Old English Butterscotch

Old English Butterscotch recipe – the best butterscotch I’ve ever tasted made from a recipe from 1934. Crush it onto the top of ice-cream for a special treat, dip it in chocolate or eat it as it is!

 Ingredients

1lb or 450 gm of raw sugar (also known as demarara sugar, turbinado sugar, natural brown or light brown sugar)

3/4 US cup or 180ml of water

a pinch of cream of tartar OR 1tsp of white vinegar

4 oz or 120 gm of butter

4 tbsp of cream (or 3tbsp if you’re using an Australian 20 ml tablespoon)

Method

Cover a baking tray with foil and spray lightly with cooking oil (not olive oil,  it will make it taste funky).

Heat the sugar and water over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved and bring to the boil.

Add a pinch of cream of tartar or a teaspoon of white vinegar and stir in.

Heat until it reaches hard crack stage, which is 150 degrees C or 302 degrees F.

When it reaches hard crack stage add the butter and cream and stir in.

Pour quickly into your tray. I was a bit slow in the video, which is why there is a grainy look on top where it had started to cool down.

Leave until it starts to set and score some lines in it where you want to break it later.

Leave overnight to cool, break into squares and enjoy!

Custard made without custard powder

Custard Made without Custard Powder

A traditional stove-top custard made without the use of custard powder. Plus you get a little custard trivia in the video :)

Ingredients

All tablespoons are 15ml. Australians should adjust accordingly (depending on whether you have a standard Aussie 20ml tablespoon or a regular 15ml one)

2 US pints/950ml of milk

2tsp vanilla

3tbls of corn flour (US corn starch) for pouring custard or more for thicker custard

4tbls of sugar

2 eggs

Makes 4-12 servings, depending on how hungry you are and whether you’re just nomming custard or serving it with something else.

Method

Mix the cornflour with a little bit of the milk so that it forms a smooth paste.

Put your milk and vanilla in a double boiler (if you’re brave and ave very thick bottomed saucepans you can cook straight on the stove) and heat until almost boiling.

Stir in the cornflour mixture and keep stirring until it thickens.

Once it’s thickened, add the sugar and the beaten eggs and keep stirring until it’s the right consistency.