far too good! I have to keep away from that aisle in the shops. lol
CREAM FIRST! It’s too hard to spread clotted cream on the jam without making an almighty mess 😉 …although having said that I do usually end up in a mess when eating scones. It’s part of the fun 🙂
…and to answer your other questions: I love cooking everything from all over the world – I’ve made a point of collecting recipes almost everywhere I’ve travelled and have thrown myself wholeheartedly into exploring the German cuisine… but I’ll always hang onto the recipes that remind me of home, too. I treated my (German) in-laws to roast pork and crackling with mash on Saturday night, as it happens 🙂
I find it depends how cold the cream is – straight from the firdge, it’s so hard that you can only spread it on the scone. When it’s a bit softer, just dolloping it on the jam works (I never bother with spreading the top layer!).
Mmm, roast pork! I’ve never tried making a pork roast myself. I’ve done lamb and chicken, and I always make a proper English Christmas dinner for my friends 😀
After holidaying in Morocco we made a few tagine dishes…and we still love them. I love Afternoon tea and tea and cakes. Check out my latest post on the Richmond tea rooms in Manchester. Loved it there!
Cream on jam looks wrong! I don’t think I’ve ever had clotted cream – it might be the word ‘clot’ that’s putting me off 😉 That did look very tasty though!
You don’t know what you’re missing… it’s just like sour cream without the sour 😉
Well, that doesn’t sound too scary… 😉
And less runny.
LOL, would you prefer clumped cream?
I usually put the cream on first if it’s hard (like mine was – straight from the fridge). In café’s, it’s often slightly softer so it’s easier to dollop it on the jam than try and spread it on the crumbly scone.
Clumped cream doesn’t sound much better!! 🙂 I don’t think I’ve seen clotted cream in a cafe in Ireland. We have our scones with jam and butter 😉
I had scones with jam and clotted cream (well, cream anyway. I assume it was clotted?) in Ireland! It was in Bray 😀
Could have been clumped 😉 But good to know! I’ll keep an eye out next time I’m back!
Omg drooool! The name freaks me out but I had scones and clotted cream when I was sitting in a little place in England one day. Loved it. With my tea of course. 🙂
LOL, it never even occurred to me that the name could be freaky! I loooove clotted cream.
Mmmm, that looks great – clever you! I usually put the cream on first, because it can be easier to spread on the scone than the jam. If the scone is very crumbly, the jam just lifts the crumbs rather than spreading properly. I also find it easier to spread jam onto cream than the other way around. 🙂
That’s true – cream is usually more spreadable. I don’t spread the jam on to the cream, just dollop it and leave it at that 😉
Mmm, very jealous. Haven’t seen clotted cream in Rome. I will have to google it and see how to turn normal cream into clotted cream. Definitely cream before jam!
I have googled it before – it seems quite easy, but time consuming. As in takes literally DAYS!
We can’t get clotted cream here… sooo jealous. But we can get Ritter bars 😉
We couldn’t for aaaages, this was the first time I’d ever seen it!
I have never even heard of clotted cream! But def jam first then the cream for me, I love a afternoon tea party:)
I try to make things that I remember having from America, and get really excited when I find random food favourites as it gives me that nice fuzzy homey feeling. I really want to have a go at making afternoon tea though!
Dooo it, scones are possibly THE easiest recipe in the world. That’s probably why we made them in school at least once a year.
Don’t mind me, I’m just drooling all over my keyboard. Good work!
Careful you don’t drown it 😉
Can’t believe I never had scones! I need to change that. And I love my afternoon tea! But yeah, I am always happy when I find some German things in America. 🙂 I really wish they’d have some good bread over there. They don’t. I do love an English muffin (what’s English about them?) once in a while but German bread is the best.
How fun! I love doing things like this, but lately my addiction to the Asian supermarkets has kept it very oriental around dinner time.
I don’t go out of my way to recreate american cuisine while I’m here, but I *do* find frequent amusement at all the things marked “american style” in the grocery that have pretty much zero in common with anything I ever would have purchased back at home.
I don’t eat purely German food either, though- truth be told, I’m sick to death of Bavarian cuisine. I’m happy that Regensburg is a fairly international city- there’s a pretty huge variety in the restaurants here.
I do most of our cooking, so we eat a lot of “easy” things like spaghetti bolognese and chilli, that are enither German nor English. Yesterday we had Maultaschen though (German) and today I’m making cottage pie.