Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Maple syrup, bacon and a hungry son-in-law: The winning ingredients at this year’s World Tattie Scone Championship

Winner of the Tattie Scone contest - Donna Cunningham.
Picture by Jason Hedges.
Winner of the Tattie Scone contest - Donna Cunningham. Picture by Jason Hedges.

Donna Cunningham quite literally brought home the bacon with her winning creation at this year’s World Tattie Scone Championship.

Hundreds flocked to the Nairn Community and Arts Centre to watch more than 20 hopefuls compete in a battle of the breakfast favourites.

Contestants were given mashed potato, flour, butter and salt, and the rest was up to them.

Ingredient choices ranged from locally sourced cheeses and jams to slightly more questionable entries topped with marshmallows, chocolate and lollipops.

Competitors in a line preparing recipes at World Tattie Scone Championships
Competitors prepare their recipes in the World Tattie Scone Championships. Photo: Jason Hedges/DCT Media

Miss Cunningham’s maple syrup and bacon tattie scone scored above the rest with the three judges, making her this year’s champion.

As for her inspiration, she relied on a flavour combination she knew would be a hit, saying: “I love pancakes with maple and bacon, I think everyone does.”

The making of a winning tattie scone

The 55-year-old, who is from Elgin, said she was “delighted” to have won the tattie scone trophy at Saturday’s event, which was part of a wider Taste of Nairn celebration.

She let us into her secrets so others can share in the delicious delicacy.

“It has to be the best smoked bacon loin, no added water, I think it’s Simon Howie that I used,” she said.

“Finely dice it then into the frying pan with a bit of oil, a bit of butter until it’s almost crispy then take it off the heat.

“Take mashed potato, flour and butter, I use self raising flour and I put an egg yolk in mine as well to help it rise.

“I added two quite big tablespoons of maple syrup, three bits of the bacon loin, then that’s it. I combined all the ingredients together, added a little more flour so it wasn’t too soft, then patted it down with my hands, I didn’t use the rolling pin.

“I fried it in the same juices that came out the bacon and cooked it on a gentle heat.”

Drum roll please…. The winner of the World Tattie Scone Championship sponsored by Oakwood Cookery School is…. Donna…

Posted by Taste of Nairn on Saturday, 7 May 2022

Taste tests for winning recipe

Miss Cunningham explained that making a winning tattie scone doesn’t come easy, having worked her way through many different combinations to find one that was just right for the championships.

“I tried smoked fish, but to me smoked fish isn’t a tattie scone, it’s a fish cake,” she said.

“I saw a few people using fish today and thought maybe I’d gone wrong, but I didn’t go down that line because, to me, fish doesn’t belong on a cooked breakfast.

“I tried chorizo and paprika as well, but it was just the hit of the bacon and salt that made it.”

Judges Vicky Farquhar, Lucy Harding and Nicola McAlley

Luckily, she had her son-in-law to lighten the taste testing load.

She explained: “I’ve got a son-in-law called Luke who will eat anything, he’s a human dustbin, so he’s been quite delighted that I’ve just been trying and trying and trying different recipes.

“This recipe that won today was actually the last one I tried and it went down well.”