Traditional Scottish Cranachan Recipe With A Twist
Ingredients
- 1x jar of The Scottish Bee Company Blossom Honey
- 600ml double cream
- 300g freshly picked brambles (you can find these as a fresh/frozen shop bought product if you can’t find any wild)
- 150g caster sugar
- 20g demerara sugar
- 150g oats
- 20g Hazelnuts
- 20g pumpkin seeds
- 5g pink peppercorns
- 50ml of your favourite whisky
Here’s a modern twist on the traditional Scottish Cranachan Recipe. This extra crunchy recipe makes the perfect pairing for Hogmanay drinks!
Cranachan is a Gaelic word for “churn”. This is also the name given to a special Scottish Cranachan dessert that is often saved for a special occasion such as weddings, Hogmanay, Burns night and more. Depending on your Scottish location, it is also known as a cream crowdie.
This honey Cranachan recipe is extra special!
A traditional Cranachan is made with cream, whisky, oats, honey and raspberries. In this case, we’ve used some Scottish brambles in place of raspberries, and instead of just oats, we have turned out a cheeky wee crunchy, oaty, seedy honey granola to give it some nice texture.
SERVES 8
Method
1. For the bramble compote, reserve around 16 or so large brambles and pop them in the freezer. They will be used later to serve.
2. Place the rest of the brambles in a pot with the caster sugar. Slowly heat to let the juices out of the brambles and the sugar dissolve. Then bring to a simmer and allow the jam to bubble away slowly until it’s at a thick consistency. Set aside to chill.
3. For the granola, start by pre-heating the oven to 140°C. Mix together the oats, 1tbsp of honey, the peppercorns, demerara sugar, pumpkin seeds and nuts.
4. Place on a baking tray and cook for around 15 minutes to allow the oats to soak up the sugars and start to get sticky.
5. Set aside and once fully cooled, break up to make the crunchy topping.
6. For the cream, whisk up the double cream with the whisky until it forms soft, silky peaks.
7. To serve, you can layer each ingredient in a glass tumbler to look fancy, but it tastes just as good when mixed altogether in a bowl. Start with some whipped whisky cream at the bottom, then add a spoon of the excellent Scottish Bee Company Blossom Honey, then another layer of cream, then the beautiful bramble compote and so on.
8. To top it off, add a nice big spoonful of the honey granola. I also like to add a tiny sprinkle of sea salt on top to cut through the sweetness, then garnish with the frozen brambles. When you take them out of the freezer they frost up, giving them a lovely white glaze and they look really pretty.
This recipe was supplied courtesy of David Hetherington, the Head Chef at Bridge of Orchy Hotel.
