Tablet (taiblet in Scots[1][2]), butter tablet, butter fudge, cream tablet or Swiss Milk tablet (derived from a condensed milk brand name) is a medium-hard, sugary confection from Scotland. Tablet is usually made from sugar, condensed milk, and butter, boiled to a soft-ball stage and allowed to crystallize. It is often flavoured with vanilla, and sometimes has nut pieces in it.[2]
Tablet differs from fudge in that it has a brittle, grainy texture, where fudge is much softer. Well-made tablet is a medium-hard confection, not as soft as fudge, but not as hard as hard candy.
Tablet is often flavoured with vanilla, whisky, or nuts.[3]
Commercially available tablet often uses fondant instead of the milk products. This produces a slightly less granular texture compared to the traditional home-made tablet, and is supposedly much easier to prepare on a commercial scale.
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Tablet has a long history. According to The Scots Kitchen by F. Marian McNeill, tablet is first noted in The Household Book of Lady Grisell Baillie in the early 18th century.[4] The traditional recipe uses just sugar and cream. More modern recipes substitute condensed milk and butter for the cream, as it has a tendency to burn when boiled. Tablet is also mentioned from time to time in Oor Wullie, a comic book focusing on a scruffy Scottish boy living in a world where people speak an extreme form of Scots English.
A variation including golden syrup is known as Russian fudge.
Tablet is almost identical to Québécois sucre à la crème, except the latter is often made with maple syrup. It's also reportedly similar to South American tableta de leche. Another close relative can be found in the Netherlands that goes by the name of borstplaat, eaten during the time that Sinterklaas is celebrated.