Cranachan Cream Crowdie With Rum - Traditional Scottish Recipe with a Hint of the Caribbean - Gluten-Free

Cranachan from the Gaelic crannachan meaning churn and crowdie from Lowland Scots, meaning porridge-like, is a celebration sweet eaten at Harvest Home. It showcases the good things of the land, reflecting some of Scotland's finest produce: oats, raspberries, honey, cream and of course whisky! However, for this gluten-free* recipe I'm using rum. This is not so heretical as you might think. The doyenne of Scottish cookery and celebrated Orcadian folklorist, F. Marian McNeill is reported to have used it in her 1929 version of Cranachan. It is also mentioned as an alternative in the recipe book my mother sent me from Scotland.

* Gluten-free Alcohol

The distillation process removes any gluten protein from the alcohol. However, from reading around the subject it seems that people with gluten intolerance have specific individual reactions to grain-based spirits. Furthermore, some companies add malt etc., to give flavour to the spirit. If you are gluten-intolerant you should also check on additives and/or ingredients used in ready-made drinks combinations, such as punches and cocktails.

A Foreword on Guten-free Oats

Oats do not contain gluten, however it is best not to buy them, if you are gluten intolerant, unless they are labelled as certified gluten-free. In countries where oats are not a traditional crop, fields can be contaminated by stray plants when other cereal crops are grown in close proximity. Here in France, for example, where there were no dedicated oat-growing areas, we used to find it impossible to buy certified organic gluten-free oats. However due to the ever increasing popularity of gluten-free foods and international cuisine, we are now seeing certified oats on the shelves. It is also worth noting that post harvest, certified gluten-free oats are processed in dedicated mills where they can not be contaminated with other grains. This is why people often get confused about why all oats are not labelled as suitable for those allergic to gluten.

INGREDIENTS

(makes 16 to 20 depending on size of shot glasses)

300 ml (10 floz) of cream (I use raw straight form the churn or rather cream separator)

75g (3oz) toasted rolled, pinhead or steel cut gluten-free oats (here I've used rolled)
1 tablespoon of raw honey
1 tablespoon of rum

A couple of handfuls of raspberries
You can also use blackberries or a mix of both.

METHOD

In a frying pan and with quite a high heat, toast the oats until they smell nutty (a few minutes) move them around the pan so they get an even toasting. Leave to cool.

Whip up the cream and stir in the honey, oats and rum. I inadvertently stirred my oats in whilst they were still warm but I just whisked the whole lot up together and everything was fine!

If the raspberries are over-ripe like the ones I have here, then cook them up into a purée with a little sugar, otherwise they may run completely into the cream crowdie and spoil the 'look'!

Add layers of the cream mixture and raspberries to a tot glass aka shot glass finishing with a layer of cranachan and decorating with a berry fruit and/or a scented geranium, campanula rapunculus, borage or similar edible flower (optional).

Enjoy!

All that needs to be said now is Bon Appėtit!

Hope to see you here again for another recipe from an old farmhouse in Normandie,

All the best, Sue

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