As Scottish Food Fortnight draws to an end for another year, my final blog to celebrate the event will be a wee sweet treat. Tablet or Helensburgh Toffee as my mother calls it, is a delightful fudge like sugary treat and although similar in appearance to fudge, the texture is different to both fudge and toffee!
Over the years she has made it for church sales, coffee mornings, family dinners, gifts and wedding favours. When I was young I remember it being cut into bars and wrapped in grease proof paper but these days it has more elaborate packaging such as cellophane bags tied with ribbon or boxed with the tissue to match the theme colours of a wedding. This weekend she has taken it south and we will enjoy it as the favours at a family wedding in Yorkshire….where mother will take great delight in sharing her recipe.
When I was taught to make tablet, my mothers recipe was a knob of butter, a cup of milk, a bag of sugar and a tin of condensed milk. As with many old recipes she never really measured ingredients but this recipe contains the measurements for the quantities she uses.
Recipe 
1kg bag of sugar
397g tin of condensed milk
50g butter
275 ml milk
Add the milk and butter to a large heavy based saucepan, allow to melt over a medium heat. Add the sugar and stir until the sugar dissolves. Try not to dissolve the sugar to quickly as it can affect the finished texture of the tablet.
Bring to the boil, add the condensed milk and continue stirring, slowly bringing back to the boil. Stirring continuously cook for approximately 20 minutes until the mixture darkens.
Remove from the heat and beat with a wooden spoon until the mixture thickens and feels sandy against the side of the pot.
Pour into a well buttered tin 11″ x 7″ Swiss roll tin to set. After about 10 minutes mark the tablet either into squares or bars for easier cutting once it has set.