Mini Yorkshire Puddings

Yorkshire puddings are a staple for a proper British Sunday roast, best enjoyed with gravy.
Popovers are a delightful treat for American breakfasts, slathered with butter and jam.

Quick quiz:  How does a Brit-erican couple figure out these two treasures are the same tasty treat?

Answer: One tasty brunch at the Cliff House, and one very confused Brit.  (Why would you have Yorkshire puddings for breakfast?!)

Since then, I've come to appreciate Yorkshire puddings as a Sunday evening treat.  I don't dig on gravy, so I stick with butter (and occasionally sneak in some orange marmalade).

Sadly, there was something about the normal muffin-sized puddings that was lacking in appeal for me.  I even went so far as to request there being sugar added to them one night (gasp!).  But it still wasn't right. 

Then I thought - hey, I just got these awesome tiny tins to make mini quiches, so why not use them for mini popovers (er, Yorkshire puddings). 

"Ooh, can we call them Yorkies?" 
"No."
"Why?"
"That's a dog."
"Oh."
"And a chocolate bar.  Not for girls."
"Oh. Right."

And voila: awesomeness.

These light, crispy. . . puddings. . . will knock your socks off!  You'll be so impressed with yourself at how they seem to defy all laws of gravity and architecture, that you'll want to show them off to everyone.  Just follow this recipe, and you'll achieve perfect results every time!

Step 1: Ingredients

To make about two dozen baby Yorkies, you'll need:

• 2 eggs
• 1 cup all-purpose flour  be sure to measure correctly!
• 1 cup milk
•  1/2 tsp salt
• 1/8 cup vegetable oil

For baking tins, you can use traditional muffin/cupcake sized tins, or mini muffin pans, which produces a higher surface area - to - pudding ratio, which I prefer for its crispiness.  You can also make a traditional Yorkshire Pudding in one large cake tin.  Cooking times will vary.

Comments

[Maujabur]

Hi, just made them! awesome! Tho I´ve used too shallow tins and over heated directly on the oven floor.

Greetings from Brazil, Sao Paulo

[scoochmaroo]

Those are lovely!

[Jayefuu]

You need to try "toad in the hole" next Sarah. Do you have that in the US? Ask K if not.

[MercuryCrest]

I wish I had found this 'ible before getting frustrated and re-inventing the recipe myself.

Those look fantastic!

[suayres]

Are you ready for another variant of pop-overs/Yorkshire puddings? I give you David Ayres Pancake, aka Dutch Babies! Make the same batter as for pop-overs or YP, except add two more eggs. Prepare either an oven-safe skillet (I.e., with an oven-safe handle) or a cake pan 8" square, by spraying with nonstick spray and preheating in a 425F oven, put a couple tablespoons of butter in the skillet/pan, and wait 'til it melts. Pour the batter into the pan, return it to the oven, and bake until puffed and golden. Sprinkle with a generous helping of cinnamon sugar and the juice of 1/2 to one whole lemon, and bake for an additional 3-5 minutes. It will puff up most impressively, but don't be alarmed if it sinks down a bit after removing it from the oven. This is just delicious for breakfast, brunch, or tea time. And, yes, I'm an Ayres, but as far as I know, we are no relation, in fact we don't know who David Ayres is/was, but we sure love his pancake (and, I'm sorry, I don't know the origin of the "Dutch Bsbies" name, either.)

[jessandstavro]

I have only one failed attempt at Yorkshire puddings under my belt, but your Instructable has inspired me to try again. After reading it, I think I failed by not adding the batter to hot-enough muffin cups, resulting in, like you said, the batter absorbing the oil, rather than cooking off right away. Will give it another go, thanks!

[TheCritic]

Where is the beef pan drippings???

[skirmishmonkey]

Yorkies, NO!
Yorkshires, YES!
For breakfast? Wait. What? Breakfast? With butter on them? You realise they are just pure batter don't you? I can practically see your arteries hardening through the photos.

Other than that, great -ible. Yorkshires are an amazingly tasty and one of my favourite foods. Originally eaten as a prelude (first course) to the main Sunday dinner eaten at around noon. In Yorkshire, dinner time is noon and tea time is around 5pm. I still get funny looks here in Malta when I say I am off to eat my tea.
These would fill you up and the ingredients were relatively cheap, so you would need less of the more expensive ingredients in the main course.

[ms.goody2shoez]

Just wondering, why must we heat the oil until it is smoking? D: lol. And also, does this work well without the little paper muffin cups? Scrubbing pans is nawt fun. Not at all.

[scoochmaroo]

The hotter the oil, the lighter the puddings will turn out. With oil that isn't hot enough, it will seep into the batter and leave you with a heavy, oily finished pudding. The amount of oil you use also creates a sort of non-stick surface, which makes clean-up much easier. I wouldn't try it with the papers.

