Aunt Bessie’s Giant Yorkshire Pudding

I’ve not bought the Aunt Bessie’s Giant Yorkshire Puddings before – I’ve usually always made my own Yorkshire puddings, or bought the supermarket own brand versions.   I was in Sainsbury’s today though and they don’t have their own version, so I had a choice of driving a 12 mile round trip to another shop to buy an own brand, make my own or buy the Aunt Bessie’s Yorkshire puddings.  Making my own would mean buying eggs and milk, so I just grabbed a pack of two.  They weren’t even on special offer, but I just knew that I have been craving Giant Yorkshires with a variety of fillings, so grabbed them so I knew I’d have them in the freezer for the next time!

This pair of Yorkshire puddings cost £1.65, so quite a pricey commitment!  And I must use them within the next month as my freezer is too small to have the luxury of these taking up 1/4 of its capacity.

I really need to get myself a good baking dish to make my own Giant Yorkshire puddings, I’ve been using a Fray Bentos pie can I kept just for this purpose, but that’s really a little on the small side to get the best results, as it isn’t as deep as I’d like, