Traditional Scottish Cranachan! Berries layered with honey cream, what more can you need? Well, toasted oats and whisky, of course! Wonderfully creamy, and tart yet sweet, this delectable recipe is made with a few very simple ingredients. It’s perfect for a special dessert or hearty breakfast.

Cranachan, the Scottish equivalent of a parfait, is pretty special to me. It features a few ingredients I particularly love – raspberries, honey, and whisky! Scottish whiskies are quite wonderful, and there are quite literally hundreds of them. Glenmorangie, Oban, and Drambuie (whisky liqueur made with Scottish heather honey) are our family favourites.

What is Cranachan?

Cranachan is a sweet and creamy Scottish dessert, akin to a parfait or trifle. While traditionally eaten during harvest season, it can nowadays be enjoyed year round, and is particularly popular on Robbie Burns Day (Jan 25th). Personally, I love serving cranachan for the winter holidays, since it looks quite festive and is easy to make.

The name cranachan is pronounced “cran-ach-en” with the same rhythmic lilt as the word “chronicle.” The “ch” in cranachan isn’t a hard “k” sound, but actually quite soft – like a cat hissing, or the “ch” sound in the German “Ich.”

There are a few essential ingredients in cranachan. They are quite simple, but that is why this dessert is so lovely – the delicious flavours all shine through! These ingredients are:

• Heavy cream, or double cream
• Scottish oats
• Raspberries
• Whisky
• Honey

Quality ingredients do tend to matter a bit more than usual here. Let’s go into them in a bit more detail.

Scottish Oats

You’ll need Scottish oats for this recipe. They might also be called pinhead oats. You can also use steel-cut oats. Scottish oats taste lovely toasted, and they retain a tiny bit of their natural crunch with toasting, despite the exposure to the moisture of the raspberries and heavy cream.

Avoid rolled oats and quick oats for this recipe if at all possible – they will turn into complete mush if you leave the assembled dessert sitting for too long. Nobody likes mush!

Fresh Raspberries

Scottish raspberries would be used for cranachan made in the UK – well, of course. But, let’s face it – if you live outside Scotland you probably can’t get Scottish raspberries, or at least, not without a great deal of trouble. 

Scottish raspberries are sweeter than your usual raspberries, and just bursting with flavour. But, never fear! Seek out fresh raspberries in your area if you can, or opt for some high quality frozen ones at your local shop. We’ll be adding honey to the raspberry purée in this recipe to emulate the sweetness of real Scottish berries.

Heavy Cream

Heavy cream, also known as whipping cream or double cream, is an essential cranachan ingredient. This dish is a bit of an indulgence, so go pick out your favourite heavy cream for it. 

If you need a dairy free alternative to heavy cream, I recommend using a can of coconut milk. You might be able to find actual coconut whipping cream if you’re lucky, or you can just scrape the solidified cream out from a can of full-fat coconut milk, and then whip it.

Honey

Look for a local fresh honey to use for cranachan. Scottish heather honey is used traditionally, but I don’t know how easy it is to find globally, so going with a local honey may be the easier option here.

Whisky

I recommend choosing a Scottish highland whisky for cranachan, and these I think are quite easy to get globally, or at least highland whiskies are exported pretty far and wide. I used Oban whisky for this recipe. Glenmorangie is another excellent whisky, though a bit more expensive that Oban.

If you would like your cranachan even sweeter, why not try my absolute favourite Drambuie! Drambuie is actually a liqueur made from whisky and Scottish heather honey.

Allegedly (at least according to the Drambuie company) Drambuie was a secret recipe of Bonnie Prince Charlie’s that he gave to the MacKinnon family in 1746 as a thanks for granting him sanctuary during his escape across the highlands following the devastating Battle of Culloden. The MacKinnons operated their whisky company for about 100 years before selling it to the Ross family, who later sold it to yet another Mackinnon family, and so on.

Now, is any of this old tale about Prince Charles Edward Stuart true, or just utter poppycock? Who can say, but it is quite an interesting story… Being that quite a few of my own family ancestors lived in the Scottish highlands, I’m always happy to hear a tale about the area, true or not.

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Scottish Cranachan

Wonderfully creamy Scottish cranachan! Ready from start to finish in just about 30 minutes. This recipe makes either 2 or 4 servings -ingredient amounts are listed for both!

Tools

• 2-4 individual serving glasses or dessert bowls
• frying pan or skillet
• cooking spoon
• electric mixer, immersion blender, blender, or large mason jar*
• measuring cup
• measuring spoons
• mixing spoon or spatula
• colander
• optional: piping bag with a larger piping tip

*Read this article about how to make perfect whipped cream with or without an electric mixer. It’s possible with just a large mason jar!

Instructions

1. Toast the oats first: Add the oats to a pan over medium-high heat. Gently stir the oats around the pan for 5-8 minutes, or until the oats begin to steam and smell aromatic. Take care that oats don’t burn – lower the heat to medium if necessary and stir the oats constantly. Once the oats are toasted, remove the pan from the heat and set aside.
2. Wash the fresh raspberries, or defrost if using frozen ones and drain any excess liquid. If using fresh, pick out a handful of nice raspberries and set them aside to use as a garnish later, if desired. 
3. Place the remaining raspberries in a bowl and drizzle with 1 tbsp of honey. Crush the berries with a fork until they are evenly mashed and the honey is fully incorporated, then set aside.

4. Pour the heavy cream into a container. Whisk the cream for several minutes using an electric mixer or beater until the cream forms soft peaks. Add the whisky and the remaining 2 tbsp of honey, then whisk the cream again for another minute until the ingredients are fully mixed. 
5. Add half the whipped cream to a bowl with the toasted oats and mix until a smooth paste forms.

6. To assemble the dessert, prepare 2-3 single serving glasses or dessert bowls. Alternate layers of puréed raspberries, creamy oats, and whipped cream until all the glasses are filled. Top each serving with the remaining fresh raspberries as a garnish, if desired.
7. Enjoy your cranachan right away, or store it in the fridge for up to a few hours until serving.

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A Traditional Dish Based On An Older One

Did you know that cranachan has its origins in another Scottish dish known as “crowdie”? Crowdie was quite similar – honey, oats, and cream, but often made with the addition of a soft creamy cheese, known also as crowdie by itself.