Scones and Homemade Ricotta
August 4, 2010 – 5:00 pmI don’t usually post about dairy recipes. I don’t usually make dairy-related recipes. But today when I came across ecoMILF’s post about homemade ricotta and how easy it is to make, I had to give it a try. See, several weeks back, Hubs and I had a lovely tea at a place called The Tea Cozy, in Cambria, CA. Hubs had the Ploughman’s lunch, which is a traditional English workman’s lunch of crusty bread, English cheese, apple, chutney, and a pickled onion. And I had the Duchess Tea, in which I first sampled Double Devon Cream with jam and scones. Ohmygoodness. Double Devon Cream is soooo delicious. You should never try it, or else you will be ruined forever, especially if you’re not a fan of having too much dairy in your diet. And, it’s pretty much impossible to make because it requires raw (unpasteurized) cream, which is hard to find; and it’s kindof a complicated process. You can make fake Devon cream out of cream cheese and regular cream, but it isn’t the real thing. Or you can buy it for a lot of $$ online or in a specialty shop.
So ever since my lovely Tea Cozy experience, I have been searching for something that approximates the taste of Double Devon Cream on a scone, without having to resort to processed cream cheese. And I wondered if the ricotta might do it.
First, I made the Classic Currant Scones from The Joy of Vegan Baking (which I own). I used white whole wheat flour in place of all-purpose, and coconut oil in place of non-dairy butter (duh, of course I did). And I left out the currants. The scones are super – moist yet flaky, perfectly scon-ey.
For the ricotta, I used a locally-produced, humane-society certified, organic milk. I followed ecoMILF’s directions exactly. I was surprised at the very small amount of ricotta that a liter of milk produces — less than a cup. This was somewhat disappointing to me, but I’ve never made any kind of cheese before so what do I know. I think maybe I squeezed too much of the whey out of the ricotta at first, so I added some back in so it didn’t seem so dry. Also, I sweetened my final product with the subtlest touch of honey.
The verdict: the ricotta is very tasty with jam and scones. The flavor of it is right on target. But ricotta has that crumbly texture that does not even come close to the creaminess of Devon Cream. I’m not sad I made it. But it’s no Devon Cream…. It’s probably just as well.