Confession time… I’m a sugar addict. It will be of no surprise to those around me to be fair! From the moment I wake up to the moment I go to bed, I’m looking for my next sugar hit. It’s certainly not ideal but growing up in Scotland with sweet treats like Scottish Tablet, it’s really unavoidable.
A couple of weeks ago I came across a wee image on Facebook that made me laugh. It compared candy floss, syrup and sugar to Scottish tablet, with tablet coming out tops in the sweetness stakes. Probably a pretty accurate comparison to be fair!
Anyone who has indulged in Scottish Tablet will tell you it’s really like nothing else in the world. A first glance you would be forgiven for assuming it is fudge but when you bite into a piece it instantly becomes clear that this is no fudge! With a gritty, melt-in-the-mouth texture and so sweet it makes your teeth ache; it really is quite unique.
“Made this tonight, followed the recipe to the letter, turned out fantastic!! I haven’t had tablet like this since I was a kid living in Scotland and my mum used to make it for the school fete. Beautiful!”
Scottish tablet in theory is quite easy to make but it does take a bit of skill to get just right. I would always recommend a sugar thermometer to get the temperature exact and be prepared to use some elbow grease beating the tablet to its setting point. Even then, the perfect tablet still comes down to a bit of luck. But when it does go perfectly, you’ll end up with the best tablet you’ve ever tasted!
Ingredients:
Caster Sugar
Being sweeter than sweet, sugar was always going to be the biggest ingredient in tablet! Caster sugar is by far the best but you can swap to Golden Caster Sugar for a more caramel-y flavour.
Milk
There’s many recipes where I’ll recommend full-fat milk as preference but when it comes to tablet it really is a necessity. See below for details on how to make your tablet dairy-free.
Butter
Salted or unsalted butter is fine; just whichever you have to hand.
Condensed Milk
Literally one of my most favourite ingredients in baking. Just be sure to leave a little condensed milk in the tin and on the spoon (purely for licking clean!).
Scottish Tablet
Ingredients
- 900 g Caster Sugar
- 250 ml Full-fat Milk
- 110 g Butter
- 1
397g Tin of Condensed Milk
Instructions
- Place the sugar and milk in a large pan over a gentle heat. Stir occasionally until all the sugar has dissolved. Pre-grease a 13×9 inch tray
with a generous amount of butter and set aside.
- Once all the sugar has dissolved add the butter and allow to melt.
- When the butter has melted, add the condensed milk and mix well. Increase the heat and stir continuously while the mixture boils and reaches Soft-Ball stage (120°c) on your thermometer.
- Remove from the heat and allow the mixture to settle a little before beating. Beat with a wooden spoon in the pan until the mixture if almost setting. This may take a good bit of beating!
- Transfer to your pre-greased tray and spread evenly to the edges/corners.
- Leave to set for at least a couple of hours but ideally overnight. If you want neatly cut squares/bars of tablet score your tablet in your desired size/shape about 30 minutes into setting. Alternatively you can simply break the tablet into individual servings once set for a more rustic feel.
with a generous amount of butter and set aside.Free-from & Vegan
Vegan: Replace the dairy full-fat milk for coconut milk, and use coconut cream in place of the condensed milk. Swap the butter for your favourite dairy-free spread.
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Yummy… It is quite easy to make but it does take a bit of skill to get right. It is worth giving a try.
Just followed your recipe and used my new thermometer …amazing thing is the old way of boiling for 20 minutes gives exactly 120° !! Thermometer not so hit and miss though ;) xx
I’ve tried making this recipe to the T but it still comes out soft any ideas
Need to let it boil longer and let the colour carmelize. Take it off heat and beat vigorously with electric beaters for at least 5 mins until it starts to get thick then pour into the pan
I’ve had trouble getting tablet to be firm also, and I am guessing that at higher altitudes we need to boil longer. I’m at 814 feet (248 meters). I’m going to try a few degrees higher on my candy thermometer next time.
I boil mine then let it simmer for about 30/40 mins till it changes colour then take it off and beat it and works a treat
After boiling I simmer for 30/49 mins works better then beat it
Can i use lighter lurpak butter
Love this. Would it be okay to share on our social media channels?
Thanks
Polly
Cake Cetera
https://cake-cetera.co.uk/
Ended up with toffee don’t know why ??
