This Saturday was the first Valentine's Day that Jason and I have ever spent together. He had planned a special dinner for us and I planned a special breakfast for us. For this special breakfast I baked a batch of homemade cranberry scones, and for an extra Valentine's Day touch I made them heart shaped.
Yesterday I decided to try my hand at Yorkshire puddings, which you may remember I have mentioned in earlier posts. Yorkshire puddings are a light airy dinner roll made with flour, eggs and milk. Traditionally they are cooked in hot lard or beef drippings but I used sunflower oil instead.
Yorkshire puddings are notoriously difficult to make. I did some research and found out there are basically three essential steps to successfully baking Yorkshire puddings. The first important step is to blend the batter well and then leave it to sit for at least 30 minutes. Leaving it to sit is supposed to make the batter smoother so its easier for them to puff up.
The second and probably the most important step of making Yorkshire puddings is to be sure the oil is piping hot. To bake Yorkshire puddings you put an empty Yorkshire pudding or muffin tin into an oven and turn the heat up to the maximum temperature. Then after the oven has completely heated you pour about a tablespoon of oil in each hole of the tin. Then the tin is put back in the hot oven for 5 minutes until the oil is smoking hot. If the oil isn't hot enough the Yorkshire puddings won't rise so this is the most important step to get right.
The third step is to pour the batter quickly and keep the over door closed. You must pour the batter into the tin as quickly as possible and slide it back into the hot oven. If you take too long to pour the batter the oil will cool too much and the puddings won't rise. Another important step is to keep the oven door closed for at least 15 minutes. It is hard to resist the urge to take a peek and make sure they are rising but if oven door is opened prematurely the puddings will fall before they have crisped enough to hold their shape.
As you can tell from the instructions above Yorkshire puddings are easy to screw up. My research did pay off and my Yorkshire puddings puffed up perfectly! They may look lopsided and deformed but this is actually exactly what they are supposed to look like. They are crispy on the outside and soft and a bit chewy on the inside. They are great with a bit of gravy poured over them and they are a great pairing to Sunday dinner roasts.
We had a great Valentine's Day weekend together despite the bad news we recently received. Jason will be returning to Bahrain in September and he will be deployed for 6 months. This news came a week after we found out the Jason's brother Thomas will be deployed to Afghanistan in April. Its going to be a very difficult 6 months for me but I am happy to have good family and friends here to support me.
If you are interested in making scones or Yorkshire puddings, I have posted the recipes below in two separate posts. Please note the measurements are in metric so you will need a kitchen scale for these recipes.
5 comments:
so, is it kind of similar to a crusty dinner roll/popover thing?
:o)
they look tasty!
I told you before, but your scones look ossum! Granted, there's that wonky one, but they look really good. I'll have to give them a try.
Angie, the wonky one tasted just as good as the rest. I just didn't serve that particular one of Valentine's Day. Jason loved them, he knows scones pretty well and said they were some of the best he has had.
Wow! The Yorkshire pudding and the scones look fabulous! I'm especially happy to hear that the Yorkshire pudding was vegetarian in this case, since I don't do meat. I would like to think that I am as brave as you are to try to make them! Love your blog, by the way. Hope you will stop by mine when you get the chance! http://britfancy.blogspot.com/
I've clearly been here too long, I make Yorkshire puds for breakfast. Slice 'em open when hot and pop in a slice of brie... yum.
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