So, I made some millionaire shortbread over the weekend, and when shopping for ingredients for it, I bought a pint of double cream. It was only when I got home and checked that I realised that I actually needed condensed milk for the caramel (which I already had).
So, I’ve got the shortbread done and made, what can I do with the double cream? I normally use it to make fudgy lemon bar things, but my son isn’t that fond of them so I thought I’d see if anyone had any ideas for something different.
You could make a killer panna cotta, I make ours SWMBO’s preferred way with white chocolate, lavender and vanilla. I scale back a little of the milk and add about a 1/4 cup of grated or shaved white chocolate and roughly 1/4 tsp lavender. It’s also really good with a bit of lemon and raspberry but the sky is pretty much the limit except for pineapple and kiwi which will not let the gelatin set properly if you add it in instead of as a topping.
Lavender is a not totally unusual culinary ingredient. It is one of the usual included in herbes de provence. Also used in various desserts and in tea. I used to grow lavender just to cook with it. Use sparingly.
As for double cream, it’s basically a heavier version of what we call heavy cream here in the States. So heavy cream is (looks it up) 36-40% butterfat, double cream is 48%.
Double cream in the U.K. is similar to, but slightly thicker than, heavy cream in the U.S. It’s about 58-60% milkfat. Heavy cream is 55% milkfat.
The U.K. also offers single cream which is somewhere between what we call cream (35% milkfat) and what we call half & half18-20% milkfat). So, like 30%
I vote for panna cotta (also called blanc mange). But you can churn it up into whipped butter to serve with hotcakes or hot cereal, use it to make frosting, create killer chocolate mousse. Oops, there I go. Chocolate mousse. Winner.
Tried to correct my percentages but I ran up against the time window. Wikipediahas several great tables of cream content by countries so I’ll let them speak for me.
ETA: I see you’ve added to your post. Looks like it may be as high as you say down in Aussie (although the Australian cites I found like this one also go with the 48% figure.) At any rate, it’s just creamier (i.e. more butterfat) cream.
I’ve managed to find 55% locally from a small dairy that supplies some restaurants and only us individuals if they have extra. It’s a rare treat to cook/bake with. But also because they are small, the cream isn’t uniformly 55%. It depends on whether or not the cows are having a good day.
I’ve made the semi-freddo, the one with raspberry and pistachio, because I like pistachio. It’s just gone into the freezer, so we’ll have to wait until tomorrow to see if it works
