Traditional Scottish vanilla tablet

Not to be confused with fudge, but which it resembles, traditional Scottish vanilla tablet is more crumbly and sugary in texture – not as soft as fudge, not as chewy as toffee. Only by making it yourself using this authentic recipe can you fully appreciate its unique qualities. Please note that you must use unsalted butter (not margarine) and condensed milk (not evaporated milk). The mixture gets very hot, so take care. It also cools very quickly, so we advise soaking the saucepan in water as soon as you’ve poured the mixture into the tray. This makes an excellent gift when attractively packaged in a box, jar, or bag.

Ingredients

• 2lbs / 1kg / 4 cups granulated sugar
• 4 ounces / 113g / ½ cup unsalted butter plus extra for greasing the tray
• 14 ounces / 396g can of condensed milk
• 8 fluid ounces / 227ml milk
• 1 fluid ounce / 30ml / 2 tablespoons of natural vanilla essence

Method

Prepare an 11 x 19 inch / 28 x 48cm baking tray by lightly greasing it with butter.

Use a fairly large (the mixture will double in size as it heats) and preferably stainless steel saucepan.

Put the sugar and milk into the saucepan and stir together.

Add the butter and the condensed milk and continue stirring.

Now put the saucepan on a medium-high heat and bring to the boil, stirring occasionally. This will take about 10 minutes.

Once boiling, reduce the heat to allow a gentle boil.

Let it boil gently for around 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Then, remove the saucepan from the heat and add the vanilla essence.

Now, beat the mixture vigorously for 4-5 minutes with a spoon until it starts to feel stiff and gritty.

Pour the mixture into the tray and allow it to cool a little before marking it off into squares or bars with a sharp knife.

When fully cooled, remove the tablet from the tray and cut it up into squares or bars according to your marks.

The tablet is ready to eat straight away.

TRY CHOCOLATE FUDGE