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What to do With Leftover Cream

peaches and cream
Yesterday a friend of mine brought by a jarful of lovely, snowy heavy cream from the local dairy, spoils from his job at a coffee shop. I used some of it to make my favorite fleur de sel caramels, but I've still got a cup or so sitting in the fridge. And I can't figure out what to do with the darn stuff! This is the same problem I have whenever I buy cream to cook or bake with and don't use the whole carton - the rest inevitably ends up souring, unused, next to the jar of capers. I am determined to find a better solution. So I've turned, of course, to the trusty interwebs.

Love Food, Hate Waste has a few ideas - creamy tomato soup, quickie pasta carbonara, apple crisp. The Chowhound message board has some good thoughts - cream scones, mashed potatoes, bread pudding, Alfredo sauce, herbed sauce for fish. I especially like the idea of make-and-freeze soups and pasta sauces, as baking scones with the leftover cream seems like it might just result in wasted cream and wasted flour and sugar. Cooks.com has some of my favorite ideas, with suggestions for recipes utilizing slightly soured cream and milk, like Boston brown bread and sour-cream cake filling.

What are your favorite ways for using up leftover cream?

Filed Under: Ingredients
Tags: cream, dairy, leftovers

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Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)

Matt Mazz

2-02-2009 @1:12PM Matt Mazz said... I was faced with the same dilemma last night - had leftover cream that I didn't want to waste. I ended up using about 1/4 cup to finish a small pot of risotto (added at the very end for the last 1-2 minutes of simmering), and the result was amazing. The risotto was 3-mushroom made with veg stock, and the cream was the perfect finish.
Reply

Kokopelmana

2-02-2009 @1:38PM Kokopelmana said... Make butter in your food processor. It only takes a cup of heavy cream and the results are to-die-for. MUCH easier than you would expect, and very quick to do.
Reply

Ziggy

2-02-2009 @1:39PM Ziggy said... Whip some, and churn the rest.
Reply

Laughingrat

2-02-2009 @1:46PM Laughingrat said... It's really nice over oatmeal or added (just a dollop) to hot cocoa. Not as single-step as using it all up in a recipe, but it still works. :)
Reply

Melissa

2-02-2009 @2:10PM Melissa said... I use leftover cream in mashed potatoes. Chef Gordon Ramsey has this amazing recipe for mashed potatoes in his cookbook called "Fast Food". Instead of using just milk, you use about 1/4 cup of cream and 1/2 cup of milk. The results are the creamiest mashed potatoes I've ever made....yum!
Reply

melissa.algaze

2-02-2009 @3:09PM melissa.algaze said... Butter, it's so easy and a very impressive thing to people who don't know how easy it is. Make sure you rinse out all of the buttermilk.
Reply

Karen

2-02-2009 @4:04PM Karen said... I pour heavy cream in my kids oatmeal every day. They can use the fat and it really makes their hot cooked breakfast taste delish.
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Kaila

2-02-2009 @4:28PM Kaila said... Cream Braised Brussels Sprouts... they are super delicious and make a really great side dish (or main dish if you're a single person like me).



I use this recipe:



http://orangette.blogspot.com/2006/12/best-thing-since-brussels-sprouts.html

I also like to put leftover cream in hot chocolate.
Reply

Laura

2-02-2009 @4:44PM Laura said... Along the lines of what Karen suggested: Mix it with a little maple syrup and dark brown sugar and pour it over steel cut Irish oatmeal. Yum.
Reply

Simm

2-02-2009 @6:58PM Simm said... This dessert from the ThePioneerWoman.com is simple and tastes amazing:

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2008/06/yogurt-cream-and-berries/
Reply

piccola

2-02-2009 @9:02PM piccola said... Uh, freeze it. As in, ice cream.
Reply

ematchar

2-02-2009 @9:10PM ematchar said... Great ideas, thanks! I ended up making a strata for breakfast with cream, eggs, cheese and leftover stale baguette, and I'll probably give the homemade butter thing a shot with the rest.

Emily
Reply

AllAboutFood

2-02-2009 @10:33PM AllAboutFood said... Here's one more: Whip it up with a little sour cream (1/2 cup sour cream for 1 cup heavy whipping cream) a bit of brown sugar and some dark rum. I just had a lashing of this over my warm cherry cobbler. Yum! Good on oatmeal, too. Keeps for a day or two in the refrigerator.
Reply

Czadd

2-03-2009 @9:29AM Czadd said... Melt down some sugar 'til it almost burns, then mix in the cream (same amount of each). Magically, you have caramel. If I'm not careful I'll "lick the pan" until it's gone.

The stuff lasts for weeks in the fridge.
Reply

Kate

2-06-2009 @3:02AM Kate said... I whip the cream until stiff, then put spoonsful on a metal baking tray and freeze. I keep the frozen cream in a small jar to defrost and use as needed.
Reply

15 Comments / 1 Pages

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