Cooking with Mum: Scottish Clootie Dumplings

Clootie dumpling is a traditional treat served up at birthdays and at Christmastime in Scotland. The name comes from the “cloot” or cloth that the rich dumpling full of fruit and spices is steamed in. Our Scottish tour guide Liz Lister recalls childhood celebrations as her mum, Betty Martin, lets us in on the secrets of making a clootie dumpling (see recipe below) while recalling some of the treats from her own life during WWII.

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Betty Martin’s Recipe for Delicious Clootie Dumplings

Ingredients

3 Teacups Self-Raising Flour

3 oz Beef Suet

1 Teacup Sugar

8oz Raisins

8oz Currants

1oz Fruit peel – either crystalised or orange peel

½ tsp salt

½ tsp powdered nutmeg

½ tsp powdered ginger

1½ tsp powdered cinnamon

½ tsp powdered all spice

¼ tsp cream of tartare

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1 tablespoon of treacle (molasses) - optional

Method

Combine ingredients and mix to a wet dough with milk 

Scald a clean drying cloth with boiling water and then sprinkle with a coating of flour

Tip contents of bowl into the cloth and gather it together leaving room for it to expand. 

Tie with string.   Smack its bottom to get dumpling shape!

Place a plate in the bottom of a pan and add boiling water.

Sit dumpling on the plate and reduce heat to a low boil.

Cook for approximately 2 hours until the dumpling is firm, topping up the boiling water as necessary.

Remove the dumpling from the water, carefully remove the cloth and dry the dumpling in a moderate oven until the skin is dry.

Serve with custard or cream