First off, I am so excited about today’s recipe. Since I received it a week ago, I’ve had to stop myself from making it every day.
For years I’ve been making Puffed Oven Pancakes using a recipe out of my Better Homes & Gardens cookbook. The first time I had these “pancakes” I was 12 years old and my best friend made them for me. She called them German pancakes. I’ve liked them ever since, as do my girls…although Nate has never been a fan.
I’ve never written an actual post about those puffed oven pancakes, but the recipe frequently gets comments. The most recent comment said something along the lines of, “This is Yorkshire Pudding and it’s English!” I did a little research and discovered that it was in fact a variation of Yorkshire pudding, something I had never heard of. I’m Swedish, not English. I blame my ancestry.
Then, last week, my friend Angie had us over for dinner, which was heaven…roast, mashed potatoes, amazing salad, amazinger gravy. She pointed at a plate and said, “And here’s some Yorkshire pudding, which you can eat with gravy or jam.” This of course turned us to the topic of Yorkshire pudding, which I had just read about earlier that week!
Angie and her mother Catherine were saying originally Yorkshire pudding was cooked in the drippings in the pan that the meat was cooked in and was traditionally a savory dish, although it is delicious with sweet toppings and served at breakfast, too!
I of course took a slice of Angie’s Yorkshire pudding. And quickly realized my puffed oven pancakes are merely a sad shadow of this Yorkshire pudding. The texture and taste are just better. I will never use that old puffed oven pancake recipe again. Seriously. I won’t. Angie happily shared her recipe. Sure enough the ingredients are the same, but the proportions are different. And it makes a world of difference. I even heated up leftovers the next day (a bit in the microwave then crisped up in the toaster oven) and they were fabulous!
Move over Puffed Oven Pancakes…I present Yorkshire Pudding!
Yorkshire Pudding
From Angela Ballard…actually, here is Angie’s description of the origin for the recipe: “Passed down through immigrants and pioneers and chubby grandmas and now ME.” Don’t you love that?
Blend in a blender:
- 4 eggs
- 2 1/4 c. milk
- 1 1/2 c. flour
- 1 1/2 tsp. saltPlace 4 tablespoons margarine*(Angie note: I know, the horror. Jane note: I didn’t have margarine and I was too impatient to try the recipe before I got to the store, so I used butter and it worked fine) in the oven in a 9″ x 13″ pan until boiling (Jane note: my butter wasn’t quite boiling, but it was starting to get a little too brown…so if you use butter, I let it go until it’s all melted and maybe just starting to brown and bubble a bit).
Pour the blended ingredients directly into the hot pan.
Bake at 450 for 25ish minutes, until it looks like this:
*Angie note: like i said at dinner, they used to pour the mixture into the drippings of a roast, but i haven’t quite embraced that time honored tradition.
Hello! My name is Jane Maynard and you've landed yourself on my blog, This Week for Dinner™. Every Sunday I share a weekly menu...and then count on you to share your own! You'll also find other deliciousness that I hope you'll enjoy!
My dad just made Yorkshire pudding last Sunday! I ate them with plenty of gravy, roast beef, and peas. I ate them until I wanted to pop. He used muffin tins instead of a pan, and we ONLY use butter–there was no such thing as margarine in Yorkshire in the day. I’m pretty sure his ingredients were similar to this recipe. I will have to ask him the process because they came out so high, golden crisp on the outside and pillowy on the inside.
This is a long way of saying that I love Yorkshire pudding and you should eat them with GRAVY.
I will try it with gravy! I promise!!!
Oh–he’d used the drippings to make the gravy so there wasn’t enough left over for the puddings.
good point on the drippings, by the way…why would we waste them on the pudding when there is gravy to be made! and butter to cook the pudding in!
It’s true! Dad’s grandparents were from Yorkshire, so he tries to replicate his grandmother’s YP recipe from time to time. I think last Sunday’s takes the cake.
they’re actually from Yorkshire? so fun! and I think you need to find out how he made them so we can compare…I want that recipe, too!
Looks similar to popovers!
Question: What is a “cube” of margarine in standard measurement?
Comment: I would use butter as well…haven’t used margarine in AGES!
good question – I have adjusted the recipe. a cube is 8 tablespoons/4 ounces. for this recipe then you need 4 tablespoons. so instead of half a cube I changed it to say just that!
I had a friend whose mom would make oven pancakes and called them German Pancakes as well. My mom makes German pancakes that are look like a thick crepe, they are eaten with applesauce and powdered sugar. I have heard of Yorkshire pudding but I was never exactly sure what it was, thanks for sharing
Real story. My husband is British. When we started dating I would go with him to his parents house for Sunday dinner where his mother would make Yorkshire Pudding quite often for dinner. The only catch is that I was never able to have any, it was ALWAYS gone before I got around to it. Well, I kept hearing everyone talk about this elusive pudding and after a few months of NEVER getting any I was starting to feel left out. Then one day I asked what the bread thing was called. That’s when I found out I had been getting some Yorkshire Pudding the whole time, and it in fact does NOT look anything like ‘pudding’.
ha ha! love it!
