Dairy Free Tablet

If you haven't come across tablet before its a Scottish speciality.  Every bake sale and coffee morning, and particularly church sales, requires at least one of the local star bakers to make a batch, or there is a riot from disappointed members of the public! Its a bit like fudge but without the squish factor.  You expect a good snap from a piece of tablet rather than the softness of fudge, and I suppose it tastes a bit like toffee but its not chewy.  Hmmm its proving more difficult than I thought to explain!

Anyway, tablet is usually made traditionally with condensed milk, but my granny's recipe just used normal cows milk.  So I've experimented with it and substituted in other non-dairy milks to see how it works.  Well, I couldn't quite believe how well it works! My milk of choice is soya but feel free to use whatever you prefer.

Although this recipe is always well received by children, I wouldn't recommend them helping in the kitchen with this one as the sugar reaches a rolling boil and can cause severe burns if it lands on skin. Please be careful!

Dairy Free Tablet

Ingredients

900 g sugar (I like golden granulated but thats just my preference)
370ml milk of your choice
1 tablespoon golden syrup
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp dairy free spread (I use Pure Sunflower)

Method

1. Put the sugar, milk, syrup and vanilla extract in a large, heavy based pan.  I use my jam pan as the sugar really increases in volume as it boils and needs lots of space.

2. Melt everything together slowly and once boiling, reduce to a simmer for 25 minutes, stirring all the time to prevent sticking and burning.

3. Once the mix has boiled for 25 minutes it should be a golden brown caramel colour.  Remove a teaspoonful from the pan and place it on a cold plate.  In about 30 seconds it should be thick and sticky and form a set of ridges when pushed with a finger. If not, boil for another few minutes and try again.

The tablet on the right is underboiled, not caramel coloured enough and will not set, but remain a bit wet.

4.  Remove from the heat and add in the teaspoon of Pure spread.  Now beat it like mad with a bamboo spoon for about ten minutes until the mixture moves from a smooth caramel texture to a cloudy, slightly grainy texture.  It is then ready to pour into a medium bar pan, lined with greaseproof paper.
(I did try it with an electric mixer too, and that works much more quickly and without the arm strain but them I didn't feel like I'd earned the privilege of eating it!)

5.  Let the tablet set for at least 30 minutes before cutting up and enjoying. Wrap it in greaseproof paper if you're sending it off into the world to your local bake sale.