Made in .....

     I was asked for the recipe for Cranachan the other day, so here it is and made with only local ingredients.

Double cream, raspberries, pinhead oatmeal, heather honey and whisky.

The whisky is from my mother's home town of Tain in Ross-shire. A word on the pronunciation of Glenmorangie: the stress is on the second syllable, not the third!

The Malt Whisky Companion says the 'nose' of the 10 yr. old is "spicy with some flowery sweetness, fresh, a whiff of the sea, enticing", while the palate is "Spicy, flowery, with malty-sweet tones that are creamy, almost buttery". The 'finish' is "long and rounded".

    

Toast 3-4 ozs. of oatmeal and stir into 1/2 pt. softly whipped double cream. Add 1 tblsp. of runny honey and 1 tblsp. of whisky, then fold in 4-6 ozs. raspberries.

Annette Hope in A Caledonian Feast says Cranachan is "a perfect example of the marriage of simple local ingredients, each element tasting of itself yet contributing both flavour and texture to the memorable creation of  one of the world's great desserts". It was traditionally served at Hallowe'en with small charms hidden in it.

Comments

[Peg]

Yum! Pinhead Oatmeal - that is a new one on me. Is it ground oatmeal, by chance? My DH loves Scotch Whiskey - thus our first Cairn is names Isla!
I am off to the market, so perhaps we will have Cranachan for dinner!

[Lesley]

What more could anyone want? The skirl of the bagpipes and a recipe for cranachan? Aaaah.

[Peter the flautist]

Musical Cat loves Cranachan, but I am afraid prefers the "skirl" of the flute to the bagpipe (although from across a glen it is quite acceptable). He also is fond of almost every malt whisky made, but limits himself to the dark time between the equinoxes to drink it.

[kimmo]

Hi there,

Great blog, thanks for using Songspots. You probably figured this out already, but you know that you can add the Songspot directly to the posting too, which would relate it more closely with the actual topic.

Anyway, thanks for the nice pictures and great looking recipe, keep up the good work!

Kimmo / Sonific

[Elizabeth]

Thank you for the recipe Karen, it sounds divine - my husband always keeps Scotch in the house ()he loves honey too), so I'll be making this when we have friends over for Sunday lunch soon - if not before!! (although I don't know pinhead oatmeal either, but imagine with Peg that it is finely ground oatmeal?)

[Rebecca]

I made this for a Burns Supper and it was a great success. In fact Glenmorangie is almost my favourite whisky (or whiskey if you are from my side of the pond), which is of course a terrible admission for an Irish woman!

[annmarie]

I have a lovely bottle of Glenmorangie in my cabinet! Like another commenter, I also have a Cairn, a beautiful boy named Robbie. :)