Our family eats Yorkshire pudding for Christmas Dinner every year, and we ALWAYS make it in the drippings of the roast beef! My best friend, who’s from England, typically spends Christmas day with us and has said that she doesn’t consider it a “proper” Yorkshire pudding unless it’s cooked in the drippings. I’d never even thought of doing it with butter! Also, I second the idea that it should be eaten with gravy. It’s sooooo good. My youngest (now 2) isn’t big into meat, but he ate 3 pieces of Yorkshire pudding with gravy at Christmas dinner this year!
I’ll definitely try Angie’s recipe! I’ve always loved german pancakes, but I think my recipe is not quite right. It will be fun to try a different one, especially one with such a great review!
Yorkshire Pudding was the first things we learned to make in Home Economics in 7th grade. Yes, HomeEc.. there was such a course for girls. Boys had Shop. I was so excited about it that I insisted on making Yorkshire Pudding every night for several nights.. sometimes with jam, and definitely with roast beef on Sunday night. Yorkshire Pudding (and panakuku) have a warm place in my heart and baking repertoire!
love that yorkshire pudding has stuck with you since your days in home ec!
your comment reminded me of something funny…my daughter’s preschool teacher attended college in the 70s…she wanted desperately to major in Home Ec, but it was fast becoming out of style and she couldn’t find a program, which she easily could have 10 years earlier. pretty funny!
love all the memories that people are sharing – so fun!
and you savory yorkshire pudding people may have me convinced to give it a try sometime!
Just so you know, it’s now called “Family, Home, and Consumer Science”. But basically it’s, uhm, well, home ec! My family loves THAT, whether you call it Yorkshire Pudding or German Pancake! I’m not so big on eggs but our good friends always serve it with sour cream and homemade blueberry jam…just thought I’d throw that out there!
I LOVE Yorkshire pudding and posted about it about a week ago too.
Mandy
Who knew it was such a passionate/tender topic all wrapped into one bite of eggy goodness! I’m glad you liked it…and butter became a bit scare during the war and Grandma switched it up (1 cube = 1/2 cup)…it doesn’t brown quite as fast either…but I know, I know, butter is a hallowed topic.
I love the reason behind the margarine…and yeah, that butter browns so fast! gotta watch it…
anyway, thanks again, angie! and I agree, love all the passion and memories that came out of this little recipe!
Yorkshire pudding was my grandmother’s specialty! I finally made it this year at Christmas (in drippings!) and I think it was almost as good as Ma’s. Definitely took me back to her wonderful dinners!
I have been using your puffed oven pancake recipe for a while now so if you say this is better, I will do this instead. It looks like it makes more too which always seems to be the problem at our house with the other recipe. Just not enough.
We make something very similar, but slightly different. We call it apple oven cake. Thinly slice apples and the brown and soften them with butter and brown sugar in a sauté pan. Once softened, add the yorkshire pudding/German pancake ingredients, that were pre mixed to the top of the apples still in the sauté pan and pop it in the oven sauté pan and all. Cook till puffy and done, sprinkle with powdered sugar and enjoy with some ice cream.
So yummy!!!
that sounds like a delicious variation on the theme – yum!!
This looks amazing and so simple! I will definitely try this soon. Some apricot jam on top of these would be divine.
I recently learned to make Yorshire pudding and it’s true… Now I want it all the time! Yours is so beautiful
I make a very similar thing and call it a Dutch Baby. It gets mixed in the blender and then poured in a hot and buttery pan. I love adding pecan pieces and sliced bananas to the butter. My old recipe gives you different ingredient quantities depending on the size of pan you want to use.
I have had this in a Swedish version served with fresh strawberries and kiwi, sprinkled with brown sugar, and dabbed with sour cream. Yum! I intend to try this recipe!
Blast from the past! We used to have Yorkshire Pudding periodically with our Sunday roast. My Aunt Lucille had perfected it and we loved hers, but could NEVER quite get it right in our own kitchen. I’ve never had it with jam… I’m all about the gravy
. And BTW my Aunt Lucille is the cutest SKINNY grandma in the world! No chub on that woman.
I just had this on Sunday at my grandma’s house! My grandpa served an LDS mission in England in the 1930s and came back with this recipe – now it’s a family favorite. My grandma always makes it with the roast drippings and it is fantastic! Give in and try it that way!
Over here in England, Yorkshire Pudding is a must have with a Sunday Roast. You can even buy them frozen and ready to pop in the oven!
I make them for my family and the trick to get a really big fluffy Yorkshire is to make the batter in advance and chill in the fridge for a few hours.
I don’t find the type of ‘grease’ you add matters all that much. I use veg oil and heat it up in the oven and then pour in the batter.
freezer yorkshire pudding? perhaps I need to move to England!
love the tip for making the batter ahead of time – THANK YOU!
My MIL gets frozen yorkshire pudding cups at the local british store and uses those a lot for Sunday dinners. We now always have those and English stuffing for Thanksgiving dinner.
