The Hebridean Baker Has A New Book!
It's another love letter to the rugged islands of Scotland, among other things.
If you didn't already want to pack up and move to the Outer Hebrides, reading and looking at the cookbooks of Coinneach MacLeod will definitely make you want to relocate to those remote Scottish islands. MacLeod, known as The Hebridean Baker, is releasing his second cookbook, My Scottish Island Kitchen. And we're excited to carry this endearing and enticing book, as we were with his first cookbook. We're also excited that Coinneach was kind enough to share a few recipes from the new book with Scottish Gourmet USA shopped.
Click here for his recipes for Hot Toddy Bundt Cake and Shortbread Dips
In the artfully shot photos that adorn his books, MacLeod is often found wearing a kilt in his clan tartan, with a floppy-eared winter hat, and his trusty canine sidekick, Seòras, his West Highland terrier. Images of scenic vistas from the Isle of Lewis, with ancient stone walls, rustic cottages and seaside villages are interspersed among the mouth-watering close-ups of MacLeod's culinary creations.
MacLeod became a successful cookbook author through his breakout popularity on Tik-Tok. His radiant charm, his adorable dog, and the breathtaking scenery all certainly add to the appeal of what MacLeod does. But it's his recipes and his writing about Hebridean traditions, folklore and regional history that give his books their depth.
It's not every cookbook author that will wade confidently into complex historical subjects like Viking forts or Iron Age ruins, or more recent and more thorny topics like the Highland Clearances. (His background in Old Icelandic studies gives him a steady footing in the history of the rugged North Atlantic.) But MacLeod does it all so smoothly, weaving in anecdotes about enduring village customs or about how best to eat a clootie dumpling, depending on how recently it's been baked.
MacLeod also demonstrates an endearing community-mindedness, plugging regional and local food producers at the front of his books and spelling out the rippling beneficial effects of supporting our neighbors and making food that is in season and grown nearby whenever possible.
His new book includes plenty of comfort-food inspiration, like his Cullen Skink Tart, Stornoway Scotch Eggs, and a seriously hefty breakfast concoction called Muc Muc ("muc" is Gaelic for pig) that is kind of a turbo-charged pigs-in-a-blanket meets toad-in-the-hole. It's not for anyone looking for a light start to the day! But MacLeod is the Hebridean Baker after all, and so this book is filled with ample recipes for breads, scones, shortbreads, and more ambitious desserts (Mulled Pear and Pistachio Pavlova!) as well as some tantalizing cocktails. There are special sections devoted to Nordic baking, and Christmas recipes.