Home Food Legends Angus and Dundee Food Cranachan

Cranachan

With a name that you’d pay good money to hear Jonathan Ross pronounce,
cranachan is 100 per cent Scottish. Oats, raspberries, double cream and
sweetened with honey or demerara sugar; cranachan can also be made
‘adult’ by judiciously adding a wee nip of single malt to the mix. At
it’s most gregarious, it’s boozy, fruity, wholesome and a little
decadent – like all good desserts should be.
It does seem a shame that cranachan does not enjoy the lauded infamy of
the haggis or the everyman’s working breakfast, the Lorne sausage:
raspberries, oats and something to give the arteries a work out means
that it is both delicious in the mouth, and deliciously balance
something healthy (oats) with something a bit to close to the Scotsman’s
heart (cream, sugar, and if it’s a special occasion – whisky). While
there is some debate as to what constitutes an authentic cranachan,
there is a standard method by which all are made.
Toasting pinhead oatmeal – any oatmeal will do – in a dry pan, then
sieving out the dust as to avoid it turning to porridge, fold the hot
oats into some whipped cream (preferably double), and sweeten to taste.
Either top with raspberries or throw them all in together – it’s just a
matter of taste and aesthetics. And though a simple creation, cranachan
needn’t be shackled to tradition, convention or to anything else,
really. There’s nothing in the rule book that says some vanilla-infused
mascarpone would finish it off a treat. Or that some plucky chef-to-be
couldn’t crown it with some spun sugar and crushed hazelnuts. Goodness,
that wouldn’t be very traditional. But it would look great and be damned
tasty – and that’s all that matters.
Serve your cranachan in an attractive glass – Champagne flutes and
Martini glasses work well – and keep telling yourself that the oats have
a low GI index and forget about the cream. Cranachan is also known as
cream crowdie in some households, and if you’re making a boozy bath you
could substitute whisky for Drambuie

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