Scottish Tablet Recipe

Let me start by saying, that I wouldn't want to even imagine how many calories this recipe has.

Which is why I only make it once every few years. And I'm not even kidding, I made it half a dozen times as a teenager (some of my fails were EPIC, and scary; this mixture is scalding hot). After that it was consigned to the "only in times of great need" pile.

But it's bloody delicious. Which is a good thing, because the recipe is like a science experiment and the journey to getting it right is littered with disaster. Or maybe that's just me...

Have you tray ready first, a deep baking tray, something you'd used for flapjacks. I line mine with a cookery liner -- grease proof paper is fine. You can butter it, but I still find it sticks.

As it goes, you need very few ingredients;

2lbs granulated sugar,

250ml full-fat milk,

85 grams of butter

and 397 grams condensed milk (that's a whole tin).

You have to dissolve the sugar and butter in the full fat milk, and the first few times I made this, I did it in a pan on the stove. And I'm convinced this is where I was going wrong; the milk would boil or catch, I'd lose patience and the sugar would still be a bit grainy... Now I do it in the microwave. Put the milk, butter and sugar in a large bowl and put the microwave on 300 ish (or defrost) and nuke it for a minute-ish at time, stirring in-between.

It'll take about 8 minutes in total, and should come out lovely and smooth, and lukewarm-ish.

Now you need to push up you sleeves. Take a big saucepan, preferably a heavy bottomed one. It needs to hold nearly three times the amount of the mix you're putting in there - trust me on this.

Put the smooth milky mixture in the pan, and the tin of condensed milk, and have your wooden spoon ready!

Bring it up to the boil, stirring all the time, so the bottom doesn't burn.

Once it's boiling, adjust the heat to a simmer, and stir while simmering for 20 minutes. The mixture will start to darken. (If the consistency goes even close to honeycomb get it straight in the tin, as you've gone a wee bit too far.) But 20 minutes on the button is normally bang on.

Get it all into the tray and let it harden. If you want neat squares, score it while it's cooling. If you're after a more rustic (and messy) approach, you can bash it with a rolling pin when it's fully hardened to get jagged pieces.

Enjoy x