Scottish Tablet
Sweet, crumbly, and melt-in-the-mouth, Scottish Tablet is the classic treat you’ll find at weddings, ceilidhs, and just about every celebration in Scotland. Just a few simple ingredients and a bit of patience for a proper homemade batch.
As seen in my debut cookbook, Scottish Bakes.
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. At 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.
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!
Top Tips for Scottish Tablet:
• Use your biggest pan: Bigger than you think you will need. Trust me! Once the ingredients start to boil, the mix will try to overflow too. And there’s no joy in cleaning hot, sticky tablet disasters from your stovetop.
• A sugar thermometer is a must: This is one recipe where I would always, always recommend using a sugar thermometer. Without it, you are less likely to have success, as it requires a bit of guesswork and experience to know exactly when the tablet has reached the Soft-Ball stage.
• Just beat it: When it comes to beating your tablet, it can take a good bit of elbow grease! Stick with it. You want to beat it until it starts to thicken, but not too thick either. The good news is that you can’t really over-beat tablet – even if it is thicker than you wanted, it’ll still taste great, it just won’t look as pretty and smooth on top.
• Electric whisk is an option: I have heard of some people using an electric whisk to beat their tablet. This isn’t something I have personally tried, but if you struggle with the beating of your tablet or have limited mobility, this could be a good option to consider.
• Score the top: For a perfectly neat tablet, score the top of your tablet to the shape you wish to cut (bars or squares are most traditional) after it’s had a little time to cool, but still warm. This will make it much easier to get a smooth finish when you come to cutting your tablet.
Ingredients for Scottish Tablet:
Caster Sugar
Being sweeter than sweet, sugar was always going to be the biggest ingredient in tablet! Caster sugar is by far the best, due to its finer texture, dissolving easily when combined with the liquids. You can swap to Golden Caster Sugar for a more caramel-y flavour and darker coloured tablet, should you prefer.
Milk
Ideally, you want to use full-fat milk. This is what a traditional homemade Scottish tablet would be made with. However, I have used semi-skimmed in a pinch and had good success.
Butter (or Margarine…)
Salted or unsalted butter is fine; whichever you have to hand.
Or there is the option to use a block margarine. Many tablet purists would disapprove of swapping true butter for margarine; however, I can confirm it works just as well. And with the amount of sugar and the degree of sweetness in the tablet, it means it’s very difficult to tell the difference, in terms of taste. If you do opt for a margarine, just be sure to use a block margarine as opposed to the spreadable kind – the latter will interfere with your tablet setting, due to the lower fat content.
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!).
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Scottish Tablet
EQUIPMENT
- 20x20cm Baking Tin (8-inch)
INGREDIENTS
- 900 g Caster Sugar (Superfine Sugar)
- 250 ml Full-fat Milk
- 110 g Butter
- 397 g Condensed Milk (Sweetened Condensed Milk)
INSTRUCTIONS
- 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/250°F) on your sugar thermometer. This usually takes 15-20 minutes but timing may vary.
- 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.
Video
IMPORTANT NOTE:
All my recipes are developed using a digital scale and the metric system (grams and millilitres). Cup measurements are available as a conversion but these, unfortunately, won’t always be as accurate. For best results, I always recommend baking with a digital scale.
RECIPE NOTES:
- Storage: Tablet keeps exceptionally well. Once fully set and cut, store it in an airtight container at room temperature – it’ll stay fresh for 2–3 weeks (if it lasts that long!).
- Make Ahead: Homemade tablet is perfect for prepping in advance. You can make it days, or even weeks, ahead of time, making it ideal for parties, gift bags, or bake sales.
- Freezing: Tablet can be frozen, although the texture may become slightly crumblier once defrosted. To freeze, wrap the pieces in baking paper and pop them in a freezer-safe bag or container. Defrost at room temperature before serving.
It is tricky to try to explain what tablet is to someone who has never tried it. Scottish Tablet is truly unique, and although there are some sweet treats that are similar, nothing really quite compares. It is made with milk, butter, condensed milk and A LOT of sugar. It is boiled to a high temperature, before beating the mixture until thickened, and then setting it in a tin until completely cool. It is a truly unique sweet (candy) that is popular with all generations in Scotland.
