Yep, surprise! We are expecting baby #2 this summer!
I am 15 week pregnant and man has life been throwing us some curveballs. Thankfully I feel fine and this pregnancy is going well, but geez we are tired! We started the year with bad colds, immediately followed by noro virus. We had a few good weeks of getting our new-to-us shipping container and rehabbing it (note, pausing on the house) so we can use it as a garage and get things out of the living room. Great weekend at the coast complete with 4 inches of SNOW…on the beach! Then home to Matt breaking his big toe and us all getting sick again. Everything has come to a screeching halt on all projects since Matt is not able to get around well and needs to let his foot heal. It has been rough and frustrating, but we are getting through. Oh and we had 18 inches of snow last week…leaving me stranded for an extra long business trip and our little island without power. It was glorious to see, but the timing was rough.
Aside from the struggles, this pregnancy is going well. Baby “Dew” as we have dubbed him or her is growing well and snuggled in just where they should be. This one will be a surprise just like Oak was, and expected to arrive late July or early August.
I have been craving cottage cheese, kiwi and English muffins again…very similar to my pregnancy with Oak except with her it was bagels not English muffins. I was also on a craving kick for some honest to goodness clotted cream on scones. Unfortunately very hard to find here stateside, so I finally found a recipe and made some.
It. Was. Amazing.
Clotted cream itself was super simple, the hardest part finding cream that was not ultra pasteurized. These will most definitely be on some fancy breakfast rotation in our house for years to come.
Traditional Clotted Cream
You Need:
- 1-2 pints heavy whipping cream – NOT ultra pasteurized (I found this at Trader Joes in half pint size and made 1 1/2 pints worth)
- 8x8ish glass pan
- 12 hours for cooking + 12 hours for cooling
There are lots of YouTube videos but honestly this was so simple you don’t even need them.
Directions:
- Pour cream into glass pan (comes up the sides 1-3″ depending on amount of cream you use. Put into a 170 or 180 degree oven (some ovens have different minimum settings…we used 170 convection with great results) for 12 hours, uncovered, undisturbed (overnight is great) ***Make sure your oven does not automatically turn off!***
- Remove pan from oven and observe the beautiful creamy yellow crust on top of a thin layer of thin cream whey. Let cool in refrigerator for another 12 hours.
- Skim the solid clotted cream off the whey and out into jars and refrigerate. Use the whey for some other cooking project!
Super easy. Super delicious. Serve with scone or however you desire.
English Style Scones
- 2 cups all-purpose flour (10 ounces by weight)
- 4 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 6 tbsp unsalted butter at room temperature
- 2/3 cup whole milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
- Combine the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar in a bowl or food processor.
- Add the butter and pulse 7-10 times until the butter is completely distributed, or alternatively, use a pastry blender to bring the mixture to the texture of sand.
- In a small bowl, whisk to combine the milk and egg. Save 2 tbsp of it for the egg wash later, and pour the rest into the mixing bowl with the dry ingredients.
- Stir to combine with a spatula, until a rough dough forms.
- Transfer to a lightly floured countertop and knead about 10 times until the dough comes together into a relatively smooth ball. Take care not to knead too much, or the dough will be tougher and not rise as high.
- Roll the dough about an inch thick and use a 2.5″ cutter to cut about 7 circles. Re-roll the scraps and cut out another 2.
- Place the scones onto a parchment or silicone mat lined baking sheet and brush the tops with the reserved egg wash.
- Bake the scones for 13-15 minutes, until about tripled in height, and golden brown.
Thank you to Fifteen Spatulas for the original recipe!