Made this for breakfast yesterday. I used butter and then ran out of white flour so I used 1 c. white and 1/2 c. wheat – they turned out delicious. My kids loved them and we all felt a little fancier for eating “Yorkshire Pudding” for breakfast. Thanks for sharing.
Attempting to make this tonight- wish me luck!
This looks absolutely heavenly. I can only imagine the flavor and texture. I haven’t had this before, but I’m guessing it’s a bit like the inside of a popover?? And I LOVE popovers!
Tried this out this past Sunday! It was so good, we had it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner!! It is my boys new favorite meal and my nephew said “Can you teach my mom how to make that?!” LOVE IT!!
This was fantastic! We had breakfast for dinner last night and I tried this recipe for the first time. Huge hit among the children and adults. We smeared jam on our slices and enjoyed it very much. My mother joined us for dinner and explained that it is typically cooked with roast drippings and she is real excited for me to try that next. This recipe will be a staple in our household. Thank you!
This is almost exactly the same as my mother’s “Hootenanies” or German pancake recipe! Funny.
Stumbled here, greetings from England!
Try pouring your yorkshire pudding in a large baking tin with some partially cooked sausages (big, fat home made pork ones if possible!) and cook like normal yorkshire pudding. We call this “toad in the hole”, and I grew up on it! It’s great with a thick gravy.
I make the batter first thing in the morning then I put it in the frig. When you add the super cold batter to the hot butter or grease it really helps it to puff up. Also, no peeking while it cooks.
good tips!
For some reason I have been hearing about German pancakes/Yorkshire pudding for 2 weeks now on various food blogs. I guess its time to try it. I wonder if I could cut the recipe in half to fit it in an 8×8 pan I don’t have a full oven.
yes, you can definitely half the recipe for an 8×8 pan – I do that all the time!
Oooohhh this is my number one favorite dish from my childhood! My Great grandma was from England and used to make this for my grandma, who made it for my mom, who made it for me! My hubby is a great cook and adapted (dare I say perfected) the recipe for me and makes it with roast beef, mashed potatoes and gravy, just like back in the day. I really can’t imagine eating them with jam! lol I’m sure they are good though. We’ve also made these to accompany breaded pork chops and chicken. MMmmmm…I think I have to have these this week now!
Nick mentioned toad in the hole and to make it you bake the sausages in the pan in the oven then pour the batter over the sausages (and the lovely sausage fat) and cook until batter is browned. I don’t think German puffy pancakes are English… I think people from different places just came up with the same simple idea of baking pancake batter.. they do it in France too with fruit (cherries usually) and its called a clafouti.
My Grandfather was from Yorkshire (and I’m living there now too!) and we had Yorkshires (not Yorkshire puddings – just Yorkshires!) *every* Sunday for dinner (midday meal).
Our family tradition was that they were cooked in dripping (my grandma had an old mug on the side filled with it – it was used for cooking breakfast as well!) and they were eaten with pickled beetroot and gravy as a starter, followed by the roast.
Any leftover Yorkshires were gobbled up with jam at tea time!
love your comment for so many reasons…especially that you live in yorkshire!
What is that yummy sauce you served it with?
the sauces is just raspberry freezer jam, my favorite!
I’ve done a few posts about it, here is the most recent one. I just buy the pectin at the grocery store and follow the enclosed instructions. http://thisweekfordinner.com/2011/06/16/buying-the-right-amount-of-strawberries-raspberries-for-jam/
I have a cast iron skillet, do you think I could make this in there?
I don’t know for SURE…but I really think that would work fine. my only thought is it might stick more to the cast iron?
also, make sure the skillet is big enough! if it’s not huge, I might half the recipe. this recipe is for a 9×13 pan – when I cook it in an 8×8 pan I halve the ingredients, so just eyeball it compared to those dish sizes. let me know how it goes!
Thanks, I think I will give it a try. I have made the other Puffed Oven Pancake in my cast iron skillet and it worked. I think cutting the recipe in half may be a good idea, my skillet is a 12 inch. I got it for Christmas and I am just excited to try out new recipes in it. I will try it and let you know how it goes! Thanks!
Jane, I finally got around to trying it in my cast iron. It did stick to my skillet, but I am not sure if I needed to reseason my pan before I did it. My skillet is a 12 inch one and the yorkshire pudding was a little thick in the center when I made a full recipe, so I probably should have made a half! We absolutely loved it though, so tasty! Thanks for the advice!
thanks so much for reporting back, kristin! such great info and I”m glad you liked it!
I’ve made those same “oven pancakes” my whole life! I’m going to try these right now. Jam is delicious, but I also grew up eating them with lemon juice and powdered sugar on top. Yum
So I looked up the puffed oven pancakes recipe that originally brought me to TWFD (a recipe which I obviously haven’t made in awhile), and lo and behold, there’s an update! I was busy having a baby when you posted this last year.
We made the new-and-improved version this morning and it was delish!!
glad you found the update!