abracadabra!

You would like to make something impressive, you say. And you do not have many strange ingredients on hand. Yes, we understand. And you're not exactly sure what you're serving for dinner, so it has to be a flexible dish of some sort. We see. Not a problem. This is, in fact, rather a specialty of the SimpleSisters, the taking of ordinary things and whipping up something that you might just call fantastic. And so, to satisfy this need for you today, we now share the recipe for Yorkshire Puddings.

Pudding? Oh, no, not the Jello variety. And though they are British, not the typical British short of pudding, which is to say dessert. These little treasures, my friend, are bread, plain and simple. Bread that you can make without any machines, without any kneading, without any yeasts or other confusing ingredients, and that you may (actually, should) bake in a muffin pan!

These little puppies will puff up and look fabulous, with a little well in the center that shows off their airy goodness. I wish I had a picture of the ones I made tonight, but you can look here and here to get the idea.

Now follow me:

3 eggs
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp fresh herbs, chopped (or dried!)
(Parsley and thyme are lovely here. Rosemary and sage would work well, too.)
1 cup flour
1 cup milk

Beat the eggs. Add the salt, pepper, and herbs. Now add about a third of the flour, and stir to blend. Now a third of the milk and stir to blend. Again with the flour, again with the milk, until it's all in there. Now cover your bowl with plastic wrap and pop it in the fridge for 20 minutes or up to two days (how's that for flexibility?!).

When you are ready: allow 30 or so minutes before table time. Preheat the oven to 425degrees. Put the muffin pan in there while you're at it. Once the oven's heated up, remove your toasty muffin pan and into each cup, either brush a bit of melted butter, or spray nonstick spray. Add 1/4 cup (or so) of batter to each muffin cup. Pop it back in the oven. After 15 minutes, turn the oven down to 350degrees and continue to bake for another 10 minutes.

The only hard part here is NO PEEKING. If you open the oven, your beloved effort will not rise or will slump over. Peek ye not.

These are delicious with roast beef or steak and whatever sauce you're having, also with veggies like mushrooms, onions, etc.

Some inventive types add all kinds of things to the batter, such as 1/2 cup crumbled bacon (wouldn't that be a tasty breakfast?!), 1/2 cup grated cheese, even a dash of cayenne pepper.

Enjoy, and Happy New Year!