Devonshire Cream

We did a women's tea at our church recently and one of my jobs was to make devonshire cream for the event. I've made this many times but never for a large crowd - that was always Cindy's job.

Not that the recipe is difficult! The Emilie Barnes "cheater" version is ridiculously easy though it's one of those kind of recipes that allows a bit of creativity in proportions as you stir up a batch. I never consider myself good at this kind of manipulation of ingredients beyond what is written on a recipe page - and, fact is, I never had to be when Cindy was around to happily use her gifts to whip up batch after giant batch of devonshire cream that sang with just the right proportion of ingredients, one to another.

 The actual recipe calls for making the choice between using sour cream or cream cheese in the mixture. When Sherry and Martha grocery shopped for our tea they didn't call me and decided, on their own, to buy the cream cheese. Wrong move. I've ALWAYS used the sour cream and even the thought of substituting with cream cheese made me sick to my stomach. Doesn't mean it can't be done - just means it WON'T show up in any of my devonshire cream batches.

 My first mega batch of the cream turned out fine. Amanda G. said it was just the right amount of not too sweet...I think that was a compliment! Many women asked me for the recipe - a rather laughable request, considering how very easy it is to make this wonderful spread for scones.

Mock Devonshire Cream

 1/2 c heavy cream OR 8 ozs cream cheese (NOT)
2 T powdered sugar
1/2 c sour cream
 Beat cream in a chilled bowl until medium stiff peaks form, adding sugar the last few minutes of beating. If using cream cheese, just stir together with sugar. Fold in sour cream and blend.