Cranachan

Cranachan is a traditional Scottish desert made using local produce. It used to be eaten at harvest time when raspberries were plentiful. Today it is a popular ending to a burns supper on Burns Night on the 25th of January.

Cranachan is also sometimes called Crowdie Cream, as it used to be made with a soft Scottish Cheese known as a Crowdie, instead of the modern variant that uses cream.

In one variant, the Ale-Crowdie, ale, treacle and whisky were served with the oats. This used to be served at weddings with a ring added to the mix. Whoever got the ring either choked to death, or was fated to be the next to marry.

The traditional way of serving Cranachan was to bring each individual ingredient to the table separately, the guests could then assemble it themselves to their own taste.

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Ingredients (serves 2)

• 300g (10 1/2 oz) Raspberries or Strawberries
• 280 ml (10 fl oz) Thick Double Cream
• 2 tbsp Good Quality Honey such as a Scottish Heather or Blossom honey
  
• 2 tbsp Single Malt Whisky or Drambuie (Note that for an alcohol free version you can add a few drops of Vanilla Essence instead)
  
• 2-3 tbsp Oatmeal

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Preparation

• Place the Oatmeal in a cool pan and heat over a medium heat, stirring occasionally until golden. This should take from 10 to 20 minutes.

• When toasted leave to cool in the pan and sieve to sift out any dust.
  

• Put the cream in a bowl and whisk until thick.

• Add the honey and Whisky / Drambuie / Vanilla Essence (delete as appropriate) and fold into the cream.

• Put 3 or 4 raspberries in the bottom of each serving dish.

• Keeping a couple on one side, gently stir the remainder in to the cream mix, breaking some up to slightly colour the cream.

• Spoon the cream into the serving dishes.

• Sprinkle on the cooled oatmeal mixed with two tablespoons of sugar.

• Top each with a raspberry.

• Put in the fridge to chill for at least half an hour or overnight.

Do you want wafers with it?
For another variation, cover a baking tray with baking paper and pre-heat the oven to 160C. Mix 3 tbsp honey and with 6 tbsp of oatmeal together and form into 10 thin round shapes. Place on the baking tray and bake for 10 to 20 minutes until golden brown. Leave to cool. Break two of these wafers up and add to the cream mix from the previous recipe. Use the remaining wafers to decorate the finished dish.

Best eaten on Burns Night or watching the Wicker Man on TV (the original not the naff remake). Summer is a comin' in....

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