Light as Air Perfect Popovers

 

All my life I have wondered what Popovers are.  I had never seen one in real life, but had seen many photos of them and pictures of popover pans. My ex employer had plans to bring a popover pan back with her on one of her many trips to the US, but had never ever got around to it.

 

I spied this recipe for them on New England Today Food for Perfect Popovers the other day and once again my interest was piqued.  I so wanted to try to make these rather elusive and delicious looking quick breads.

 

For the first time, I was told that I could use muffin tins, although they would not rise as high as they would in a popover tin  . . .  nobody had ever told me this before.  Could I really do this? 

 

Then I remembered these little individual aluminium pudding basins that I have for steaming individual puddings in and I thought  to myself . . .  I bet those would work wonderfully and much better than muffin tins!  They are taller for a start!

 

And they did work wonderfully, with the only problem being that by the time that I filled each one half full, I only had enough batter to fill five of them.  No worries . . .

 

There is nothing unsual at all about the batter . . .  its pretty much the same as Yorkshire Pudding batter  . . .  eggs, flour, milk and a pinch of salt . . .

 

You dump it all into a bowl and then whisk it together until smooth.  I put mine through a strainer as well just to make sure it was really smooth and there were no lumps.

  

I popped the pudding basins onto a baking sheet and put them into the oven while it was heating up to the proper temperature.  These begin in a really hot oven.  My oven doesn't actually go any higher than the temperature that was required for these.

 

By the time the oven had heated up my tins were perfectly heated and I took them out and popped a dab of butter into each one, which melted pretty much instantly. No surprise there.  

I was then ready to fill the cups.

 

Because I had strained my batter into a large glass measuring cup this was very easy to do.  No fuss no muss, but like I said I only had enough to fill five of my basins.

 

Once they have been in that incredibly hot oven for about 20 minutes, you turn the temperature down to a moderate heat  . . .  and then finish the bake time for another 15 to 20 minutes.

 

Hmmm . . . this sounded awfully familiar.  This is the same thing that I do with my Yorkshire Pudding recipe.  My Yorkshire Puddings are legendary.   The recipe for them comes from my late Canadian FIL. He was a army cook and he knew his peas and carrots. They turn out perfect every single time.

  

I wasn't surprised when they came out of the oven. They looked exactly like Yorkshire puddings for the most part.  They even tasted pretty much like Yorkshire Puddings as well.

 

There was some crispy little bits attached to the outsides, which I can only think are butter solids that got gilded golden brown . . .

 

These were wonderfully delicious.  Light.  Crisp.  Airy.  Golden brown on the outsides with a soft interior . . .  perfect for spreading with butter and dropping in a dollop of your favourite jam. 

 

Which is in my case, Wild Blueberry from Bonne Maman . . . and of course Danish Lurpak butter  . . .

  

The main difference between these and Yorkshire Puddings is that for a Yorkshire pudding you will use beef dripping for the fat or suet . . .  but with these popovers you use  butter.  Plain salted butter.  These are perfect filled and spread with something sweet  . . . and Yorkshire puddings are perfect for holding and cupping a beautiful rich and silky hot meat gravy.  Po-tay-to  . . .  Po-tah-to.

Perfect Popovers

Yield: 6

Author: Marie Rayner

Crisp and golden brown on the outside, tender on the inside, these  light as air bakes are fabulous served with butter and a dollop of your favourite jam.

ingredients:

• 85g plain flour, sifted (2/3 cup)
• 160ml whole milk (2/3 cup)
• 3 large free range eggs
• 1/4 tsp fine sea salt
• 1 1/2 TBS butter cut into 6 thin slices
• Butter and jam for serving

instructions:

How to cook Perfect Popovers

1. Preheat the oven to 230*C/450*F/ gas mark 7.  Place a popover pan or 6 deep muffin cups into the oven to heat while the oven is heating and while you are mixing together the batter.
2. Whisk together the flour, milk, eggs and salt until smooth. 
3. Remove the hot pan from the oven and place a slice of butter into each cup.  It should pretty much melt right away.  Fill the cups half full of the batter and pop the pan back into the oven.
4. Bake for 20 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 180*C.350*F/ gas mark 4.  Continue to bake for a further 15 to 20 minutes, until the popovers are puffed and golden brown.
5. Serve warm with butter and jam.

Did you make this recipe?

Tag @marierayner5530 on instagram and hashtag it #EnglishKitchen

Created using The Recipes Generator

 

This really was a most delicious experiment and as you can see my popovers rose incredibly high and were incredibly light and crisp. In short  . . . yes . . .  Perfect! 

