Warming the House

A gorgeous night, the unveiling of our friends' new house-extension, interiors worthy of Home and Garden, lovely people in fullest socialising mode, the drinks were flowing freely and the hosts asked me to cook... and I love to cook party food.
I agonised over Mediterranen vs Asian, hot vs cold, one bite vs fork and plate and how to get all my current favourites on one plate at the same time.... at the end of deliberations, the menu was:

• Smoked salmon on rye with curried egg salad
• Indian spiced scones with plum and black pepper chutney
• Lemon and thyme chicken skewers with satay sauce
• Spinach dip with dukkah dippers
• Blue cheese shortbread with honey and figs
• Tandoori prawns on mini poppadoms

and

• Mini cranachan for dessert

With such fantastic hosts, and stunning setting, any food would stand out, but my fave on saturday was the mini cranachan. I found these little shot glasses and spoons and I want to use them for every meal we have. Mini gazpacho before lunch, mini beef stew as an after school snack, mini trifle, they are going to get so much use! If you make these with any little shot glasses, follow the sizes below - otherwise, double the recipe and make full sized desserts for 6 grown ups.

Mini Cranachan (makes around 18 - for full size - just double the recipe)
1 punnet of raspberries
1 tub of double cream
2 tbsp honey
2 tbsp good whisky
1 tbsp icing sugar
2oz porridge oats
2oz light muscovado sugar

In the bottom of each glass, place one or two raspberries.
Whisk the cream until it starts to hold its shape then whisk in the honey, whisky and icing sugar till light and airy.
In a dry pan, roast the oats and sugar together, do not leave this alone or it will burn, keep stirring it around the pan until the oats and sugar have melded into a lovely toffee colour and toasted crunchy texture.
Top the raspberries with the cream concoction then sprinkle with crunchy oatmeal.