Scottish Tablet

OK, every now and again i try and master a bit of scottish cooking. Well you have to embrace the local culture. After my disatrous millionaire's shortbread a few month's ago i decided to have ago at Scottish tablet.

I searched the internet and found about 4 recipes that were all different so i joined them all togther, lol

So here goes





Ingredients

• 1kg white granulated sugar

• 1 tin (appx. 400g) sweetened condensed milk

• 100g unsalted butter

• 100 ml fresh milk to damp sugar

• 1 tea spoon vanilla essence

• quarter bar of white chocolate grated finely

Notes on ingredients

Condensed milk
This is whole milk that has been heavily sugared, and boiled down to a thick, slightly caramelized, sticky liquid. Evaporated milk doesn't give as good results.

Butter
This has to be unsalted, of the highest quality, and margarine cant be used as a substituted.

How to make vanilla sugar as an alternative to using vanilla essence

Simple, but time-consuming: Bury a dried vanilla pod deep in a bag of sugar. After a week or two, fish the pod out.

Equipment
• large pan, not non-stick
• big wooden spoon
• glass of cold water
• teaspoon
• plate, as spoon rest and tester for mixture colour.
• large shallow baking tray, carefully buttered. (I actually used my turkey roasting tin which was perfect)

Method
Damp the sugar with cold milk in the pan. Add the butter, condensed milk, chocolate and vanilla essence and turn the heat to a medium-high. I use electric and have it set to number 3

Keep stirring evenly until the mixture comes to the boil; this usually takes about ten minutes. If you start getting brownish streaks (caramel), turn the heat down a little, and keep up the stirring effort. If you get black streaks, you've burnt it, opps, you need to start again. (CAUTION, be careful here as a splash causes a nasty sugar burn, i have the blister to prove it)

Once the mixture boils, turn the heat down low, number 1. Stir occasionally to stop the mix sticking. When it's simmering, the mix can be more than twice its original volume, so let's hope you've chosen a big enough pan.

You'll notice the mixture darken slightly; keep stirring. It'll take about 20 minutes for the mix to cook.

Transfer a little of the hot mix to a teaspoon, and plunge it into cold water. It should form a soft, sticky ball that should drip off the spoon very slowly. When it does this, it's ready.

(CAUTION the goo on the spoon is very tasty, but be advised that it keeps its heat inside the glob. You can burn your tongue quite remarkably. Beware!)


Now comes the difficult bit. Take the pan off the heat, and start stirring vigorously. Try to mix in some of the crystallized mixture that has formed on the side of the pan; what we're trying to do is to get the mixture to form large enough crystals that it will set, but small enough crystals that it will still pour. Once you feel the spoon stirring slightly grittily on the base of the pan, and the mixture being slightly stiffer, it's ready to pour.

The above is much harder to explain than to do; you'll know it when you feel the change.

Quickly pour the mixture into the buttered baking tray, which should be on a level heat-resistant surface. Scrape out as much of the mixture as you can, as it will set in the pan to concrete hardness, and someone will just have to eat what's left in there.

Don't be alarmed if you see little patterns appearing on the surface as the tablet cools. It's just the sugar crystallizing. Once the mixture has fully cooled and set(usually overnight, if you can keep your paws off it that long or bang it in the fridge), slice into bars or small chunks.


Seriously not part of a calorie-controlled diet but very nice as a treat

And there you go, very simple. ITs just a case of stirring all the time and not doing other jobs inbetween, ni multi tasking when making this.

Sarah