[dog and pony show]

Agreed. I make my pudding using the drippings from a rib roast. (That's how I don't eat too much, I only make them when I do a roast beef.)

I can't wait to try minis! I should make a trip to the butcher shop :)

[ms.goody2shoez]

Thanks for the quick reply! (: I just realized I'm all out of milk, but I'll try it with water and see how it comes out. Thanks again for the instructable.

[kathrynl]

I just made these yesterday, and they were delicious. Though, mine didn't look as good as yours. I'll just have to try again soon. Thanks for the recipe!

[cherishcherub]

Scooch, how do you get the top to be kinda curly???

[scoochmaroo]

Magic.

I think it depends on how hot the oil gets before adding the batter.

[abhishek727]

Can you make these in a microwave oven? I do not have an oven and these look delicious. What settings should I use?

[shadow4742]

if you know how you could probably build a 2 stage brick oven with somthing to blow large amounts of air into the fire to increase the temperature. you'll need an electric thermometer handy though

[axegrrl]

 These will not work in a microwave.

[macmaniac]

The concept of Yorkshire Puddings for breakfast hurts my brain... :'(

[BigAl67]

Excellent Instructable!  Very nice indeed!  Cheers.

[nuclearscience]

I just made a batch 2hrs ago & with half of them being burnt i do like them.
If I had powder sugar i would like them more, but sadly im out T-T

[Void Schism]

For my parents 25th wedding anniversary I made 400 of these.
I used less batter in the moulds so they rise and then fall.
The trick being that you then have a small hole inside each pudding.
Made up some horseraddish sauce and stuffed it inside with a rolled up slice of roast beef and voila!, bite size roast dinner :D

[ti_jean_54]

My MA used to swear it was her cast iron muffin pan that made the best ones.She told us if we did not have heavy pan like that to use every other muffin opening as that would help them rise better.
My mom got recipe from Wondra Flour about mid 60's.

My Family makes hundreds of these for family parties.We get as many of us
together as needed and One person keeps pan hot, one mixes, one takes them out with sharp knife stick into side and lift straight up,place on side to cool with slit up.We slit them to let steam out so we can freeze them.
We make Hundreds for guests to fill as liked.Put out lot of choices to fill,spread on,Some even make make small sandwiches
When we go to reheat night of Party .They are made in batches as needed.take out of freezer bag ,place in clean brown grocery bag,before closing bag sprinkle lightly with water,just small amount.Place in oven any temp other things are cooking for party(keep under 400 degrees and all right) till warm.We use towel
around to keep hot on table.Does Not Last Long.
My mom got recipe from Wondra Flour about mid 60's.

[scoochmaroo]

Very clever!

[Ned Kelly]

Hi Krytonite
  In the Philippines barbecued dog is called Soom Soom , and in some areas you must guard your dog hahah

[theREALcybercat]

 I make some and They are amazing good! Thanks

[Fred da Bunny]

I made some and they are soooooooo  gooooood!

[scoochmaroo]

Yay!!

[X.e.n.a]

Yummy!!!! I just made these to go with tea.. SOO easy i made with spelt flour and they worked fine.  we had them as a side with the main and then i served them warm with butter and caramel sauce to use the leftovers for dessert.  DELICIOUS!

Caramel sauce : 2Tbsp each of butter, cream and firmly packed brown sugar.  Can be made on the stove or in the microwave. just bring to the boil and serve : )

[nywvblue]

 As someone who was raised on a Sunday roast with Yorkshire Pudding, these mini variations ("Yorkies" -- perfect!) are stellar. Thank you for the wonderful instructable and bringing an English favorite to more tables!

[Kenbu]

I made these for breakfast today.  They are quick to make and good with jam.  Next time, I'll make a batch with dinner.  Thanks for the instructable.

[Quail71]

These look great, with a Pampered chef mini muffin pan I can have 24 all to myself!!  Now where did I put it.....

[Kryptonite]

I thought Yorkies was a type of dog?

Very nice, I feel like one now....

[rcbailey]

You want to eat a small dog?

Could you eat a whole one?

HaHa

[Kryptonite]

They're quite popular in China.

:-)

[jillybeeen]

I've made it a few times. Traditionally you use the oils/juices off a roast that you're having with the meal. It's absolutely de-lish! 

[doug123]

can you make this as one giant yorkshire pudding

[brie.oberle]

I f you want your puddings even crispier, you can poke them gently with a skewer during the last five minutes of cooking.  This allows the steam to escape and lets the inside become crisp and less pudding-y.

[red-king]

 doesn't having a non-"pudding-y" pudding defeat the purpose of a pudding in the first place?

meh.

[brie.oberle]

 I agree, though having a non-pudding-y popover is generally desirable.  Personally, I love the pudding-like inside, but my Dad (and many Americans I know) dislikes the "squishy" texture of the un-poked puddings.