Cranachan Made Simple:
I’ve made cranachan for years, but, while the recipe was never quite the same from meal to meal, it wasn’t until I came across a recipe for ‘Cranachan Trifle‘ from BBC Good Food that I tried sweetening the toasted oats, making a kind of granola, rather than adding a lot more honey to the cream or to the raspberry mixture. The result is a crunchier than normal cranachan, and is best put together just before you are ready to eat. It may not be very authentic, but it works very well, though I’ve discovered that you don’t need to add flour and my not-so-sweet tooth means that I prefer not to add any extra sugar to the raspberries. I also like a LOT of raspberries, probably the result of not being able to eat strawberries. The start of the raspberry season for me is a signal to start making desserts based on raspberries. And, after a recent trip to Flahavan’s in Ireland, I have a good stock of oats just waiting to be turned into cranachan – even if that is taking a traditional Scottish recipe and making it with Irish oats!
This year, I feel as if I’ve been waiting for the right opportunity to make cranachan for ages. While I could happily make and eat dessert every day, it’s something I only do when I have guests. Serendipitously, a Sunday lunch co-incided with the start of fresh British raspberries in the shops. I have to admit, the meal was planned around dessert. Cold meats, cheese and artichoke antipasti to start. Chicken with Jersey Royals and British Asparagus as the main course. Then, the cranachan.
- 150 g Rolled oats
- 3 tablespoons Runny Honey
- 1 tablespoon Brown Sugar
- 100 g Butter
- 300 ml Whipping Cream
- 200 g Mascapone
- 400 g Raspberries
- 2 tablespoons Runny Honey
- 2 Tablespoon Whisky
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Make the oat crunch by melting the butter and honey in a pan then stirring through the oats and brown sugar to coat well.
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Spread the mixture on a piece of baking parchment on a baking tray and cook for 15-20 minutes at 170C
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Once you see the edges start to darken, remove from the oven and allow to cool. Break up into granola sized chunks and store in an airtight container till needed (this mix will keep for a few days)
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Whip the cream lightly and then whip in the mascapone, honey and whisky till the mixture reaches soft peak stage
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Take one third of the raspberries and pass through a fine metal sieve
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Add half of the rest of the raspberries and crush lightly. Reserve the remain rasperries for topping at the end
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Once you are ready to serve layer up the dessert into a pretty trifle bowl or individual serving glasses starting with cream, then oats then crushed raspberries. Decorate with the remaining raspberries
Made with Flahavan’s organic oats, it was a perfect finale to the meal. Delicious.
This recipe does work very well with frozen raspberries and if you are really trying to be healthy, try replacing the mascarpone with greek yoghurt or quark. I’d recommend leaving the diet alone for one evening though and just enjoying the rich, whisky cream.
The makes this kind of thing to take to work with natural yogurt
I love the sound of this recipe – healthy and delicious too!
what a lovely summery dessert! Think I’ll have to give this one a go!
I’d actually never head of cranachan until I was planning to visit Edinburgh for Burn’s Night.. I’m hoping to give this recipe a go next week 🙂
This is crunchier than the version you’ll be served in scotland. Baking the oats coated in honey and butter makes a different texture…I prefer it, but you should try both
What a scrumptious recipe – perfect for summer!
Flahavans are my favorite porridge oats, everything I make with them is so creamy.
One of my favourite desserts of all time and yours looks very elegant in that beautiful glass bowl Fiona. Karen
The main difference with this and a classic cranachan is that the oats are coated in a buttery honey mixture to make a kind of granola. It adds more crunch and I like it rather better
This trifle stye thingy is amazing…I am making it very soon..you can’t go wrong with whipped cream and fruit..
And…the oats are healthy;)
Wow this sounds absolutely incredible. What is runny honey? is that a special kind of honey?
Runny honey – no, just my colloquial term for that honey which isn’t ‘set’ – here we have a kind of opaque set honey and ‘runny honey’. I don’t have a proper name for it. If you have the set type, you can just melt it for a few seconds in the microwave