by Michael Smith of the Three Chimneys restaurant in Skye
August is the perfect month to take a walk on the hills where, if you’re lucky, you’ll find wild blaeberries. Today’s recipe for blaeberry and white chocolate muffins is the one I get most requests for from those visiting the Three Chimneys.
Guests can’t get enough of these muffins and are always delighted to get the recipe to take home and try for themselves. They’re really simple to make and will take you less than 15 minutes to whip up.
Lemon posset is another favourite, a traditional dessert made with just three ingredients; Scottish double cream, sugar and lemons, and it too will take you less than 15 minutes to make.
The third dessert is my take on an old Scottish favourite, crannachan, made with heather honey and Skye’s own Talisker malt whisky, the golden spirit of Skye.
This is an unbeatable combination of flavours, perfect with fresh Scottish raspberries or wild blaeberries which can be found at this time of year.
Any honey or whisky can be used in this recipe, but Talisker with its warm, peaty flavours goes really well with the sweetness of Scottish heather honey.
LEMON POSSET
SERVES 6
1 and a half pints of Scottish double cream
110mls lemon juice (about 3 large lemons)
9ozs Caster sugar
Pour the cream into a medium saucepan. Add the sugar and stir well. Place on a medium heat, bring to a boil and then simmer for two minutes.
Add the lemon juice and bring back to a boil. Remove from the heat and leave to cool for 10 minutes.
Once cool pour into a jug and decant the mix into attractive serving glasses, dividing the mix equally between clean glasses.
Place carefully in the fridge and leave to set for at least four hours.
BLAEBERRY AND WHITE CHOCOLATE MUFFINS
MAKES 9 LARGE MUFFINS
10oz Self Raising Flour
1tsp Baking Powder
6oz Sugar
200ml Milk
1 large Egg
3oz Melted Butter
3oz Chopped White Chocolate – extra 1 oz for tops
200g Blaeberries (lightly floured)
Mix flour, baking powder, sugar and white chocolate in a large bowl. Beat egg and milk together, add slightly cooled melted butter. Add liquid ingredients to flour mix. Mix very lightly for about 30 seconds. Do not over-mix.
Half fill muffin cases then place five or six blaeberries in each muffin then add the other half to three-quarters fill the cases. Place more blaeberries on top of muffins and some more chopped chocolate.
Bake for 28 minutes at 200C or 190C if fan assisted oven. Sprinkle with vanilla sugar when they come out of the oven.
TALISKER & HEATHER HONEY CRANACHAN
SERVES 4
280ml fresh double cream
1 tbsp thick heather honey
1 generous tbsp Talisker malt whisky
1 heaped tbsp toasted** medium oatmeal (not “fine”, “pinhead” oatmeal or rolled oats)
2 punnets (approx 220g) fresh Scottish raspberries
Whisk the cream together with the honey and whisky until thick, but still floppy. Fold in the oatmeal. This will thicken the cream a little more. Wash the fruit and divide it between four serving glasses.
Pile the Cranachan on top of the raspberries and serve.
**To toast oatmeal: spread a thin layer of medium oatmeal over a flat baking tray and leave in the bottom of a warm oven until it darkens in colour.
Once cooled, the oatmeal can be stored in an airtight container and used when required.