Every grain of sugar MUST be dissolved before you let it boil. That is the very best tip I was ever given. Take off heat immediately a bubble appears, give it a minute and put back on to heat.
Ha ha I’ve not tried it yet but I can imagine that happening to mine
Don’t know that I would make tablet with recipe again –
1. Strained my wrist and almost burnt out the motor in my beaters.
2. I doubt my granny would have had enough time for the beating required considering she would have been doing it by hand or even with rotary hand beaters it would put a hell of strain on her wrists.
Use an electric beater for a couple of minutes then beat by hand to get rid of bubbles. Only a couple of minutes and pour. Good luck.
Isn’t granny a saucy bugger
My mum used to set the pan in a sink with cold water and only had to beat for a couple of minutes.
My Scottish granny spent many hours in the kitchen and even in her 80s was quote capable of stirring a tablet mix for the required amount of time. Mind you, she could also rustle up a batch of drop scones in the time it took to brew a fresh pot of tea, but Scottish grannies are like that.
Totally agree. My mum used to make huge quantities of tablet to sell ‘round the doors’ with me in the pram. I’m 61 and can still remember being allowed, on occasion, to beat the tablet. And yes, she could rustle up drop scones at the drop of a hat. I must get round to trying this recipe though, but thinking about the impact
on my waistline.
Just finished making this!! Follow the direction, it will come out Perfect!! My gran used to hand beat it, is used electric mixer. Best recipe ♡♡
can I use an stand mixer to beat it?:)
there is no need to beat it ,I have never beat it when I make it I let all the sugar dissolve on a medium heat then put the electric stove higher ( the electric burner should be at 5 when you see the bubbles forming keep stirring for 18 minutes ( the tablet should be a medium brown colour ) take off heat and pour on to a baking pan and let stand till hardened.
for your information it the tablet does not harden when placed on the baking pan just place back into the pot and let it boil again keep stirring it for one or two minutes and again pour into the baking pan and it will harden I know this through experience Good luck
I thought your 18 minute tip was very helpful and saying when the colour should change. My 2nd batch as first didn’t turn out. Can’t wait for it to set properly as it looks perfect. Thankyou
You can stand in a bowl of cold water for the first minute of beating which greatly reduces the time.
Doesn’t standing in a bowl of cold water make you go all blue ????
Only your tossies
Is this the crumbly or the creamy type of tablet? I am after the crumbly kind.
Just wanted to say that Canada is completely mad because our typical tins of sweetened condensed milk come in 300ml, unlike the 380ml or 390ml that the rest of the world (U.S. and the U.K.) seems to get them in. So many recipes call for ‘one tin’ of the stuff, but that ‘one tin’ is 380ml or 390ml, so our ‘one tin’ is never enough!
Good point to make. Thanks from a 71 year old.
Hi, looking for a bit of advice. I’ve made this recipie a few times now and the first few times it worked perfect however the last couple of times after beating it when I go to pour it out it starts frothing in the pan and continues once it’s in my tray for a few seconds before deflating. It seems to set pretty quickly and when you taste the tablet it tastes fine and is not grainy.
after it is made, how do you store it? and for how long? i need to make this as well as other sweets for an event in 3 weeks, and want to get a head start on my work?
Fantastic recipe!!!Just like I remember tablet when I was wee and my gran made it..aaah happy sugary memories
Hi what if you dont have a thermometer
Just use a saucer and cold water for testing.
I have just tried making this, followed the recipe to the letter and it has been a huge success. The guys at work will get a fair treat tomorrow. Thanks
I have always had a sweet tooth for tablet, but have never made it, until last week. This recipe worked out a treat and I took about 70% of it into work with a health and tooth warning.. it was just so moreish and loved by all who tried it. Thank you, it will definitely be made again and again.
Oh yummy!
This is just like Dutch borstplaat, roomborstplaat or roomfondant. A sweet we enjoy around Sinterklaas in the beginning of December. It is sweetness up to a different level!
I’ve been making tablet for 50+ years, and this is the best recipe!!
Thank you
Hi granny,
Why use caster sugar…. Granulated sugar at almost half the price does the same…. I. Also add a teaspoon of vanilla essence.
Just made my first batch, as soon as that is out of the tin, Im making a second batch and put in a handful of walnuts for a change. Ive some nice cellophane bags and some sparkley string I shall add small bundles to everyones Christmas present.
