Foodbella: Clotted Cream. A Poor Name for a Tasty Treat.

This weekend we made some clotted cream. Don't be fooled by that unfortunate--yet technically fitting--name. It's amazing.

I thought the No-Knead Dutch Oven Bread was easy to make, but I don't think anything could be simpler and more satisfying than making clotted cream. See my comments after the recipe.

Clotted Cream

Ingredients:

• 4 cups Heavy Cream 

Instructions: 

• Set oven to its lowest temperature. Ours goes as low as 170F.
• Pour 4 cups of heavy cream into a 9x9 casserole dish.
• Place the casserole dish on the middle rack and set timer for 12 hours.
• After 12 hours, remove clotted cream from oven and let cool. 

• After cooling, about one hour, place plastic wrap over casserole dish and chill in refrigerator about 4-5 hours or until noticeable separation.
• Remove dish from refrigerator and fold over a corner of the "clotted" cream and pour out the liquid into a container to use as you wish.

left over cream from two batches of clotted cream.

• Scrape remainder of clotted cream into a butter dish or ramekin large enough to hold about a pint.
• Now you have wonderful clotted cream, which is traditionally spread over scones and topped with fruit jams or preserves. 

For printer friendly recipe, click here. 

We watched a few videos about making clotted cream, and they strongly suggested using cream that is NOT ultra-pasteurized. Apparently, it's not supposed to clot as well as the heavy cream made from grass-fed cows, and having a fat content of between 36-40%. Well, that's not to be found at most local grocery stores, so we just bought what was available to us, which is ultra-pasteurized.  When it first came out of the oven after 12 hours, the top layer of the cream looked like a very thin golden gooey cheese, but it was still very liquid underneath. We put it in the fridge and decided to go to Earth Fare to get some of the fancier cream because we were so sure ours would not clot. 

Ultra-pasteurized on the left and pasteurized on the right.

While the fancy heavy cream went in the oven, we took the ULTRA pasteurized cream out of the fridge and to our surprise, it was very nicely clotted! 

So, now we have two batches of clotted cream, and this morning Jason made some blueberry scones with clotted cream.

ultra-pasteurized clotted cream on the left. Fancy pasteurized clotted cream on the right.

Even though the clotted cream made from the Earth fare heavy cream looked slightly better than the ultra-pasteurized heavy cream, they both pretty much tasted the same to me.  I don't know why I was expecting it to have a sweet taste, but in all honesty, clotted cream tastes like unsalted butter, with a slightly nutty flavor and a silky smooth texture. It spreads wonderfully on the warm from the oven scones, and with the addition of some blueberry preserves...heavenly. 

🍴

Thank you for visiting.

Foodbella: The Easiest No-Knead Dutch Oven Bread

Don't worry. I don't have a long family story about this recipe. I will get straight to it. So easy, and so good. Has become our weekly bread bake. Crispy on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside.

No-Knead Dutch Oven Bread

Ingredients

3 cups Bread flour (or all purpose)

1/4 tsp instant yeast

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

12 oz cool tap water

• In a large bowl combine flour, yeast , sugar, and salt.
• Add 12 oz water, and stir with wooden spoon until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky.
• Cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap. Let dough rest 8-12 hours, at warm room temperature. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. 
• After dough has proofed for 8-12 hours, liberally flour your work surface. Scrape the dough from the bowl onto the work surface and sprinkle with a little more flour.
• Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Do not knead it!
• Place upturned mixing bowl over the dough to rest while you prep the oven.
• Place a 6-8 quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, pyrex or ceramic) into the oven and preheat to 450F.
• Once oven is preheated, carefully remove the pot from the oven. Remove the lid and turn your dough out into the pot. (Don't worry about the shape, it will be fine) Replace the lid and bake for 30 minutes with the lid on.
• After 30 minutes, remove the lid and bake another 15 minutes until loaf is beautifully browned.
• Cool on rack.
• Enjoy!

For a printable PDF link of recipe: click here.

The above instructions are what we followed and worked great for us, but you can find many videos on YouTube with varying instructions. It helps to see how to handle the dough and what it will look like after proofing.  So, here are two that we watched. 

The below video is in French with subtitles, but it's the first video we saw and the closest recipe we followed. Though, at the end, we did not want our bread to be soft on the outside, so we did not put it in a bag as he did. Otherwise, it's so easy.

Thanks for visiting, and let me know if you make this recipe. 

🍞

Enjoy!

3D printed Moon Illuminated from a Vintage Paper Lantern

JC made the coolest 3D print of the Moon. He found the moon design files, as usual, on Thingiverse.com. He said he made it because the light from this paper lantern shone right in his eyes every time he walked to the front door to let Mollie, the dog, out.  

It is hollow inside, but you can still see the relief of the surface of the moon. 

Now, for the first time, there is no "dark side of the moon". 

🌔

Thanks for visiting!

3D Designed and Printed Snowman and Snow Topped Trees

JC designed and printed these trees and snowmen for our family members for Christmas.  

I painted them with acrylic paints. 

The snowmen are what we like to call "interactive" because he included holes for arms that they can insert twigs into, or even toothpicks, if they wish.  

