The name of this homebake is a little confusing, so if you’ve come to this page keen to learn a traditional Scottish country dance of the same name, we do apologise! This simple traybake is moist, with raisins, biscuit, glacé cherries and coconut, and has a lovely chocolate taste with every bite. I made this traybake after spending a bright and windy day in March painting my garden fence – and it was an easy and delicious reward for all that hard work! It is moist, with raisins, biscuit, glacé cherries and coconut, and has a lovely chocolate taste with every bite. Dashing White Sergeants are perfect for days when you have a sweet tooth (for me that’s every day!) and it is one of the lesser-known traybakes offered in Orkney. I’m pleased to make it a little better known here… Ingredients to make Dashing White Sergeants photo © Copyright Magnus Dixon Ingredients: 227g / 8 oz digestive biscuits 57g / 2 oz raisins 57g / 2 oz chopped cherries / cranberries (we opted for cherries) 28g / 1 oz ground almonds 28g / 1 oz coconut 85g / 3 oz margarine 3 tbsp syrup 400g / 14 oz white chocolate (170g / 6 oz for the base and 230g / 6 oz for the topping) Method: Line a 24cm wide by 24cm long tin with grease-proof paper. Blast the digestive biscuits in a foot processor until they are finely crushed. In a bowl, mix the finely crushed digestive biscuits, raisins, chopped cherries / cranberries, ground almonds and coconut. Once melted and combined, add the margarine, syrup and white chocolate mixture with the dry ingredients photo © Copyright Magnus Dixon Melt the margarine, syrup and 170g / 6 oz of the white chocolate gently. We placed them all in a glass bowl over a pan of boiling water and stirred. Tip the margarine, syrup and chocolate into the dry ingredients bowl, combining them. Mix thoroughly. Press the base into a lined baking tin and chill until until firm photo © Copyright Magnus Dixon Then tip the Dashing White Sergeants mixture into the square tin, and press down well – we used the back of a dessert spoon to compress the mixture tightly together. Chill until firm. Melt the remaining white chocolate and pour on top of chilled base photo © Copyright Magnus Dixon Melt the last 230g / 6 oz of the white chocolate (in a glass bowl over a pan of boiling water) Spread the melted chocolate evenly over the top of the finished traybake, and put it in the fridge to set. The finished Dashing White Sergeants, ready to slice and serve photo © Copyright Magnus Dixon When ready, cut the Dashing White Sergeants into slices, or fingers. By Magnus Dixon Orkney and Shetland enthusiast, family man, loves walks, likes animals, terrible at sports, dire taste in music, adores audiobooks and films, eats a little too much for his own good. Pin it! Header image: Dashing White Sergeants traybake recipe photo © Copyright Magnus Dixon
