Peppermint Crunch is such a throwback for me. My Nanna (who turns 90 in August) used to make it for my Dad when he was a kid and for me and my siblings when we were little too. I’d not had it for years but we were talking about it when I was back home recently and I asked her for the recipe. Low and behold, the following week, a letter arrived with the actual original recipe. Not on paper but on the back of a well preserved piece of ‘ScotBloc’ packaging, flattened between the pages of a cookbook and used carefully for 50 years plus. I was thrilled and will of course, be taking extremely good care of it.
First, some history
So, I actually had to google scotbloc. I didn’t know what it was! It’s cooking chocolate and actually, you can still buy scotbloc but it’s sold by Dr Oetker from what I can see, even though it appears that R & W Scott Ltd are infact, still going. They appear to be in the wholesale business now but still selling baking and confectionary products.
Once that little mystery was solved, I decided to see if I could find the ‘Mac Market’ on the price label. And I did! It was a shop in Loughborough, where I grew up, and I found this fantastic advert for it on Flickr (thanks Jonathan). They even had their own carpark..oooh fancy! My Nanna paid 23p for the scotbloc and this advert dates from 1973 so if we assume she bought it then, it was worth £2.96 in today’s money. A block of Dr Oetker scotbloc will set you back £5.99 for 750g. Compared like for like (150g) it’s a lot cheaper now than it was then at £1.20.
Anyway, time for the recipe
The recipe is super easy, and I am not a baker so that should tell you all you need to know. I remember making this with my Nanna when I was little. I’m looking forward to making it with our little boy when he’s older and passing the traditional along. As it’s not my recipe, I’ve included a photo below of the original as per my Nanna’s 1970’s Scotbloc packet. If you give this a go, please let me know in the comments. I’d love to see how it turns out!
The finished peppermint crunch
We don’t have a metal baking tray. Well, I thought we did but when it came to making this, I couldn’t find it anywhere! I made it in our Le Creuset lasagne dish (like you do!) instead. It worked out fine though so I can confirm if you don’t have a baking tray, a ceramic dish will do the trick.
This peppermint crunch tasted exactly as I remembered it. Such a wonderful walk down memory lane. Word of warning: I had to add a lot more caster sugar to get a thick enough consistency on the peppermint layer, so be aware of that. My Nanna actually said to me on the phone that if it was too runny, it wouldn’t set enough to pour the chocolate on top of, and she was right!
We ate this whole dish worth over the course of a few days. Plus, it held up well in the fridge. In fact, the longer it was in there the more it set and the better it got. Perfect with a cuppa tea for elevenses or threesies.
