Scottish delights - shortbread

Part two of my scottish baking bonanza involved the classic favourite, shortbread. I followed Maw Broon's recipe, which this time was much more straightforward, except that there was no suggestion as to how many this would make. I think it made around 12 - check the picture! It turned out well but was a little floury to taste, but nice and light and it did have a good texture that melted on your tongue.

• 200g plain flour
• 100g butter (I ended up using about 115g)
• 50g caster sugar (plus some extra to dust)

Mix the flour and sugar together in a large bowl. Add the butter and rub together with the fingertips at room temperature. Knead well until it forms a dough and roll out on a cutting board with a rolling pin. Cut out rounds or shapes with cookie cutters. Prick with a fork, for the authentic shortbread look, and bake on a lined baking tray for 15 minutes at 175 degrees or gas mark 4. Once baked, dust immediately with sugar and allow to cool before moving them onto a plate - or straight into your mouth!

Scottish delights - Tablet

With Burn's day this week, I decided it was the perfect time to get stuck into the Broon's Cookbook that I got from my parents for Christmas. And what better way to start than with some melt in the mouth tablet and a batch of sugar dusted shortbread?

However, this also highlighted some flaws in the cookbook's design concept. It's all very well being cute and quirky by pretending to be a collection of Maw Broon's notes and newspaper clippings, but not when it's at the expense of important details in the recipe! For the tablet, it missed out a major step, which almost proved fatal to my efforts, and it assumes in a lot of places that you already know roughly how to make these things (e.g instructions such as 'grain the mixture'?). The issue with the tablet was that it said to bring the mixture to the boil at 118 degrees. It didn't say that you had to keep it boiling for 15-20 minutes! My tablet looked pale and refused to set until I cross referenced it by looking up recipes on Google and realised that this needed to be done. After this it turned to a lovely warm, honey colour and became the deliciously soft, melt in the mouth vanilla fudge we know and love!

Helensburgh Toffee (Tablet)

• 500g granulated sugar
• 125ml milk (or water)
• 50g butter
• 1 dessert spoon of golden syrup
• 200ml condensed milk
• 1 tablespoon vanilla flavouring

Melt the butter with the milk in a large saucepan. Stir gently and add the golden syrup. When dissolved, add the condensed milk. Stir all the time and when it begins to boil, reduce the heat and allow to simmer for 15-20 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove from the heat and allow to settle and then add the vanilla flavouring.
Beat for around 5-10 minutes until it thickens, but not to the point where it is too difficult to stir (in the recipe it talks about graining, but I'm not sure what that means - perhaps so you can see the sugar crystals?). Pour into a greased tin, 15-20 cm in size.
Leave to set in the fridge for 3 hours and then cut into squares and eat them all up - but these are surely terrible for your teeth so it may be good to share!

Maw Broon's Kitchen Notebook

Following on from my recent lack of success with Macaroon bars, I now have the wise words of Maw Broon to guide me through some Scottish recipes through Maw Broon's Kitchen Notebook! I got this as a Christmas gift from my parents who must want me to remain true to my Scottish (if not culinary) roots through learning how to cook up tattie scones and shortbread, now that I'm in London.

This differs from other recipe books in that it is written in character, as though it really were a jotter compiled by Maw Broon from cuttings from the newspaper, cookery magazines and her own family recipes and tips. It also contains images from The Broons books and in character scribblings from other members of the family relating to the recipes.

More of an introduction to basic cookery than a true recipe book, it covers everything from boiling an egg, using up leftover potatoes and making soup to baking a simple cake and planning a party. While some of the main courses are a little lacklustre (pot roasted beef) and the vegetarian recipes particularly lacking in imagination (vegetable stew or casserole), this book really comes into its own when it comes to what Scotland does best - sweets and puddings!

All of the sweet recipes sound delicious and are surprisingly simple. I will definitely be dabbling in some tablet making and whipping up some easy shortbread on a rainy Sunday afternoon! For the more adventurous there are peppermint creams, carrot cake and some yummy jams to get your teeth into after some summer berry picking.

So, all in all a charming book with a good sense of humour and plenty of easy recipes, particularly if you have a sweet tooth!