Scottish Tablet is the best-tasting food in Scotland (sorry, haggis – you’re a close second though). Think of the sweetest fudge you’ve ever had, without the vanilla flavour. And more of a crumbly, melt-in-the-mouth texture. Then multiply the sweetness by about a hundred. You’ll be pretty close to what tablet tastes like!
Traditional Scottish Tablet is actually quite easy to make, but there are a few things that can make or break your success.
You start by dissolving your sugar and milk in a large pan, over a gentle heat. Next, you add your butter and allow that to melt before finally adding your condensed milk. You will increase the heat of your pan to bring everything to a boil, until it reaches Soft-Ball stage (120°c). This is where a sugar thermometer is a must-have!
The final stage of tablet making is the beating. You need to allow the mixture to cool briefly before beating with a wooden spoon. It can take a bit of work, but it will start to thicken. To finish, simply pour your tablet into a greased tin and allow to cool before cutting into bars or squares.
Free-from & Vegan:
Gluten-free: Scottish tablet is naturally gluten-free but be sure to check your ingredients individually when preparing for anyone with intolerances or coeliac disease.
Vegan: To make this a Vegan Scottish Tablet recipe, simply replace the full-fat dairy milk with sweetened soya milk, and use vegan condensed milk. Swap the butter for your dairy-free block margarine.
N.B. Any advice or suggestions to make recipes “free-from” or vegan are purely that – suggestions. Please be careful to double-check all ingredients individually, taking extra caution when serving to those with allergies & intolerances.
For more info on common food allergies, please see food.gov.uk | For more info on coeliac disease, please see coeliac.org.uk | For more info on a vegan diet, please see vegansociety.com
Originally published in May 2017. Updated in July 2025.
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…….
Your instructions for making tablet sound almost identical to my mom’s chocolate fudge recipe in Tennessee, USA. We were even warned not to run in the house, while the fudge was cooling, so that crystals wouldn’t form. Mom also put a lid on the pan for a minutes so that steam would help “wash” any tiny, unseen sugar crystals down the sides of the pan. Her fudge was the creamiest fudge I’ve ever eaten and I wish I had enough arm strength to hand-beat fudge like she could! I had Scottish tablet a few years ago when I was over there. I look forward to trying this recipe with your hints.
Really great tips there! Ive made this recipe 4 times now. One was perfect one was ok one was too hard going into the tin and the other was too soft. Looking forward to trying it again soon. Many thanks
Great,thanks!
Hi Grampy Robin.Sorry but I fell asleep reading your long winded story..I much prefer the short recipe at start of the tablet making..
Sorry again but my concentration was absolutely lost in your story.
Have been contemplating making tablet. Given the nearest shop is a very long way away (think big Australian distances) I am wondering whether Top and Fill caramel a form of condensed milk and cream are suitable substitutes. Any thoughts from the Scottish folk?
Well cream and Top and Fill caramel work! Result was perfect, good colour, great texture, absolutely melt in the mouth with no graininess. I used unsalted French butter.
I absolutely LOVED your recipe tweaks and tips! It’s Nov 2024, and I just found this website, and tablet recipe. I’m doing a fundraiser in February 2025 (for the Scottish Huntington’s Association), and want to start practicing early! Hopefully by the 7th of February, my tablet will be good enough to sell! By then, my friends and family will either be sick of it, or diabetic (bad joke but I’m diabetic myself)! Keep your fingers crossed for me.
I’ve just realised I’m gonna have to buy a much bigger pan!
Thank you, Grampy Robin!
Hi Robin :)
I canna help myself.
Are you a grumpy grampy?
I am a sometimes, grumpy granny.
‘Tis but a jest,
All the best,
Charmayne :)
This is lovely, Amy! Cheers! :)
Well I’ve only been making it for 40 years, but agree with everything you’ve said. The only thing I’d add for anyone trying for the first time is you need a really heavy based good quality pan to give you the nice steady heat and to make sure it doesn’t scorch at any stage.
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.
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.
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
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!