Thankyou, Judy Chestenrfield.ju
Could you please give me this recipe using American measurements… My Mum was from Scotland and has since passed. She always made tablet for us. I would love to try this recipe. Tablet was actually made to give to the men who went to war. Tea time was a must and dropping a piece of tablet in their tea was easier than trying to carry cream and sugar.
I live in Michigan but was born in Aberdeen, Scotland. My Dad was a baker and confectioner, and made tablet all the time.
I make it here and usually make quite a big batch.
4 lbs Sugar
1 pint full milk
Half pound unsalted butter
2 tins condensed milk
When I take it off the heat, I add one tablespoon Vanilla essence.
Hope that helps.
Just for clarity, I’m guessing that the recipe should read 4 cups of sugar instead of 4 lbs…
re:previous comment: my mistake- I didn’t notice that this recipe makes a double batch, which would indeed call for 4 lbs. My apologies.
I used Google to translate the exact amounts to U.S. The butter is half a cup or one stick. The sugar is 4 1/2 cups not four. The whole milk is 1 cup. Our tins of condensed milk (evaporated milk), are slightly smaller in the U.S. (12 oz is 340 grams, compared to a 397 gram tin in the recipe), but I used it as is with only 340 grams.
My results: I set the timer for 20 minutes when it came to a boil as per someone’s comment above, and I was watching a candy thermometer. After dissolving the sugar, I turned the heat up to 5 1/2 (out of 10, so slightly higher than medium heat). At 12 minutes my temperature was 115 C / 240 F, which according to my thermometer is EXACTLY soft ball stage, but my tablet was also starting to scorch so I had to remove it immediately! I did notice I was also getting “sheeting” off of the spoon, for any of you who make jelly or preserves the old fashioned way, so I knew it would set, I was just worried about the brown bits giving a poor taste and texture. I pulled out as much of the bits as I could, then started beating, almost didn’t pour in time while I still could. I was so surprised it came out so well! The taste is lovely, the texture is creamy, it set in a few minutes. I am at 814 feet above sea level.
For those of you in the U.S. you might try using my conversions for amounts. And I would suggest to everyone that if you have had trouble getting yours to set, you might try looking up the “sheeting” indication for soft ball, as I always had trouble with no-pectin added jams until I learned that method. Basically, you just lift your spoon out and turn it on it’s side. When it no longer drips a single drip from one location of the spoon, but instead you get multiple drips or wide drips, then you know you are there! It will set.
Thank you so much for this recipe! :)
I found another site that had the same recipe and posted the U.S. equivalents: 4 1/2 cups of sugar, 1/2 cup of butter, 1 can of sweetened condensed milk, 1 cup milk, 1-2 teaspoons of vanilla.
Thank you for posting this recipe. I made it yesterday, and it turned out perfectly. I have always loved chocolate fudge here in the U.S., but tried Scottish vanilla tablet last year at a local Scottish confectionary. I fell in love with it and recently found recipes online. So happy I can save money and make this at home.
Best tablet recipe I’ve tried – thank you!
Hey I really enjoyed making this but it didn’t set properly… I made sure all the sugar was dissolved etc… I think it’s the butter I used-clover? Any suggest what the best butter to use? Thanks
Hi Zoe. For traditional tablet, proper butter would be used. However margarine-type butters can be substituted with great results too. Nine times out of ten when your tablet doesn’t set it’s due to the temperature not been high enough, or not beating the mixture enough. That being said, sometimes you do everything right and it still doesn’t set perfectly. Give it another go and make sure the temperature reaches Soft-ball stage (120°c) and you beat it until it’s almost setting – it can take a while and make your arm ache!
On section 4 you say to remove from heat and beat but it it does not say to return to heat and keep beating. I kept mine off the heat and kept beating until it went very thick and then put it into my tray and it’s a very pale colour. I only realised this after reading reviews. Feel I have made a big mistake and it now will not set I am sure. Can you confirm
Hi Margie. You do not return the mixture to the heat, you keep it off the heat for beating. As such, it sounds like you’ve done everything right. How did your tablet turn out?
My tablet turned out great Amy the 2nd time but I keep worrying as it comes up to the boiling stage that I leave it for too long. Now have a thermometer so hopefully this will help
Thankyou
How do you know all the sugar has dissolved
Same way as making tea.
