Scottish Tablet

Every day I thank my lucky stars that I was born Scottish! A number of delectable dishes have hailed (to use the Scottish dialect) from Scotland, but none so sweet as Tablet (or to give it another name, Scottish Toffee). Made with sugar, butter and condensed milk this recipe is very easy to make; however for those with a sweet tooth, BEWARE, for it is seriously moreish!

Ingredients:

• 1 pint/500ml water
• 8oz/225g butter, chopped into pieces
• 4 lbs/1.8kg super fine/caster sugar
• 1lb/450g of condensed milk
• Optional – flavouring as desired. Favourite include: vanilla, peppermint & whisky. Just add a few drops to taste.

Preparation:

• Butter a 12″ x 4″/30cm x 10cm or 7″/18cm square tin.
• In your saucepan (see note below) heat the water to a low simmer then add the butter. Stir until melted. Add the sugar and stir until all the sugar has dissolved. Raise the heat to high and bring the sugar to a hard boil for 5 minutes (the mixture should boil really fiercely which helps to reduce the liquid and colour the mixture)  stirring all the time to prevent the sugar from sticking and burning. If you have a thermometer take the temperature to 120°C/ 250°F (also known as hard ball stage in candy and toffee making).
• Once the sugar is boiling, slowly add the condensed milk – TAKE CARE – the sugar is at a very high temperature and may splatter. Stir well then lower the heat and simmer for 20 mins. The mixture will bubble and resemble a moon crater, but don’t be put off, keep cooking. The mixture will also start to slightly darken.
• After twenty minutes or once the mixture is visibly thickened,  remove the pan from the stove and beat the mixture vigorously for 5 – 10 mins, add any optional flavourings.
• Pour into the greased pan and when the tablet is cool but still soft, cut into 1″ squares – you can even put the pan in the freezer to make sure it is completely cold.
• Wrap in greaseproof paper and store in an airtight tin.

Important Note: For this recipe you will need a heavy based 4-pint sauce pan but if you have a larger one I recommend using it; the tablet reaches a rolling boil and sometimes if you have the heat even a fraction too high the mixture can swell up very quickly and boil over. A larger pan will make it safer. This recipe reaches very high temperatures and I recommend you do not make this with children around.

And the finished result …. it’s sweet, it’s creamy, it’s crumbly and absolutely mouth wateringly delicious!

Enjoy!!