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.

Step 2: Eggs

Crack the eggs into a bowl and whisk until light and frothy.

Step 3: Add Milk and Salt

Stir in milk and salt, whisking breezily.

Step 4: Whisk in Flour

Measure flour carefully, and sift into egg mixture, a little at a time, whisking all along the way.

The goal is not just to mix the ingredients well, but also to incorporate a lot of air.  This helps make them so light and fluffy and tall!

Step 5: Let Sit

Let your ingredients come to room temperature while you preheat your oven to 425^oF (220C) and prepare the rest of your dinner!

Get your tins ready by swirling a small amount of oil into each one.

Step 6: Preheat Oiled Pans

Place the oiled tins in the oven for 5 to 10 minutes, until smoking.

Remove from the ovens to a burner on low heat.

Step 7: Bake Puddings

Spoon batter into the tins until they are each about 3/4 full.

Bake for 15-20 minutes, until batter has risen high above the tins and they are as brown as you like them!

Step 8: Enjoy!

Just look how awesome they are!   I love these tiny ones because there's more crispy outside bits to them.

Now look at the second picture!  That's where the magic lives - in those deep, golden nooks and crannies. 

The only drawback to these mini Yorkshire puddings is that I consume at least twice as much of them as I would in their larger form.  Not that that's really a complaint. . .

Try them out and see!

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!

[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.

[ToolboxGuy]

Re: Cast iron - A large amount of metal will better retain the oven's heat, keeping the oil at its hottest, plus placing cast iron on a low burner would fare much better than the flimsy pans of today. I may actually go buy some cast iron muffin pans just for this!

[scoochmaroo]

Very clever!

[Katzsta]

Call the little ones Popsies. ;) Cute & tasty!

[wnobles]

[barefootem]

I am going to use this recipe to make some mini toad in the holes for a "British Culture night", at the moment my Chinese, Egyptian and Australian friends think we are actually going to be eating toads!! But on another note, I have made mini yorkshires and filled them with whipped cream and poured hot chocolate sauce over them - easy profiteroles!! YUMMMMMMM!!!

[SneakyZephyr7]

That is such a cute and tiny stove! I love it. And cannot wait to make these in a few minutes!!

[HangdogBob]

my mom used to make these too on Sundays. They were great/delicious. I'm going to make some Asap. Thanks so much for the recipe. I can't remember though how she added the roast beef drippings into the recipe. Can someone give a nice detailed explanation of that please? I remember she even made these in 8"x8" pans (I think), and possibly that pan with the hole in the middle (for a cake with no center). I think she also used some empty metal cans (like a larger Progresso soup can or similar), to mold these in, when she ran out of other molds.. We always ate them all, you really can't make too much, so improvising extra pans/molds was better than making fewer of them ! Thanks for everyones' good comments and suggestions.

[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.)

[Teresabgraham]

when you take the Dutch baby out of the oven, fill the cavity with fruit or pie filling and top with whipping cream.....the sides fold over the fruit....to die for.

[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!

[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 :)