Yesterday, I was watching Lee Ann Rimes on The Today Show singing her new Christmas song. It’s quite uplifting and really puts you in the Christmas mood. The holiday season has kicked off and there is someone throwing a holiday party almost every weekend from now until New Year’s. Then there are the corporate events in the middle of the week as well. I promised that I would be bringing you party food with the Christmas spirit to help you through it all and it’s inspiration from the United Kingdom.
Today, I have my take on Yorkshire Pudding. Yorkshire Pudding is an English side dish made from batter consisting of eggs, flour, and milk. Originally the Yorkshire pudding was eaten on its own as a first course with thick gravy to fill the stomach with the low cost ingredients so that one would not eat so much of the more expensive meat in the following course. Now it is a staple of the traditional British Sunday roast and since a roast is not a roast without Yorkshire Pudding, it is also a big part of Christmas dinners for the English. Now a days, it may also be served as a dessert. That is exactly what I’m doing today. I’m starting off with a sweet treat that can be served individually at your Christmas parties using Yorkshire Pudding as the base of your desert.
My recipe is for a Hazelnut Chocolate Banana Yorkshire Pudding. I got this idea from a local creperie that puts together a Nutella and banana stuffed crepe with a touch of sour cream. The sour cream lightens the sweetness and is a perfect balance. I remembered that my mother use to make a fruit salad with sour cream as well, and the sweetness of the fruits balanced off the sour cream to create a creamy concoction. So, don’t be surprised by the sour cream mixed with the bananas. It really works and you can skip the whipped cream which would just start to make the whole thing melt and fall apart if you had this on the buffet table for a while.
Hazelnut Chocolate Banana Yorkshire Pudding
Ingredients
Pudding
4 large eggs
1 1⁄2 cups whole milk
1⁄2 teaspoon coarse salt
1 1⁄4 cups all-purpose flour
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
Filling
6 teaspoons Nutella or your favorite hazelnut chocolate spread
1 banana
2 tablespoons sour cream
12 raspberries (optional)
Method
First Prepare the Yorkshire Pudding.
Mix the eggs, milk, flour, and salt. Either with an electric mixer or by hand blend until well combined and place in the refrigerator until ready to use (allow to rest for at least 30 minutes).
Preheat oven to 425°F.
Put 1 teaspoon of the oil into each section of a 12-hole Yorkshire pudding tray or muffin tray and put into the oven on the top shelf until very hot, almost smoking.
As soon as you take the tray from the oven, pour in the batter to three-quarters fill the tins (it should sizzle) and immediately put back into the oven.
Bake until the Yorkshire Puddings are well risen, golden brown and crisp, 15 to 20 minutes. Don’t open the oven door until the end or they might collapse.
While the Yorkshire Puddings are baking, prepare your filling.
Slice the banana into thin round pieces and gently mix with the sour cream until all of the banana slices are well coated.
Once the Yorkshire Pudding is out of the oven and cools for a few minutes so that it can be handled it should deflate in the center a bit.
Put half a teaspoon of Nutella in the center of each pudding. Then scoop the banana mixture on top of the Nutella by dividing it up for all 12 Yorkshire Puddings. Top each Yorkshire Pudding center with a raspberry if desired.
Best if served immediately, while the Yorkshire Pudding is still warm.
