Customer Reviews

A little book of Scottish baking

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I lived in Glasgow, Scotland for awhile and I fell in love with Scottish baking. The smells and flavors are totally unique, with hearty ingredients that fill the belly and warm the soul. Don't expect anything light and fluffy with Scottish cooking!

I got this "Little Book of Scottish Baking" in the hopes of re-creating some of my favorites now that I was back in the States. I love cooking, but baking has always been a weakness of mine. Still, I figured I would give it a shot.

This truly is a "little book" of Scottish baking, being only fifty-nine pages in length. There are twenty-eight recipes in total, with each recipe taking up one page and the other page having an illustration of the finished item. The book itself is also very small, being about 5 inches tall by 4 inches wide.

Most of the ingredients are "on hand" items like butter, oats and whole wheat flour. Many of the recipes do call for caster sugar, barley meal and buttermilk, which are not items I normally keep in my pantry. Buttermilk can easily be substituted by adding a tablespoon of vinegar or lemon to a cup (minus one tablespoon) of milk, but for some others you will probably need to do some shopping.

The recipes give both Gas Mark, Celsius and Fahrenheit temperatures which is always nice. Because there is so little space available, the recipes aren't really step-by-step and some baking experience would be helpful.

Several of the recipes, like Buttery Rowies, Oatcakes, Wheaton Bannock, Baps, Tattie Scones and Broonier were all familiar, but some, like the Whisky Tea Brack, Scottish Snowballs, Chocolate Whisky Cake and Parlies were new to me. Of course, anything with "whisky" it the title is going to get made!

"A Little Book of Scottish Baking" has some fun recipes that I really look forward to trying. It's size is also handy to take with me for when I'm giving cooking lessons to friends, unlike some of much larger "tomes" I have at home.