Hi Peter. When you add the sugar it will have a gritty (sugary) texture. You know it has dissolved once it has a smooth consistency instead.
i dont think the recipe is clear – keep pan off when it boils? or take off and put back on? – what do you mean ball like texture? tried that but ended up with sand. thanks
Hi Steve. Sorry you don’t think the recipe is clear. To clarify; you keep the mixture on the heat until it reaches 160°c (also known as Soft-Ball stage in sugar boiling, as it is also often noted on as sugar thermometers). As the recipe states, it is once this temperature has been reached that you remove the mixture from the heat – and don’t put it back on.
Hope that helps.
Hi Amy and Granny,
As a Scottish Borders Grandad who has been making tablet for more than 50 years I think your article is great and I hope you don’t mind me making a few wee comments.
I agree with your basic ingredients of butter, sugar, whole milk, and caster (or to some, castor) sugar, but I would also add vanilla extract to the list.
The actual quantities of each are less important than what you actually do with them I believe. For example, in the UK with current packaging, I suggest that 1 bag of caster sugar (1 Kg), 1 tin condensed milk (397g), half a pint of whole milk (284ml), half a block of hard butter – unsalted preferably (125g), plus a couple of teaspoons of vanilla extract (only to be added at the end of cooking process) makes life a bit easier when it comes to getting your ingredients together. No need to get too uptight about accurate quantities – and you still end up with great tasting confectionery. So, for those not in the UK, just use the products and product sizes that you have available. E.g. 1 tin of condensed milk, half a pint of half a litre of whole milk, half a block of butter (blocks are usually either 8oz or 454g), and 1 bag (either a 1Kg or 2Lb) super-fine sugar / castor sugar if you can find it, if not then you should just use granulated sugar.
Condensed milk: please used condensed milk and not evaporated milk: even though they are similar in both being milk evaporated to around 60 percent, the added sugar content to condensed milk helps provide to the caramelisation and ‘toffee’ taste of great Scottish tablet;
Milk: please use whole milk, don’t try using skimmed or semi-skimmed alternatives as the fat content is important in helping to improve the stabilisation (along with the fat in the butter) of the sugar mix as it is heated and concentrated as the tablet mixture is heated;
Butter: please use unsalted if possible, however salted can be used it that’s all you’ve got: you’re just trying to reduce the amount of ‘additionalities’ in the mix where you can. All extraneous materials that can induce crystalisation of the mix (before you want it) are to be avoided where you can; MUST be full cream butter and not some weight watcher alternative;
Sugar: now here we come to the most interesting and most important ingredient: caster/castor sugar and granulated sugars are both the same chemical – sucrose – but are very different in how they react to dissolution. Caster will dissolve much more easily and this helps in the initial stages of heating the tablet contents and getting them all to amalgamate and form a stable non-crystalline solution. As you heat this liquid ‘mix’ the key is to maintain everything in solution and not generate any crystals as water evaporates from the mix and the sugar concentration increases. The mere fact of you stirring the solution will tend to induce some crystallisation of the mix as the sugar molecules get closer and closer together as the water is driven off as the temperature increases. (For those of you at height, remember that your liquid’s boiling point will reduce by 1 degree for every 300 metres higher than sea level you are, so you guys will need to adjust your thinking on what temperature you will need to get to to reach soft-ball stage which is 235 to 240 degrees Fahrenheit at sea level – and that’s why I would always recommend using the physical feel of the mix over only using a sugar thermometer). Some people may suggest molasses flavoured sugars, such as soft brown, dark brown, demorara, etc, but I caution against, as again although this may impart some additional caramelly notes to the mix, it does add additional salts that help to promote pre-crystallisation of the mix. The best way to achieve the correct caramel note to the taste and smell and colour of a good Scottish tablet is to have long slow cooking of the mix as I will describe later;
Vanilla extract: never use vanilla essence, only use great quality vanilla extract – extract is natural, essence is synthetic. Also, you only add this at the end once the sort ball stage has been reached and the solution has cooled sufficiently for you to start to think about beating the mix.