They each received one snowman and two snow topped trees.  They are so cute. 

I forgot to have him print a set just for us!

I hope you had a Happy Christmas, and here's to a peaceful New Year. 

☮

Thanks for visiting. 

Christmas Is Coming...to Bassett Hall in Colonial Williamsburg

I did some Christmas decorating at work yesterday.

If you've never heard of Bassett Hall, it is the "little colonial home" of John D. Rockefeller Jr. and wife, Abby, during the restoration of Colonial Williamsburg, which Rockefeller funded.

music: "Christmas is Coming" by Michael Gurley

If you've been to Colonial Williamsburg, hopefully you also visited Bassett Hall.
If not, put it on your agenda for your next visit.
It is open Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays from 9am-5pm.

Bassett Hall 

at

 Colonial Williamsburg

🎄

Thanks for visiting.

3D Printing Backlog! My Husband is on a Printing Frenzy!

He's on a roll, but he needs to slow down! 

I have a line out the door of 3D prints waiting to be painted!

The website My Mini Factory has a category called Scan The World: 

"Scan the World is an ambitious initiative whose mission is to archive objects of cultural significance using 3D scanning technologies, producing an extensive platform of content suitable for 3D printing.

Through collecting scan data from the community and museums alike, Scan the World serves as a public effort to bring art to the masses in a way more tangible than ever before, all in the wider context of a meaningful contribution to education, preservation, and accessibility."

JC found this Scan The World 3D print design of a Julius Caesar sculpture on Thingiverse.com, 

which was modified into a pencil holder. 

Et Tu Brute?

3D Darth Vader print. Come to the cute side? 

Below are three 3D designs created for me by JC. 

A hedgehog, turtle, and armadillo. 

So cute. 

He was inspired by the originals he saw on the gift site, Uncommon Goods. 

It's probably gonna be awhile before I can get to them. 

We are having Thanksgiving at our house again this year, 

so we'll be busy cleaning this weekend, 

and cooking and baking all next week. 

🦃

Thanks for visiting. 

3D Printed Garden Urns, Water Feature, Dalek, and Much More.

I am thrilled with these garden urns that JC designed and printed. We were sitting around brainstorming accessories that he could print for our Dickens Christmas Village one day.  

Garden urns was one of my requests. I think that got his creative juices flowing. 

I LOVE them!  They are just what I envisioned. 

Here they are after painting with acrylic paint. 

They go great with this fountain he printed from a design found at Thingiverse.com.

Here is the Dalek in progress.

I had to look up what mixture of paint colors to use to make the bronzy color. (burnt sienna and cadmium red light with more burnt sienna). 

Here is what he's supposed to look like and hopefully will at some point.  

It looks a bit dark in the above picture, but that's just the lighting. 

Here is Mister Dalek with some other items in progress; British Post Box and dogs, and cat. 

And then there is this lil' lady. 

If you don't know her right off the bat, don't worry, I wouldn't have either. 

 Though, I probably have seen her hundreds of times since the early 1980s.  😉

Thank you for visiting. 

🐍

{All 3D Printing Designs found on www.Thingiverse.com except the garden urns, which were designed and printed by JC}

Crappy Halloween

Halloween, though one of my favorite holidays, is always a bust in our neighborhood. 

No trick or treaters ever, even though I dress up my porch every year, and play scary music.

Everyone seems to be doing Trunk or Treat instead.

That's no fun.

When I was a kid I loved nothing more than walking down the dark and spooky streets running from house to house being scared out of my mind. I remember there was a house down the street that scared me and thrilled me at the same time. All they had was scary music playing. I don't even think the homeowner showed their face when they handed out the candy.  That's it! But I loved it so much! 

Now that I think about it, how was it that I was such a brave kid on halloween night, but I couldn't even walk down the hallway in my house without all the lights on? ha.

Oh well, I still enjoy spookifying my house, even if it ends up just being for JC and me. 

Here are a few photos from early Halloween morning at Colonial Williamsburg.

I saw on our neighborhood page that someone close by had "three adorable trick or treaters", so maybe there is hope for next year. 

Thanks for visiting. 

🎃

3D Printed Dickens Village Accessories

JC has been printing little accessory pieces for our Dept. 56 Dickens Christmas Village.

3D printed fountain

3D printed dogs and cat next to my watch for scale

3d printed dogs and cats for Dickens Village 

I can't wait to paint them. Although, they are so tiny, and I am so fidgety fingers. I'll do my best. The standing dog will be painted to look like our dog, Mollie, a beautiful brindle.

Thanks for visiting!

🐶

{All 3D printing design files found on Thingiverse.com}

A Haunted Halloween at Colonial Williamsburg

Haunting on DoG Street (Duke of Gloucester) is in full effect at Colonial Williamsburg through the 31st.  I took a stroll through the streets before opening hours this morning. 

Boy was it spooky. I hope I can sleep tonight.

Have a look for yourself....if you dare.

☠

Thanks for visiting.

👻

Mornings in Colonial Williamsburg

If I didn't have to get up at the crack of dawn, I would miss all these morning views. 

 The Geddy House (below) recently received a new paint job. I love the light shining on the siding.  

Thank you for visiting. 

👑