It wouldn’t be Christmas if we didn’t give our customers something new to enjoy on our festive menu. This year, the Ecclefechan tart won the hearts of our teams. Named after a village (pronounced “eck-el-fech-han”) in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, the fruit-laden and butter-rich slice makes the perfect festive treat and is an excellent alternative to mince pies.
While developing our own version of the Ecclefechan, which is traditionally enjoyed all year round, we decided to add festive ingredients like cranberries, brown butter and whisky. In doing so, we knew we’d drifted quite far from the original. What would a Scottish baker make of our version? We needed an expert in the room. Seeking more context, we invited legendary Scottish chef Sarah Rankin to our Creative Studio for a morning of baking and tasting.
Rankin not only shares our love of this traditional Scottish recipe, but our commitment to cooking with seasonal ingredients. The BBC MasterChef finalist published her debut cookbook Kith in 2024, featuring a collection of seasonal Scottish recipes. Meanwhile, Feast, her second cookbook released this autumn, focuses on seasonal menus for special occasions, from Sunday brunches to Hogmanay celebrations.
However, when it comes to her recipe for an Ecclefechan tart, Rankin can’t take full credit. “This is my gran’s recipe,” says Rankin, as she unwraps five perfect, miniature tarts that she’d kindly prepared ahead of her visit. “She baked every Saturday morning. You could smell it coming up the drive. She'd make Ecclefechan tarts, Scotch pancakes a light-as-a-feather lemon sponge... I can remember those smells so vividly”.
“There’s been a trend in our country to move away from traditional baking, but I think we’re starting to revise those thoughts now."
Her grandmother’s traditional recipe includes currants, raisins, sultanas, sweet cinnamon and ground ginger. “I’ve added a few bits and pieces to it – she didn’t have cherries in hers,” says Rankin. “And she would sometimes add marzipan on top, which was her own riff on the traditional recipe.”
“There’s nothing like marzipan to bring a touch of Christmas,” says our baker Roy Levy. “It’s what we were hoping to achieve with the addition of almonds to our recipe.”
He explains how, for our version, we’ve omitted the traditional currants and raisins and replaced them with seasonal cranberries, sour cherries and glacé cherries. We've then added a little festive flair with brown butter, pecans, almonds and a dash of whisky.
“It's a lot fresher than I expected it to be – the sour cherries are a revelation."
With our ingredients laid out and ready for baking, Julia Miszkiewicz, a fellow baker, gets to it. Rankin lends a hand, combining our ingredients into a mix. “I love that Scottish touch of having whisky in it,” says Rankin. “While it’s traditionally a teatime treat, the tart could also be served as a desert. In fact, it’s lovely with some whisky cream and orange zest.”
We love the idea of adding clotted cream, and immediately look to see what we have in store – we’re in luck.
As aromas of brown butter and fruit waft from the oven, Sarah tells us more about the heritage of the tart. “There’s a similar tart from the next county along, called the Border Tart. It’s very much a Southern Scotland thing,” she says. “There’s been a trend in our country to move away from traditional baking, because lots of our bakes are very heavy and dense. But I think we’re starting to revise those thoughts now, which I’m happy to see.”
Once out the oven, and given a moment or two to cool, Rankin cuts a few generous slices from the steaming tray bake. “It smells delicious – rich and buttery,” she says. “I think that’s the shortcrust pastry, which has got so much butter in.”
We add a healthy dollop of clotted cream and dusting of clementine zest. Finally, the moment comes to tuck in. “So good,” says Rankin. “It's a lot fresher than I expected it to be – the sour cherries are a revelation. Recipes with lots of dried fruit tend to be quite heavy, but this isn’t at all. It’s actually really light.”
As she goes in for more, we ask how it compares to the original. “It’s nothing like my traditional one. It’s next level,” she says. “The sour cherries are genius and the pastry is so crisp and short. It's a match made in heaven. Gorgeous.”
“On that note, where is the sherry?” says Levy, as the rest of us happily join Rankin and dive in.
You can find our Brown Butter, Cranberry & Whisky Ecclefechan on the baker's table at your local bakery. You can also order for collection or local delivery here.
