Introduction: Yorkshire Puddings Made Easy

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These instructions are written to help competent cooks easily prepare homemade Yorkshire Puddings.

For me it started out as a process of trial and error. I tried using verbal recipes from relatives - and failed. Then I tried other peoples' recipes and an old cookbook but found these resources do not include very important information which can mean the difference between success and failure.

I nearly gave up but then decided I was going to see it through. It wasn't too long before I found some more encouragement from friends and the Internet and figured out how to make it all work for myself. This recipe is probably the same recipe most people use. I've been able to repeat these steps week on week to re-produce the same great results and I'm sure you can too!

Step 1: You Will Need

Ingredients

  • 2 Eggs
  • 1/2 cup Semi Skimmed Milk
  • 3/4 cup Plain Flour (or heaped half-cup as pictured)
  • 1/4 tsp Salt
  • Vegetable Oil

Optional Ingredients

  • 1 Tablespoon Herbs such as Sage, Parsley, etc.
  • * I included a few photos of a batch containing 1 Tablespoon Parsley for comparison.

Equipment

  • Pyrex measuring cup
  • Dry ingredients measuring cup
  • Whisk
  • Muffin pan or Yorkshire Pudding pan
  • Oven mitts
  • Cooling Rack

Yield: 12 Yorkshire Puddings

Step 2: Pre-heat

* Check the oven shelves are placed low enough so the Yorkshire Puddings have plenty of room to rise. For a standard oven the muffin pan should sit in the middle of the oven.

* Pre-heat oven to 220 degrees Celsius or 425 degrees Fahrenheit

* Pour oil approx. 1 millimeter deep in the muffin cups. There should be just enough oil to cover the bottom of the cup.

Step 3: Mix

* Whisk eggs into Semi Skimmed Milk until fully mixed

* Add Plain Flour and salt to the egg/milk mixture and mix-mix-mix with the whisk.

* You should end up with a nice smooth batter which contains lots of small air bubbles from whisking.

Step 4: Bake

* Immediately after whisking, pour batter into muffin pan cups. The cups should be approx 1/3 full with batter. The oil rises up to sit on top of the batter and should reach just over halfway. Don't worry if the oil doesn't completely cover the batter.

* Ensure the oven has fully heated to 220 degrees Celsius. If the oven hasn't pre-heated then the Yorkshire Puddings will not rise properly.

* Put the muffin pan into the oven and turn up the temperature from 220 Celsius to 230 Celsius / 450 Fahrenheit for the duration of baking.

* Bake 30-40 minutes.

* Using oven mitts, carefully remove the Yorkshire Puddings from the oven when just darker than golden brown. It is usually easiest to remove them from the muffin pan as soon as they are out of the oven. BEWARE there will be piping hot oil in the middle of the Yorkshire Pudding but this can be gently poured out as you remove them from the pan.

Step 5: Tips

* For light/fluffy Yorkshire Puddings like the ones at Toby Carvery, reduce the amount of Plain Flour from 3/4 cup to a leveled 1/2 cup.

* Farm Shop eggs make the batter rise better than supermarket eggs. This recipe was written based on results with supermarket eggs. You may find you can reduce the recipe down to one egg if using Farm Shop or good quality free-range.

* Optional Ingredients for the batter include herbs such as Parsley and Sage.

* For a sweet option, place sliced apples in each cup before baking.

* Do not open the oven during baking. The Yorkshire Puddings will not rise properly if the oven door is opened while they are rising.

* Always use Plain Flour. Self raising flour will not drop in the middle and you will end up with "popovers" instead of Yorkshire Puddings.

* With this recipe there is generally no difference when pre-heating the oil in the pan before pouring the batter.

* There is no difference when cooling the batter in the fridge before baking. In fact I prefer my batter freshly mixed.

* To avoid oil spillage in the bottom of the oven, line the bottom of the oven with foil or an old baking sheet.

* I have also used this recipe with a Pyrex baking dish to make Toad in the Hole (I pre-cook the sausages before putting them in the batter).

* Since learning to make my own Yorkshire Puddings I've enjoyed the extra freezer space from not buying Aunt Bessies. I believe they taste better and are cheaper, too.