Clotted Cream & Splits – Jennifer Mueller

Food in many cases can set the place of a story more than any other factor.  Landscapes can repeat across the world, but put a plate of clotted cream on the table and you know where you are immediately.  English tea anyone.

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Clotted Cream

Ingredients:
2 pints full cream milk

Preparation:
Pour milk into a basin or dish, and leave in a cool place for at least 8 hours. The cream will rise to the top. Put the dish over a pot of boiling water. You may want to use a double boiler. Simmer the water until the cream begins to show a ring around the edge and the surface just begins to bubble. After about 45 minutes to an hour, remove from heat. Let the cream cool, and skim the clotted cream from the surface.

Splits

Ingredients
1 teaspoon active dry yeast
1 1/4 cups lukewarm milk
1 tablespoon white sugar
3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled

Directions
In a small bowl, dissolve the yeast in the milk and add the sugar. In another bowl, sift the flour and salt together and add the cooled melted butter.

Add the yeast mixture to the flour mixture, and turn out onto a floured counter and knead until the dough is smooth and elastic. Place the dough in an oiled bowl, cover with a clean towel and let rise in a warm, draft free place to 45 minutes.
Turn dough out onto the freshly floured board and shape into 9 balls. Place dough balls into a buttered and floured 9 inch square pan. Let them sit, covered for another 15 minutes to rise again. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).

Bake for 15-20 minutes until browned and puffed. Split open and serve warm.

Tanley's boring life on Saint Michael's Mount gets a lot more complicated when a man is washed up on the beach. With her father dead, the neighbor smuggling, and a knife wound in the man's shoulder she's all alone with a whole lot of trouble.  At least she's not stuck getting rid of a body when he wakes up at long last, but delivering papers for the government to help pay the debt after the war with Napoleon makes the stakes higher than just a little smuggling.  Alone with James though temptation is hard to resist, if only getting caught didn't bring up a whole new set of problems.

 

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www.jennifermuellerbooks.com