Scottish Tablet

Happy Monday everyone!

Thanks for the comments on the pies over the weekend. I've chosen three pies as finalists and will be baking them for my family over the next several days. It was very hard to choose the three, I would really like to bake several more but there actually is a limit on pies that this household can consume in a week.

As for everyone else, I have a nice surprise for my readers. I will be hosting a big giveaway soon. I'll post details about that later this week so, you know… stay tuned. (Don't worry, it will require absolutely no baking.)

So last week I was experimenting with Scottish tablet.

I tried this slightly grainy butterscotch fudge-like confection in Edinburgh last month. I really liked it, so I bought a small bag and took it home to recreate in my own kitchen. I figured since the candy was a bit grainy it would be easy to produce.

I was so wrong.

As I learned from following a few Scottish tablet recipes, bad overly gritty tablet is easy to make. Making tablet where the texture is just right, isn't so simple. Apparently tablet, like almost every other homemade candy requires a lot of care and special attention.

So after making tablets that were too gritty and burning through a great deal of sugar, butter and cream I decided to take a different approach to the confection...

Scottish tablet recipes vary little in terms of ingredients but the instructions for making the tablet is often really vague (as far as candy making goes).

Let me demonstrate:

Recipe for Tablet

1. Combine ingredients
2. Cook till done
3. Pour and allow to cool

Yikes, right?

Don't worry, I'll do better than this below.

Rather than just blindly trying new recipes I tried to apply a little logic and fix the recipe and method so that I could recreate my Edinburgh tablet. After all, testing tablet recipes could burn through a 50lb bag of sugar very, very quickly.

• My initial problems with crystallization were due to a wealth of seed crystals no doubt lurking in my first batch. The recipes I had didn't provide adequate moisture to dissolve the sugar before it started to caramelize. So naturally, I decided to use more liquid.
• The recipes didn't call for standard candy making practices, like washing down the sides of the pot, etc. At first I assumed this was because of the desired grit in the confection, so I gave it a shot. Now I know better. I decided I would cook this candy like I would any other crystallization prone candy.
• I wanted to further inhibit crystallization. Tablet traditionally relies on fat to act as its interfering agent. Calling for glucose or corn syrup would probably be sacrilegious here, so I decided to up the fat content adding additional fat--and rich flavor--in the form of heavy cream.
• I gathered from all the recipes calling for beating the candy by hand after cooking, that is where crystallization should take place. You can create crystals just by agitating a sugar solution. This is why many of my candy recipes call for you to stop stirring after a certain point. So I was going to aim for a mixture with no seed crystals and then hope agitation alone can give me the appropriate degree of crystallization.

So with a new recipe and a new set of procedures, I hit the kitchen.

The result: Perfection.

To my humble reader, Sleepwalker, who asked about tablet a few months ago. Hopefully you have better luck with my recipe and instructions.

Not So Humble Scottish Tablet
Yields about 100 pieces (A little over 3lbs)
911 grams (2lbs) granulated sugar
113 grams (1/2 cup) unsalted butter (melted)
115 grams (1/2 cup) whole milk
128 grams (1/2 cup) heavy cream
396 grams (1 can) sweetened condensed milk
teaspoon of vanilla (optional)

Tools:
One VERY large heavy bottom pot. I prefer to use my large non-stick 8qt stock pot for this recipe. The initial mixture may not look like much but it will easily double in volume, so plan accordingly. I also prefer to use non-stick for moderate temperature making candy as it is the easiest to wash down and the candy doesn't stick to the sides and bottom and this helps prevent crystallization.

You will also need a long handled wooden spoon and a candy thermometer, unless you're proficient with the cold water test. Also have a pastry brush and cup of water handy so you can wash down the sides of the pan.

Grease a 13"x8" pan with a little butter or non-stick spray.



To begin, combine the sugar, butter, heavy cream and milk over medium low heat. Stir constantly with a wooden spoon, remove any sugar crystals or splatters from the sides of your pan with the damp pastry brush (do this throughout the entire process) and slowly bring to a boil. This will take a while (10 minutes) and you will be tempted to turn up the heat, please don't. Rushing candy making is a surefire way to get bad results.

Once the mixture is boiling and the sugar has completely dissolved--you can double check this by dipping a teaspoon into the mixture, let it cool and then rub the syrup between your fingers. If you can detect no grit in the syrup you're good to go--you can add the condensed milk.

Once you get it to a boil, stir and allow to simmer for a minute.
You want to make sure you've dissolved all that sugar.

Bring the mixture back to a boil over medium-low heat. The mixture will begin to increase in volume and turn a blond color. You can stop stirring now. Take your wooden spoon over to the sink and run it under some cold water to cool. Wash the spoon as it will probably be gritty from the first stage of this recipe. Set the spoon aside. Use it occasionally to stir the mixture gently to make sure it is caramelizing evenly and to scrape any build up around the edge of the pot.

Cooking away. Note the immaculately clean sides of the pan.
That's right. I'm working that damp pastry brush today.

Getting darker. Note the small 'crusties' forming at the edge of the pan.
Scrape those off and stir them into the mixture.
If you have crusties sticking to your spoon, rinse them off.

The mixture will slowly get darker and darker. Over medium-low heat this will take a while, so plan for this step to take a minimum of 20 minutes. Once it hits 240°F it is done (this is the firm end of the soft ball stage). (For help with calibrating your candy thermometer read the comments here.)

Remove the pot from the heat. You can add vanilla at this time, being careful as it will bubble up.

Mind the steam when adding the vanilla.

Now we're going to beat the mixture to encourage proper crystallization. Grab your wooden spoon and mix vigorously. For at least 10 minutes. This is going to make your arm very, very sore, but if you're eating this tablet you're going to need the burn because you're dealing with about 9000 calories (really) in this pot.

Beat this for 10 minutes.

Are you tough enough?

The mixture is going to start smooth and creamy, like a thin caramel sauce. After mixing it for about 5 minutes you'll notice that it is thicker and the glossy shine has a bit of a texture to it (this is the small crystallization you're looking for). If you look closely you'll see it. Like a caramel sauce with a very very fine grit (think: mini hourglass sand). Continue to mix, until the mixture has thickened and cooled slightly but is still pourable.

Pour the mixture into your prepared pan. Smooth the surface and remove any air bubbles by tapping the pan on the counter top a few times.

Allow to cool for several hours before cutting (or scoring so you can break it later).

Fresh cut tablet. Not as dry as the Edinburgh stuff, but the texture is spot on.

The tablet I had in Edinburgh was a bit drier than this fresh made batch, but that seemed reasonable since the Edinburgh tablet had been sitting out for a who knows how long.

This tablet, after sitting in a jar for four days, is developing the exact same texture as the store bought stuff. A light crumble, dense, moist, slight grain and a rich butterscotch.

Very good stuff.