Read More

Ma's Pancake Men for Pancake Day

 

It hard to believe that tomorrow, the 25th of February, it is Pancake Day. This was a day that we used to really look forward to when I was a child because it was the only day my mom would make us pancakes, so it was a once a year treat for us! I am sure my mom's arms got tired standing at the stove cooking them for us!  We ate our fill!  She had an old wearever aluminium griddle pan that she used.  

 

It looked just like this and after many, many years of use, it was bowed in the middle and no longer sat flat on the burners.  My mom never ever had any other set of pots and pans and these were all she used until the day she passed away.  I am not sure what my sister did with them.  I suspect she gave or threw them away.  They had no real value except for nostalgia's sake.

 

As a food blogger it can be somewhat of a challenge to show you something different each year  when it comes to days like pancake day.  This year I am sharing my Sweet Milk Pancakes,  their shape being inspired by Ma Ingalls from the Little House books. 

This comes from the Little House in the Big Woods.

"For breakfast there were pancakes, and Ma made a pancake man for each one of the children.  Ma called each one in turn to bring her plate, and each could stand by the stove and watch, while with the spoonful of batter Ma put on arms and the legs and head."

 

"It was exciting to watch her turn the whole little man over, quickly and carefully on a hot griddle. When it was done, she put it smoking hot on the plate."

 

I cannot for the life of me think of any kind of pancake that might taste better to a child than a  pancake man!   Some of mine turned out not too bad . . .

 

Some turned out a little bit on the wonky side, which only added to their mystery and deliciousness . . .  I think this was the most unsual of all of my efforts!

 

I took little squares of sweet butter and carved them into hearts to put onto the men.  I thought it would be quite cute!  I think it was . . .

 

No matter how wonky or unsual the men were, the butter heart told a story.  It was the story of "I love you."

  

Look at them sitting there, just waiting to be gobbled up!  Oh how I wish I had some grandchildren close by to feed these delights to!

 

Delicious, light and fluffy, served up piping hot with plenty of  pure Maple Syrup to drizzle over top.

  

The big child in this house gobbled them right up, while Mitzie watched in anticipation.  She always hopes for a tiny taste at the end.

 

Yes she is rather spoiled and truth be told, she doesn't care what shape her treats are that we share with her.  She's just happy to have them, and I will tell you now, that I allow for a certain amount of treats in her alloted food for the day so that she isn't overfed.

 

This is a really lovely pancake recipe, wether you bake them as men, or as rounds.  Light and fluffy  . . .  not too sweet.  There is plenty of sweet with the syrup.

 

If you are not making Pancake Men, you can bake these in rounds, and even drop on bits of fruit while they are baking on the griddle.  Chopped peaches, blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, even chocolate chips and bananas . . .  all are very good.

 

When my own children were growing up we usually had pancakes on Saturdays, and of course any time they had a friend to stay over night . . .  and yes also on Pancake Day.

  

Like my mother, my arms would get tired standing at the stove cooking their fill.  With five hungry children you can imagine that took quite a while.  Like my mother, it was always a true labor of love.

Sweet Milk Pancakes

Yield: Makes 8 to 10 pancake men, or 20 - 24 round pancakes

Author: Marie Rayner

Light and fluffy.  Serve hot with butter, maple syrup and fresh fruit if desired.

ingredients:

• 75g butter, plus extra for buttering the griddle pan (1/3 cup)
• 300ml milk (1 1/4 cup)
• 2 large free range eggs
• 180g plain flour (1 1/3 cups)
• 1 TBS caster sugar
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• maple syrup, butter and fresh fruit to serve

instructions:

How to cook Sweet Milk Pancakes

1. Put the butter and milk into a small saucepan.  Heat gently to melt the butter. Set aside to cool.
2. Lightly beat the eggs and then whisk in the milk and butter mixture, combining well. 
3. Measure the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar into a bowl.  Add the wet ingredients all at once.  Stir together to combine just until the dry ingredients are incorporated.  The mixture doesn't need to be completely smooth, and in fact is better if you don't overmix it.
4. Heat a large griddle pan and butter it lightly by rubbing the surface carefully with a piece of kitchen paper towelling that has been dipped in softened butter.
5. To make pancake men (and I suggest you do these one at a time) ladle a circle of batter into the centre with a smaller circle on top for the head and four appendages at the sides for the arms and legs. Cook until bubbles break on the surface, then carefully flip over and cook on the underside for a further minute, or until golden brown.  Scoop off and keep warm in a low oven while you cook the rest.
6. To make regular pancakes, ladle spoonfuls of the mixture onto the pan for each pancake, up to 5 or so at a time.  Cook as above.
7. Serve warm with plenty of syrup for pouring, butter for spreading and, if desired, fresh fruit.

