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.

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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! 

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Swedish Pepparkakor Cookie Butter Croissants

 

I am really excited to be sharing this recipe with you today. Prepare to have your socks knocked off!  Swedish Pepparkakor Cookie Butter Croissants.  WOWSA!

  

Its an idea I have had rolling around in this brain of mine for a few weeks now.  Buttery croissants filled with a spicy Swedish Pepparkakor Cookie Butter, rolled in butter and cookie crumb cinnamon sugar,  baked until golden brown, and then drizzled with a simple drizzle icing and dusted with a few more cookie crumbs.

 

In case you are not familiar with Swedish Pepparkakor Cookies, they usually come in a tin like this. I believe you can buy them in Ikea year round, but I picked up mine in Costco prior to Christmas. If I am not mistaken they sell the there pretty much year round as well. 

 

We love them. They are thin and crisp and spicy. I could easily eat a whole handful and in all truth it takes all of my willpower not to just sit down and gorge myself on them.  We had some leftover from Christmas (only because I had them stored out of reach) and I had in mind to make a cookie butter with them. I had seen a recipe on Serious Eats for Lotus cookie butter, and I decided that it would also work well for these.  I was right.

 

I also had a quantity of stale all butter croissants that needed using.  To be truthful, you want stale croissants for these.  They hold up better to the filling and crisp up just perfectly in the oven!

 

I cut the recipe in half, just so you know  . . .

 

I filled the stale croissants with some of the cookie butter, then brushed the with melted butter, generously of course and why not. In for a penny in for a pound.

  

I then sprinkled the with a cinnamon sugar cookie crumb mixture prior to baking them in the oven until the cookie butter had melted into the flaky insides of the croissants and they were crisp and golden on the outsides.   I then drizzled a sweet icing drizzle over top and sprinkled on a few more crumbs.

 

The crumbs were really easy to make in my mini blender.  You want them to be quite fine.  They get mixed with some water and golden syrup until the cookies melt and  become smooth.  You let it cool then and then blitz it together with some coconut oil until smooth.

 

You don't want the coconut oil to be rock hard, but you don't want it to be liquid either.

  

Just look at the inside of these tasty babies.  Oh so scrumptiously moreish!

 

Crisp on the outsides  . . .  flaky on the insides  . . .  sweetly filled . . .

 

I think I created a very tasty monster . . .

 

Todd scarfed down two of these all on his own.  I meant only to have a bit of one . . .  but  . . .

 

You know how it goes.  I kept going back for little nibbles . . .  they were so good  . . . and before I could say Jack Robin one of them had disappeared. 

  

There is only one left now and I am going to try to entice Todd with it this evening so that the temptation is well out of my way. 

Yield: 8

Author: Marie Rayner

Swedish Pepparkakor Cookie Butter Croissants

Its amazing what deliciousness you can come up with a few stale croissants and some leftover Christmas cookies. Stale croissants are the best kind to use for these quick, easy and delicious breakfast or teatime treats!

ingredients:

For the Cookie Butter filling:

• 100g Swedish pepparkakor cookie crumbs (3/4 cup)
• 85ml of water (1/3 cup, plus 1 TBS)
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 TBS golden syrup (if you can't get that use corn syrup)
• 85g coconut oil (1/2 cup)

You will also need:

• 8 stale regular sized croissants
• 4 TBS melted butter
• 4 TBS cinnamon sugar
• 1 TBS cookie crumbs as above

To finish:

• 60g icing sugar (1/2 cup)
• milk to thin
• additional crumbs as desired

instructions:

How to cook Swedish Pepparkakor Cookie Butter Croissants

1. You may not need all of the cookie butter, depending on how rich a filling you want for your croissants. I used it all, but I am greedy Gus.
2. Measure the cookie crumbs into a saucepan along with the water, cinnamon and golden syrup. Heat over low heat stirring constantly, until the crumbs have dissolved and you have a smooth lump-free mixture. Pour and scrap into a tall beaker. Let cool. Add the coconut oil. Blitz with an immersion/stick blender until smooth. You can store this in a jar in the refrigerator, until you are ready to use it.
3. When you are ready to make your croissants, preheat the oven to 190*C/375*F, gas mark 5.  Line a baking tray with buttered foil.
4. Using a serrated knife, and cutting from the rounded outer edge, cut them in half almost all the way, leaving a hinge on one side. Spread each inside generously with some of the cookie butter. Close. Place onto the buttered baking sheet. Brush each croissant generously with the melted butter. Mix together the cinnamon sugar and the cookie crumbs. Sprinkle them evenly over the butter brushed croissants. Bake in the preheated oven for 8 to 10 minutes, until golden brown and crisp. Remove and set aside to cool for a few minutes.
5. Whisk together the icing sugar and just enough milk to make a thin drizzle icing. Flick this decoratively over top of each croissant and sprinkle with a few cookie crumbs to decorate. Serve warm.

