Traditional Dishes | Cakes and Puddings
Scotland is notorious for its sweet tooth, and cakes and puddings are taken very seriously. Bakers with extensive displays of of iced buns, cakes and cream-filled pastries are a typical feature of any Scottish high street, while home-made shortbread, scones or tablet (a hard, crystalline form of fudge) are considered great treats. Among traditional desserts,
Clootie Dumpling
A traditional dessert pudding called clootie dumpling is made with flour, breadcrumbs, dried fruit (sultanas and currants), suet, sugar and spice with some milk to bind it, and sometimes golden syrup. Ingredients are mixed well into a dough, then wrapped up in a floured cloth, placed in a large pan of boiling water and simmered for a couple of hours before being lifted out and dried before the fire or in an oven.
Cranachan
Cranachan is a traditional Scottish dessert. Nowadays it is usually made from a mixture of whipped cream, whisky, honey, and fresh raspberries topped with toasted oatmeal. Earlier recipes for cranachan or cream-crowdie are more austere, omitting the whisky and treating the fruit as an optional extra. Modern recipes have a high double cream content, while originally this was replaced wholly or in part by crowdie cheese.
A traditional way to serve cranachan is to bring dishes of each ingredient to the table, so that each person can assemble their dessert to taste. Tall glasses are also a typical presentation.
It was originally a summer dish and often consumed around harvest time, but is now more likely to be served all year round at weddings and on special occasions. A variant dish was ale-crowdie, consisting of ale, treacle and whisky with the oatmeal - served at a wedding with a ring in the mixture: whoever got the ring would be the next to marry.
One recipe for cranachan is 3oz oatmeal, 1/2 pint double cream, and 1 tablespoon of whisky. The oatmeal should be toasted in a pan over a high heat then dust should be sifted out. Then the oatmeal and the whisky should be added to the cream that has been whisked.
Atholl Brose
Atholl Brose, are considered more refined. In the summer months, Scottish berries, in particular raspberries and strawberries, are particularly tasty.