Devonshire Cream {A Recipe}

So for those of you who would like to enjoy a little English Tea Time fun for the big Royal wedding tomorrow but don't want to spend an arm and a leg buying a jar or imported Devonshire Cream, I'm posting my recipe for Devonshire Cream for you now.  Which, incidentally, goes perfectly with jam and the Queen's scones recipe found in this post here.  

If you are making and eating scones the 'cream' part is the best, you really must eat the two together.  It's not just whipping cream either but a thickened, slightly sweet version of whipping cream.  It spreads really nicely on scones and adds a sort of fluffy buttery touch.  

Now some of you may be asking, 'what the exactly is Devonshire Cream?' or 'is that the same thing as Clotted Cream?'  Or maybe I was just wondering what exactly the difference was myself :-)  So I did what most of us would do and I turned to the trusty internet to find my answer!  

Clotted Cream-A silky, golden-yellow cream made by allowing unpasteurized cow's milk (traditionally from Jersey cows) to sit for 12-24 hours in shallow pans, then slowing heating it and leaving it to cool for another 12-24 hours. The cream that rises to the surface and "clots" is skimmed off and served with scones, berries, or desserts. The best clotted cream is said to have a good, firm crust atop smooth, thick cream. It has a minimum of 55% butterfat.

Devonshire Cream-Clotted cream produced in the county of Devon, England. Interestingly, in Devon, cream is traditionally spread first on a scone, then topped with jam. In Cornwall, it's the opposite: jam first, then cream.

Oh, now I get it!  Doh!

Now in full disclosure, this Devonshire cream recipe is not the real thing but it is a close enough knock-off that can be re-produced here in the States.  I hope you like it and enjoy it with a spot of tea!

Devonshire Cream -print this recipe HERE-

3 oz of cream cheese, softened

3 Tbsp granulated sugar

a pinch of salt

1 cup whipping cream

Cream the cream cheese, sugar and salt in a large mixing bowl.  Slowly add whipping cream and whip until stiff peaks form.  Chill before serving.  Serve with scones and jam.  

All the goods needed to make some Devonshire or Clotted Cream!

First up, cream the cream cheese, sugar and salt together...

Then, add your whipping cream and whip everything together.  

Once stiff peaks form you are done!

Place the Devonshire Cream in your prettiest serving bowl!

Mmm, a bowlful of Devonshire Cream!

Who's ready for a tea party!!

Scones, cream and jam...if this doesn't bring on world peace I don't know what will.

Are you getting hungry yet?

My momma gave me this China set two years ago on Mother's Day, it is real English Bone China!  There is a sweet little sugar bowl, creamer and loads of teacups and saucers.  Isn't she the best momma out there!?!

Happy Royal Wedding watching to you 'ol chap!

Ta-Ta!

 XOXO,

The Queen's Scones {A Recipe}

Have you heard about some big wedding taking place tomorrow?  I hear it's all over the news.  I think it's in England and involves a Prince or something like that.  Wills and Kate?  Yeah, that sounds familiar :-)

Just kidding.  Of course the world knows all about Prince William marrying Kate Middleton tomorrow.  Although I never ever grew up with dreams of being a princess or wanting to marry a prince or heck, even wanting to get married.  My parents were the kind that said, 'go to school, do well in it, find a job you love and that can support you, all else will happen when it does' Thanks mom and dad, I did do all of those things and I did find love and get married along the way...I love some good advice.  Getting married and dreaming of my future wedding was just never a big fuss in my family, it actually kind of nauseates me when people get so caught up in planning and spending ridiculous amounts of money for 1 day outta all the days in their life.  Where was I going with this?  Oh yeah, England.  Wedding.  Prince...I'm on it.  

Even though I won't be buying any Royal memorabilia or getting up at 4 in the morning (US time) to watch their wedding, I still thought it would be fun to pull out my English bone china and throw a little tea party cause I do love a good tea party!

I was browsing the internet, cause that's what y'all do late at night don'tcha?  And I came across this website that had a scone recipe from the Queen of England herself, it looked like this...

It looked real enough for me.  And the website stated a little bit of history saying that she made these in 1959 when she was entertaining President Dwight Eisnenhower at Balmoral Castle.  Well, I figured if these were good enough for the Queen and our then Pressie then they would be good enough for me and I set out to make them.  I'm always looking for good scones recipes anyways! 

Now, if you read the recipe above you will see a few different things.  Mainly, the use of the word 'teacups', 'bi-carbonate soda' and some other fun English wording as well as at what temperature to bake them and for how long is conveniently missing.  So, I took some liberties with the Queen's recipe, hope that's okay, and baked them at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes or until golden brown.  It seemed the perfect temp and time for the scones, they turned out great.  Slightly sweet and just perfect with Devonshire Cream and jam. 

The Queen of England's Drop Scones -print this recipe HERE-

4 cups all-purpose flour

4 Tbsp white granulated sugar

2 cups milk

2 eggs

2 tsp baking soda

3 tsp cream of tartar

2 Tbsp melted butter

Beat eggs, sugar and half of milk together, add flour and mix together adding the remaining milk as required.  Then add the baking soda and cream of tartar and fold in the melted butter.  Drop onto a greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes.  (She states it makes about 16)

**Find the Devonshire Cream recipe here!

First, grab your eggs, sugar and milk (I used soymilk and the scones still tasted great).

