Burns Night has always been a big deal in my friendship group, most of whom I met while living in Edinburgh. There’s a mixture of Scottish people and people who enjoy drinking whisky and shouting at one another, both of which have tended to dominate our Burns suppers over the past decade.
When many of the group moved to London in our twenties we kept up the tradition, organising increasingly elaborate gatherings in honour of the Scottish bard. Everyone was required to come prepared with a ‘turn’, – a spoken word performance inspired by (often in the loosest sense of the word) Rabbie Burns. The winner of the best turn – decided by an often-contentious secret vote – won the neep (a swede or a turnip, depending on if you’re speaking to a Scottish or English person).
I have fond memories of these nights, which brought a welcome glow at the end of an otherwise dark and gloomy month. While the fires of those friendships still burn extremely brightly, sadly our Burns suppers have, over the past few years, faded into the background a little. It’s harder to squeeze socialising into the hours before bedtime, and plans are often blighted by baby illnesses or parental exhaustion.
When it comes to the food, haggis, neeps and tatties for main can’t, in my opinion, be tampered with, but the pudding is one area of the Burns Night feast that I’d deem ripe for adaptations. So in honour of Robert Burns – and my best pals – this week’s recipe is inspired by cranachan, that quintessential Burns night dessert.
As well as the classic version, with its layers of whipped cream, oats, honey and whisky, over the years I’ve made cranachan ice cream and a raspberry-flecked cranachan cake. This time it was a cranachan-inspired crumble, made with an oat topping and frozen raspberries. I’ve never tried browning the butter for the crumble topping before, but it worked so well, creating a nutty, rich flavour.
I know we’re past 25th January now, but I hope that whatever time of year you make it, this pudding will bring a bit of that Burns night glow into your kitchen.
Cranachan crumble
Serves 4
3 Bramley apples, peeled and roughly chopped
75g caster sugar, plus 1 dessert spoonful
½ tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp whisky
100g salted butter
75g porridge oats
50g plain flour
200g frozen raspberries
1 tbsp demerara sugar
Double cream, to serve
Preheat the oven to 180C. Add the apples and a spoonful of caster sugar along with the cinnamon to a medium pan and simmer over a medium heat, stirring now and again, for 10-15 minutes, until the apples have broken down but some pieces still remain.
Meanwhile, add the butter to a small saucepan over a medium heat and simmer for 5-6 minutes, stirring, until it foams then turns a deep caramel brown colour and smells nutty.
Combine the oats, flour and sugar in a large bowl. Pour in the brown butter and stir in – the mixture should have a loose flapjack-like consistency.
Stir the whisky and raspberries into the apples and remove from the heat. Spoon into an ovenproof dish and top with the crumble. Sprinkle over the demerara sugar.
Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the fruit is bubbling and the topping is golden brown. Serve with cream.
The baby step
For younger babies, omit the sugar out from the apples in step 1. When they’ve broken down a bit, remove a spoonful and add to a small ovenproof dish (I like the brown tapas-style dishes for this). Spoon over a few frozen raspberries and scatter over a spoonful of oats. Add the sugar to the remaining apples at this point, cooking for a further five minutes. Bake the baby crumble for 15 minutes, along with the crumble, and serve with a small spoonful of cream or natural yoghurt.
Ooh need to give this a go, sounds delicious