Raspberry Cranachan
Raspberry Cranachan is a typical Scottish dessert dating back to the 18th century. It’s a very quick & simple dish to prepare, not to mention delicious. We usually dish it up annually as the perfect Burns Night supper dessert. Serve with heart shaped shortbread and you’ve got yourself an equally elegant & refined Valentine’s dessert!
You could probably describe this dessert as the purest form of a trifle where stodgy cake is replaced by toasted oatmeal. The silkiness of the cream contrasts perfectly with the crunchiness of the oats and the sharp tang of whisky is perfectly offset with the sweetness of the raspberries. This really could be the most perfect dessert. Elegant, decadent yet simple!
Raspberry Cranachan
Ingredients:
This Raspberry Cranachan recipe is from Rick Stein’s “Food Heroes” recipe book and there are just five ingredients:
- fresh raspberries
- double cream
- honey (preferably heather honey)
- toasted pin head oatmeal
- whisky
I’ve never found heather honey in Hong Kong so I always use my raw honey. You can also use any good whisky – be it Scottish, American or Japanese. Last year I used Woodford Reserve Kentucky Bourbon, but this year I may use my Japanese whisky from the Nikka distillery which I visited late last year. The pinhead oatmeal I bought from a Wellcome superstore. I think you could also source this from iherb. A common pet peeve about shopping in Hong Kong is that you can only find Double Cream around Christmas time. For this recipe I end up having to buy Whipping Cream instead. Just be careful not to over whisk otherwise it will curdle.
What is Burns Night?
In case you’re wondering, Burns Night is a celebration of the life of the famous Scottish poet, Robbert Burns. It is celebrated annually on the 25th January, the anniversary of his birth. It’s said this tradition was started by five of his close friends five years after his death in 1796.
Although we are not Scottish we do love any excuse for a gathering and celebration, especially as Christmas seems an age ago!
We’ve been celebrating Burns Night by hosting or going to a Burns night supper with friends for many years now. It’s such a great excuse to eat Haggis, drink whisky and be merry. A traditional Burns night menu generally consists of Haggis (lamb, beef, oats, onions and spices wrapped up in a sheep’s intestine – tastes better than is sounds, promise!), sausages, neeps & tatties (mashed turnips or swede & potatoes) and gravy, which all get washed down with a good dram of Scotch whisky! It’s especially fun if you have a theatrical friend to ceremoniously address the haggis and usher in the the meal with The Selkirk Grace.
RASPBERRY CRANACHAN
This Raspberry Cranachan recipe is so quick easy to make that you’ve still got time to make this tonight.
Serve with a dram of whisky and scottish shortbread!
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Happy Burns night!
gx
P.S. This recipe has been shared with What’s Cooking Wednesday.
A delicious, quick & simple, traditional Scottish dessert and just perfect for a Burns night supper.
- 300 ml (10 fl oz) fresh double cream
- 3 tbsp heather Honey
- 2 tbsp generous of whisky
- 50 g (2 oz) toasted oatmeal
- 350 g (12 oz) punnets of raspberries
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Lightly toast the oatmeal in a saucepan on in the oven on a baking sheet for a few minutes. Set aside and leave to cool.
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Whip the cream until it begins to thicken, then whisk in the honey and whisky until soft peaks form.
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Fold in three quarters of the raspberries and most of the toasted oatmeal.
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Spoon the mixture into a nice glass bowl or individual serving dishes.
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Finish off by topping the cream with the reserved raspberries and oatmeal and serve immediately.
This dessert looks beautiful and I love the fact that it’s so uncomplicated. I think I do still have time to make it tonight:)
Hello Monika, Thanks for stopping by. I think this has got to be one of the simplest recipes around. I’ll be making a double portion of this recipe for our Burns’ night supper tomorrow night!
Absolutely fabulous. So easy to make but so delicious to eat.
Thank you Ceda 🙂
I can’t wait to give this a whirl tomorrow…. mmmmmm
Hope you enjoy it Helen, and don’t struggle finding raspberries like I did yesterday!
We enjoyed this delicious recipe (prepared by Gillian herself!) at our Burns Night supper last year. The perfect dessert to follow the perfect haggis (Macsweens of course!). It was such a hit with everyone and really stole the show (but don’t let our theatrical friend know I said that!).
Hi Bernard, Very glad to hear you enjoyed the Cranachan. Hope you enjoy this year’s too! The Macsweens is our favourite Haggis too. gx
I have to admit that I’ve never tried cranachan before (despite having visited Scotland a few times), but we’ve got all the in and I’m sure hubby will let me have a couple of tablespoons of his whiskey to try such a simple and no doubt scrummy dessert. 🙂
Angela x
Thumbs up !
Very nice !!!
I’m a cook too Gillian and I post on Tung Chung Community and DB’s Mums.
I just wished to tell you I like your blog .
Hello Fiorenza, I recognise your name from DB Mums. I’m the DB Mums admin :). Thank for your kind words on my blog. Very much appreciated. You are Italian right? I’m half Italian on my Mothers side 🙂 gx