Monday, June 15, 2009

Cream Crowdie: A Scottish Parfait

At the Scottish Festival on Saturday, I had a chance to try a tasty Scottish dessert that turned out to be very easy to make.  It's called a Cream Crowdie, and is a parfait, that is a layered dessert with alternating fruit and cream layers.  The cream was whipped to hard peaks, and sweetened with honey instead of sugar.  Also in the cream was oatmeal, adding a layer of flavor and texture that took me by surprise.  The fruit layer was actually a raspberry topping that turned out to be too rich for me. 


It was so good that my wife and I decided to try to make it ourselves.  Instead of raspberry topping we made raspberry Jell-O, which made less of a sugar rush than the topping.  I made the Jell-O according to the typical recipe, and it set up as any Jell-O would. 


The cream I made this way:


1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 tbsp honey
1/4 cup oatmeal


I first combined the honey and the whipping cream together, and whipped it to hard peaks for stiffness.  I then folded in the oatmeal.  The cream was good, but the oatmeal hadn't absorbed much of the liquid as I had hoped.  Next time I make it I'll soak the oatmeal in the cream first for a few hours, and then whip up the cream with the oatmeal. 


Anyway, the proportions above would make four or five small Crowdies in a small container.  You can easily substitute the gelatin for real fruit if you like.  I would have this time around, but my raspberries haven't yet ripened.


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