Cranachan Ice Cream Sandwiches

It’s no secret that Issy and I have a soft spot for anything Scottish.

We’ve both been to Scotland countless times, and every time we’ve fallen more and more in love with the beautiful country, the vibrant music scene, the hearty cuisine, and let’s face it… those accents. Major swoon.

Between us we’ve been to see Glaswegian band, Twin Atlantic, more times than I can remember, danced at a ceilidh, climbed Arthur’s seat, camped at T in the Park, eaten ALL THE FOOD at the Edinburgh Christmas Market…. You get the picture.

Basically, we LOVE Scotland.

So, it was only a matter of time before one of us attempted a recipe inspired by Scottish cuisine.

Yeah, I caved.

When we visited Edinburgh last Christmas, we both tried Cranachan for the first time – a dessert made with whipped cream, heather honey, whisky, fresh raspberries and toasted oats soaked in even more whisky (when in Scotland!)… and we couldn’t get enough of it!

So, I decided I wanted to incorporate those flavours in an ice cream sandwich. As you do.

Chewy Brown Butter Oatmeal Raspberry Cookies filled with Whisky Ice Cream?

All day, everyday please.

I first started by making the whisky ice cream the night before so it could freeze overnight. I whipped the double cream to soft peaks (a soft dropping consistency), then mixed in the condensed milk, vanilla extract and the whisky. I added 3 shots of Jack Daniels, because I always have that lying around… but ideally you’d use a Scotch whisky! You can also add more or less to your preference… or none, if you’d prefer vanilla ice cream instead!

I then poured it into a metal container (so the heat, or in this case ‘cold’, conducts quicker… SCIENCE!) and left it in the freezer for a minimum of 6 hours. I kept going back and stirring/churning mine every hour or so for a couple hours before I went to bed and left it overnight.

The next morning I made the cookies. I started by browning the butter in a large saucepan, melting it over a medium heat for approximately 5 minutes. It will start to foam and bubble, but then it will begin to clear and you start to see the solids go brown. Not to mention, it gives off a delicious nutty aroma. Sigh.

There’s just something about brown butter that gives food this amazing depth of flavour.. and well, it just NEEDS to be in everything. Especially cookies.

Once browned, I removed it from the heat and left it to cool to room temperature.

Once cooled, I added both types of sugar (light brown sugar for a deep molasses-y taste, and caster sugar for added sweetness!), the egg and the vanilla extract and mixed throughly so that there were no sugar lumps.

   I then toasted the oats in a dry frying pan over a low heat, so the oats just started to catch on the edges.

I then added this to a large bowl, along with the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt.

Then added these dry ingredients to the gooey butter mixture.

cFinally I added the roughly chopped raspberries and stirred them through the mix. Cranachan cookie dough complete!

I dolloped spoonfuls of the mix on a baking tray lined with parchment paper and baked at 180°C for 12-15 minutes until golden brown, but still soft. I left this to cool on the tray for a few minutes (swatting my mum’s hands away!) before even attempting to move them so they could harden. Once cooled enough, I moved the cookies to a rack and left them to cool completely.

For sandwich assembly, I just placed a scoopful of the ice cream onto one cookie and topped with another… and ate them immediately!!