Did you make this recipe?

Tag @marierayner5530 on instagram and hashtag it #EnglishKitchen

Created using The Recipes Generator

  

If you are interested in exploring all of the varieties of pancake recipe that  I have posted on here through the years, I did a post back in 2016 listing all of them.  You can find that post here.  There is something there to suit every taste!  Happy Pancake Day! 

Read More

Berry & Cream Croissant French Toast for Two

 

I saw this fabulous casserole on Half Baked Harvest one day and I fell in love with the photograph and recipe.  I mean . . . . croissants, jam, cream cheese, eggs, fruit  . . .  what's not to love about that!  I thought to myself, I'm IN!

 

However it was far too large of a casserole for me to justifiably bake for Todd and myself, and it will be about a month and a half before my kids come over.  I didn't want to wait that long.  I wanted to taste this gorgeousness NOW!

 

I also happened to have 3 large stale croissants here in the house leftover from when Todd bought some at Costco the other day. We had eaten as many of them that we could and I couldn't bear throwing any of them away.  This breakfast casserole was really calling my name.

 

Her recipe serves 8 people. We are only 2. What to do, what to do . . . .  I reduced it by half and then by half again and crossed my fingers.

 

Just look at that.  It turned out perfectly!  Amazingly scrumptiously perfect!

 

You get flaky butter bits of croissant . . .  along with souflee-like bread pudding bits  . . .  interspersed with pockets of wild blueberry jam and nuggets of rich cream cheese  . . .  oh my goodness . . .

 

I love wild blueberry jam . . .  and fresh blueberries of course.  I just love blueberries and they work wonderfully in this. Raspberry jam and fresh raspberries would also work, and here's a thought  . . .  peach or apricot jam with raspberries, kind of like a peach melba . . .

 

She served hers with whipped cream.  I just happened to have a lovely tub of extra thick Jersey cream in the refrigerator.  You can't beat that.  Its perfection.

 

And so I dolloped a bit of that on each serving, about a tablespoon full  . . .  scrummy yummy . . .

 

Real Maple syrup  . . .  fresh blueberries   . . .

 

I am definitely going to make this for my children when they come over.  They are going to love LOVE it!

  

I just had a thought that would also be very good . . .  Orange Marmalade along with black berries  . . .

  

Oh my the possibilities are truly endless.  One thing is certain, I am making this again, and you deffo need to make this!

Berry & Cream Croissant French Toast for Two

Yield: 2 generous serving

Author: Marie Rayner

A delicious breakfast casserole.  You must wait at least 30 minutes to bake it, or up to overnight.  Great to throw together the night before, banging it into the oven on the morning.

ingredients:

For the Casserole:

• 2 large free range eggs, beaten lightly
• 120ml whole milk (1/2 cup)
• 1/2 TBS Maple syrup
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• pinch salt
• 3 large stale croissants, torn or sliced into chunks (you want about 3 cups)
• 3 ounces wild blueberry jam (1/3 cup)
• 3 ounces cream cheese, cut into small cubes
• 2 TBS cold butter, sliced
• powdere sugar to dust at the end

To Serve:

• Whipped cream
• maple syrup
• fresh berries

instructions:

How to cook Berry & Cream Croissant French Toast for Two

1. Beat th ggs, milk, maple syrup, vanilla, cinnamon and salt together in a bowl. Add the croissant chunks and gently toss together.
2. Butter a 6 by 8 inch baking dish. Layer half of the soaked croissants in the dish. Dot with the jam and the cream cheese. Top with the remaining croissants and pour over any egg/milk mixture that remains in the bowl. Let stand for at least half a hour or in the refrigerator overnight, covered.
3. Preheat the oven to 190*C/375*F/ gas mark 6. Dot the top with the slices of cold butter. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until the FrenchToast is golden brown and crisp. If you think it is browning too quickly, cover loosely with foil.
4. Serve warm with some whipped cream, fresh berres and maple syrup for pouring.

Did you make this recipe?

Tag @marierayner5530 on instagram and hashtag it #EnglishKitchen

Created using The Recipes Generator

 

I am enjoying reducing recipes and trying them out in smaller sizes.  Its a bit of a challenge, but a most delicious one.  One thing I have learned is that its well worth it.  Don't ever let the size of a dish daunt you or make you think that you can't possibly remake it as a smaller  recipe.  What are some recipes/dishes that you would like to see me try to make smaller?  I am up for the challenge! 

Read More