Cranachan is a Scottish layered dessert made with whipped cream, raspberries, oats and Scottish whiskey. It’s a lovely way to end the day.
The Scottish love their Scotch so much, that they took to using it in two areas of this dessert and it works very well. The recipe is started the night before by soaking the oats overnight in Scotch (that would make for quite a breakfast). Raspberries are mashed and sweetened with sugar and whipped cream is sweetened with honey and spiked with Scotch.
These 3 components are then layered in a glass bowl (for a pretty presentation) then served. Speaking of breakfast, this dessert really would make a lovely morning meal, but the very crunchy oats would need to be soaked in something other than Scotch, or they could be cooked.
Cranachan (pronounced kran-e-ken, a Gaelic word) is lovely use of seasonal berries and a popular summer dessert. When it comes to the ingredients, steel cut oats must be used because of the texture and they absorb the whiskey perfectly.
The recipe has been adapted over the years since its inception in the 18th Century. It was originally made with crowdie, which is a soft Scottish cheese that is mixed with the cream, but now only cream is usually used as I’m sure it is next to impossible to find crowdie outside of Scotland.
This is a classic Scottish dessert and is just one of many dishes served on Burns Night, each January. Burns Night is a Scottish celebration that can range from informal to huge formal evens to celebrate the life and work of poet Robert Burns.
As easy as Cranachan is to make, because of its presentation, it is good enough to serve for dinner parties and I have even served it at Christmas given its festive colors. But don’t just save this delicious dessert for special occasions, enjoy it in the summer for a nice cooling treat. Who doesn’t love a delicious, boozy dessert?
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Cranachan Recipe
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup Steel Cut Oats
- 3 tablespoons Scotch Whiskey divided
- 12 ounces Fresh Raspberries
- 1 teaspoon Granulated Sugar
- 1 1/4 cups Heavy Whipping Cream
- 1 tablespoon Honey
Instructions
- Add the oats to a large sauté pan and toast over medium heat, stirring often until they smell nutty. Remove from the heat and transfer to a bowl with a lid. Mix in 2 tablespoons of whiskey, cover and allow to soak overnight.
- Add the raspberries to a small pan along with the granulated sugar and 1 teaspoon water over medium low heat.
- Mash the raspberries a with a spoon and cook until the sugar dissolves and it resembles a chunky sauce.
- Turn off the heat and transfer to a bowl to cool.
- Whip the cream, honey and remaining whiskey using a stand or hand mixer until it forms stiff peaks.
- Using a glass bowl or glass tumbler, add a layer of raspberries to the bottom of the bowl. Top with cream, then sprinkle with oats. Repeat the layers until the bowl is full.