Beat the eggs, sugar and half of the milk (1 cup) together in a large mixing bowl...

Then add in 4 cups of all-purpose flour...

Wondering what sodium bi-carbonate is?  Yup, it's just good 'ol baking soda!

See!  I told ya...

Ingredients:  Sodium Bicarbonate.

You need 2 tsp of this by the way...and 3 tsp of cream of tartar.

Plus, 2 tbsp of butter...melted!

Pour everything into the large bowl and mix together until just combined. 

Drop scones onto a greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes...

Or until golden brown!

Mmmm, scones....

Oooh, pretty bone china!

Nom!  Scones and Devonshire Cream and jam :-)

The perfect tea party!

Fit for a Queen...or a Prince and his soon-to-be wife...

or just me and my family!

Enjoy!!

XOXO,

Above All Fabric Giveaway

My, oh my do I have another great giveaway for you all today!  Once again, I have to say I think you are going to LOVE it!!  

I just started the process of adding blog sponsors to the sidebar of my blog and one of my newest blog sponsors and today's giveaway comes from the fabulous fabric shop, Above All Fabric!!!  Can I get a Woot Woot!!

Melanie is the sweet owner of this amazing shop about all things fabric.  I can tell you that her shop is pure drool-worthiness in the amount of awesome designer fabrics she has in stock, total roll-around on the floor nakey fabric goodness.  BUT, not only does she carry beautiful fabrics like these....

The pretty and whimsical Sherbert Pips by Aneela Hooey

Just Wing It by Momo

Meadowsweet by Sandi Henderon

As well as lots of cool boy prints like 2D Zoo from Alexander Henry!!

Above All Fabric also carries a large assortment of bundles, fat quarter packs, jelly rolls, layer cakes and charm packs...can I say heaven.ly.

She also has tons of great patterns like this sweet little number from Oliver + S.

And you can also find lots of kits, like these beautiful voile scarf kits using Anna Maria Horner's buttery soft voiles.  Ahhh, so pretty!

So how would you like to win a $20 Gift Certificate to shop your heart out at Above All Fabric?  Yes please!!

Okay, so here's how you can enter (you can do so up to THREE times!!):

1.  For one entry, tell me what you'd get from Above All Fabric...hmm, would you pick fabric yardage, a kit, a bundle of fabric goodness, a pattern perhaps?

2.  Be or Become a follower of Smashed Peas and Carrots for one entry

3.  Follow Smashed Peas and Carrots on Facebook (just click here to do so) for one entry.

This giveaway ends Monday, May 2 at midnight!!

I'll announce the winner the next day!

Good Luck Peeps!!

XOXO,

JoTotes...The Winner!!

Oh holy wow!!  So you all really liked the Jototes Giveaway I take it!!  

A winner has been picked...was it you!?!  If your name is...

Yay Christine!!  YOU won!  Please email your addy to me at SmashedPeasandCarrots[at]gmail[dot]com ASAP!!!

And don't worry if you didn't win...I have yet another awesome giveaway going up in mere minutes...stay tuned for more goodness!!

XOXO,

Easter!...the Reveal.

If you can believe it, I actually completed an Easter outfit for each member of my family just in time for the big day...yippee for getting it all done!  I thought I would share the final looks with all of you so you can see that I am not lying ;-)

I tried my best to get a few pictures of the girls standing, not running or crawling away, so you could see the lengths and the fit of the dresses I made them from this earlier post here which by the way Thank You so much for all the sweet comments and emails about how much you liked them!  Some of you had asked about the fit as well as if there is a pattern available.  I actually drafted both of these dresses off of a vintage dress I had seen in a very old magazine a few months back but I can try to get something up for you on the blog sometime soon-ish. 

Happy Easter for our family to yours!!  Here is our Easter 2011 family picture.  These are getting so much harder to do with three kids, aiyayay!  Trying to get all my littles to look and smile at the camera at the same time is definitely a challenge, I don't know if we will ever be able to do this if we have #4.

The weather was absolutely perfect...sunny, warm and bright!  We had a huge Easter egg hunt and Noah and Penelope had a blast searching for eggs.

Here's a view of Penny in her Easter dress.  I made it so it lays above her knee, totally 1950's little girl vintage, I'm loving it!

Little Miss E wanted nothing more than to jump up and down...my sweet little babe is getting so big.  I also made both girls coordinating hair bow clips.  I think they gave their dresses the perfect touch!

I made Mr. Smashed Peas and Carrots this tie...yup, I actually made him a real TIE!  It was so easy too!  I used the tutorial from The Purl Bee found here.  

It matches Noah's tie applique shirt.  Noah was so excited to have something that matched his daddy, so sweet!

I made myself a skirt which you can see in the first picture along with this coordinating brooch.  I think it tied my outfit nicely with all my littles!  

We had such a wonderful Easter celebration full of amazing food, too much candy and enjoying being with family.  I hope you did too!  Here's to more beautiful weather!!

Also, make sure you stop back tomorrow to find out the winner of the JoTotes giveaway as well as to find out what my next exciting giveaway is going to be!!  Woot!

XOXO,