Traditional Scottish Recipes
- Edinburgh RockThe rock on which Edinburgh Castle stands is volcanic and very hard. But the confection "Edinburgh Rock" is (or should be) very soft and crumbly. Many millions of boxes of Edinburgh Rock are sold to sweet-toothed tourists (and locals) every year.
Ingredients:
One pound (450g or 2 cups) sugar lumps (loaf sugar)
Quarter pint (150ml or two-thirds cup) water
Quarter teaspoon (1.5ml) cream of tartar
Green and yellow food colouring and peppermint and lemonflavouring
Some oil for greasingMethod:
Using a heavy-base saucepan, heat the water and sugar gently until all the sugar has dissolved. Bring this almost to the boil and then stir in the cream of tartar. Boil until the mixture has reached 120C or 250F (use a sugar thermometer or boil until a teaspoon of the mixture can form a hard ball when it is dropped into a cup of cold water).Using two separate heatproof bowls, pour half the mixture into each bowl. Stir in the green food colouring into one and the yellow colouring into the other to create a delicate shade of each colour. Add a few drops of peppermint flavouring to the green one and lemon flavouring to the yellow one, mixing well.
Oil two shallow baking tins (pan) and pour each of the mixtures into the separate tins. Using an oiled knife, turn the edges towards the centre as they begin to cool. When the mixture is cool enough to handle, pull and fold the mixture. Finally, pull into a long log shape, about ½ inch (1 cm) in diameter. Cut into shorter sticks with scissors. Spread on a sheet of non-stick baking parchment and leave for over 24 hours. Store in an airtight container.
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