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Tag @marierayner5530 on instagram and hashtag it #EnglishKitchen

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I apologise about the mishmash of photographs here today.  I was so excited about this recipe and I had taken some beautiful photos.  I thought I had uploaded them, I had computer problems.  I deleted them from the camera because I always do that right after I upload them.  When I went to edit them, they were not there.  And of course I had deleted them.  GRRRRR!!!  I then took a few more while I still had the light of the leftover ones . . .  but I decided to try to see if I could find the other ones somewhere on the computer.  I finally found them in my Google Drive, but it took me forever  to download them one at a time, hence the hash-up. In any case, I hope you will want to try these. You won't be sorry! You hips might be annoyed with you however.

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Macedonian Fruit Salad

 

This is a fabulous recipe that really goes together quickly and that your family will love. You can serve this either for breakfast spooned over some yogurt or cereal, or even pancakes.  Or on it's own with a dollop of yogurt on top or a muffin on the side. 

 

It makes an excellent side dish if you are having people over for brunch.  Simple, colourful and very tasty! 

 

Its basically just a mix of various fruits marinated in their own juices with some lemon juice, water and a touch of sugar. If you really wanted to get fancy you could use a lemon lime soda, which would make it a bit fizzy.  Children love that.

 

It takes two ripe bananas.  I don't like to use them when they are over-ripe.  I tend to err on the side of a bit more green than ripe.  Peel and cut into slices. 

  

You will need one ripe peach or nectarine.  Again, don't have it too ripe.  You may want to peel the peach. (Just dip in some boiling water for about 30 seconds and then peel. Easy peasy.)  Cut that into bite sized pieces.  I used a nectarine today  . . .

 

You will also need one large orange, or naval orange.  Cut both the ends off and then peel away all of the skin and outer pith. Cut this into chunks also.  (Put all the fruit into a bowl as you are cutting it.)

 

There is one sweet eating apple in this.  I used a Pink Lady.  Cut cut in half, core and then cut into chunks. I leave the skin on for fibre and flavour. Again pop it into the bowl with everything else.

 

One kiwi fruit. I saw yellow ones at the shops the other day, but I bought the normal ones. Peel and cut into half moons.  Add these to the bowl also. 

 

Finally you will need 10 or so grapes. I used green, but black would be really pretty.  Cut these in half and add to the bowl. 

 

Give it all a good mix together along with the juice of one lemon and some sugar (Or honey).  Just enough to make it palatable.

 

It all depends on how sweet or ripe your fruit is.  The less ripe the fruit the more sugar you will need, but you don't want your fruit to be overly ripe either because it doesn't hold up well.

 

This also makes a great and healthy snack. You do need to eat it on the day, which usually isn't a problem

  

You could use other fruits if you wanted to.  This is just the fruits that I usually use.  You can vary it according to what fruit you have in the house or that you enjoy!

Macedonian Fruit Salad

Yield: 4

Author: Marie Rayner

This  fabulous fruit salad makes a great addition to breakfast or a brunch, or even as a light dessert.  Its a really tasty way to get in some of your five a day.

ingredients:

• 2 bananas
• 1 ripe peach or nectarine
• 1 sweet eating apple
• 1 kiwi fruit, peeled
• 1 large orange, peeled and chopped
• 10 grapes, halved
• 120ml water (1/2 cup)
• the juice of one lemon
• 1 tsp sugar or as needed

instructions:

How to cook Macedonian Fruit Salad

1. Prepare all of your fruit.  Peel the banana,  and orange.  Cut all of the fruit into bite sized pieces. Cut the grapes in half.  Put into a bowl. Pour in the water and add sugar as needed.  Stir everything together.  Cover and chill for an hour prior to serving.

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I am sharing a really great traditional recipe with you tomorrow!  Irish Tea Brack!  (Its a loaf bread/cake.) It uses a mix of dried vine fruits (raisins, sultanas and currants) and some cold tea.  You are going to love it!  If you wanted to get the fruit ready today, you will need 350g mixed dried fruit (2 1/2 cups) and 300ml cold tea.(1 1/4 cups).  Just mix the fruit together with the tea tonight before you go to bed and you will be ready to bake it in the morning.  I'll have the recipe posted by then!

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