Wednesday, June 15, 2011

When You Have Sour Cream. . .

By which I mean cream that has gone sour, not the thick commercial stuff for baked potatoes.  I buy cream in 2-pint jugs at market, but if I don't have several recipes in a row for it, it can get sour.  I do sometimes freeze the sweet cream in measured amounts for a baking recipe (or nutella!) in order to preserve its sweetness, but soured cream is also excellent in baking. 

What I have found, however, is that its high fat content makes it behave a little differently than buttermilk or regular sour milk.  If I am using soured cream in a recipe that already has oil or butter, I cut it with some milk or yogurt or else the end result will just be too greasy or rich.  Cream biscuits, using cream as the liquid and the fat, are a good application, but you have to adjust the baking powder accordingly (check the back of a teaching cookbook like Joy of Cooking or Mennonite Country Style - it is easy to switch sour milk and sweet milk in recipes).

One of my favorite ways to use soured cream is this scone, pronounced "skahn" by my college friend Jillian, who says it's an old family recipe from the British Isles.  You will see it's a simple recipe, much faster than other quick breads - easy to stir up even if there are bickering children or crying babies in your life right now.

We eat it toasted with butter for breakfast.  On Sunday, there were a few pretty strawberries (not clean socks) on the plate too.  Lovely.


Jillian's Scone
Mix:
4.5 c. flour (I use at least half whole wheat)
1 c. sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt

Stir in:
3 c. buttermilk, soured cream, thinned yogurt
2 c. raisins
Spread in two greased and floured bread pans and bake at 350 for 1 hour.  Cool on wire racks.  Slice and serve, or freeze.

12 comments:

Jennifer Jo said...

Your cream sits around long enough to go SOUR??? Don't you have enough USES for it? Like ICE CREAM and WHIPPED CREAM?! I buy a quart about once a week. These summer months, it's just enough to get us through.

This recipe reminds me of Irish soda bread. It looks yummy.

Polly said...

Yum. There are crying babies in my life, so I love recipes like this! Wonder how it would be if I omitted the raisins and used, say, grated lemon zest? Or orange zest? I love raisins but my husband is not too keen on them in baked goods. He's crazy!

Margo said...

JJ, I don't have an ice cream maker, maybe that's why?

Polly, I think it would be ok because I'm not sure the raisins are necessary for the chemical reaction - I think they're just flavor. What about nuts, maybe, with the zest? I hope you make a raisin loaf for yourself, though, and then have it toasted and buttered. It's fab.

Christian - Modobject@Home said...

There are plenty of bickering children and tearful babies in my life, which means I may just eat the entire scone myself... slathered with butter, of course!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for sharing! I hope to try this recipe soon, as I have some cream that had soured. Does this recipe tend to be on the dry side like some other some recipes?

Anonymous said...

I meant some other scone recipes!

Margo said...

Hi anon, I hope you like the recipe. It is quite moist. However, be sure not to stir much after you add the dry ingredients AND be sure not to overbake the loaf. As soon as a toothpick or tester comes out clean, it's done.

Anonymous said...

Thought I'd give this a try....... Low and behold it is SUPER and so simple. I tried it hot out of the oven...... Oh so naughty and very morish!!

Margo said...

oh good - I'm glad you liked it! Always nice to hear if my recipes work out :)

1 Little Snow Girl said...

Came across this recipe... WONDERFULLY DELICIOUS! Thanks for sharing! -)

1 Little Snow Girl said...

Came across this recipe... WONDERFULLY DELICIOUS! Thanks for sharing! -)

Angela said...

I have soured cream left from New Year so definitely going to try this! (But as a Brit, I've never had scones baked into a loaf like this! We always cut the dough into rounds, rather like what, I think, you call biscuits! And there's fun dispute ALWAYS about how to pronounce it: "skonn" (short O) or "scone" (long O, rhyming with "loan"!) I'm a Skonn girl myself.