Some tips……
1. In a LARGE pan, you need lots of space for the mix to bubble up, add the sugar and milk and start to heat and with MINIMAL stirring with a long wooden spoon or spurtle (you don’t want to burn your hands with splashes of the hot sugar mix) mix until sugar dissolved; then add condensed milk and butter, and continue to heat slowly and GENTLY stir the mix. Keep heating and occasionally stirring GENTLY as your mix gets up through the boiling and frothing stages, making sure that at all times you are stirring across the entire bottom of the pan to prevent sticking and little burnt bits of sugar that can affect the look of the final product;
2. I wash out the condensed milk tin when empty and fill with cold water: so that when I get the mixture through the various stages and sufficient water has been evaporated, and sufficient colour generated through caramelisation of the mix, I can take teaspoons samples, drop them into my cold water and see and feel what the tablet mix is to make sure that I have achieved the correct sort ball consistency – definitely not too soft but not too hard either. And on occasion, if I have gone too far and the mix is too hot and too much evaporation has taken place and I have got into hard ball or beyond stage, then I take the pan off the best let it cool a bit and add a little more milk and start to heat and stir again until I do get to a good soft ball consistency;
3. I’m a believer of the long slow heat rather than a quick rush to boil or a precise time measured boil for getting the best flavoured and coloured and textured tablet. There’s nothing worse than a peely wally or a gritty or a soft fudgy confectionery that someone is describing as Scottish Tablet. Take your time, use the best ingredients you can, keep your stirring on the gentle side and not overly enthusiastic, make sure you have actually reached true soft ball stage, and then you’ve got to one of the most important points to achieving good tablet;
4. If during the heating and stirring stage, you do get a little build up of crystals or gritty material around your own at the surface of the bubbling mix, then with a wet pastry brush with a little water on it you can gently clean up those crystals and clean the pan. Remember, the key to great tablet is to make sure that you have no pre-crystallisation;
5. So you now have the tablet mix to the correct soft ball stage, now take the pan off the heat and let the mix cool down slightly, stirring gently, you don’t want to generate any sugar crystals yet. Once the mix has cooled for about five minutes, with gentle stirring, add in your two teaspoons of great quality vanilla essence, this will enhance the taste of the mix substantially I believe but it is not essential;
6. What is essential I think is to make sure that at the soft ball stage you have crystal free mix – easily checked by feeling the consistency of the ball in your fingers and then tasting it to make sure it is smooth and creamy and has absolutely no grainy texture to it. So, now that you have cooled the mix a few degrees, added the vanilla extract it you’re going to do that, and have only mixed the solution with gentle stirring, you’ve got to the point where you now want to induce crystallisation – but only small crystals not big crystals. The key to crystal size is solution temperature and molecular concentration: the hotter the temperature and molecular concentration the greater the tendency to bigger crystals, so with our cooling mixture we now start to beat and keep beating. The key here is that once we start to get sugar crystallisation with nice little crystals we want that process to continue so we need to keep beating until the mix has cooled even more, and more and more of the space between the crystals has been taken away and any tendency for large crystal formation to be minimised. This is how you get a lovely smooth, buttery feel to the tablet – it has a nice mouthfeel to it. If it’s too hard then you went past the correct boiling temperature, if it’s too grainy then you probably got crystallisation too early or stated beating too quickly or when it was too hot, and if it’s too peely wally or anaemic looking then you probably didn’t cook it for long enough or slowly enough to induce the correct amount of caramelisation from the sugars;
7. Once you’ve beaten it and it’s now thickening up pour it into your pre-buttered confectionery/baking tray. But remember, that one of the nicest things is to scrape off the hardening tablet mix from your pan and try it even before it has truly gone solid. Delicious, but remember not to try when too hot. Kids will love to scrape the pan, certainly my kids and grand-kids do…….
8. And finally, apologies for going on and on and on. Hope you all enjoy your Scottish Tablet making…….
Sorry, just noticed that I boobed in my above comment in regards milk quantity I should have said quarter of a litre not half a litre. However, even if you were to add far too much milk, it’s not a disaster. Remember, it’s all about molecular concentration and temperature elevation. It is only by our solution liquid evaporating that we get our temperature increasing, so if you have more liquid to start with then it will just take that wee bit longer to heat up (and gently mix) the tablet mixture before we get to the ultra important soft ball stage.
Made this and it came out perfect first time! Thank. You!
I’m going to try this for my daughters wedding favours. Can you tell me the shelf life of the finished tablet. So I can see how far in advance to make this.
WOW!
My husband and son with Scottish blood thoroughly enjoyed my 1st attempt at making Tablet. Thank you so much for the recipe.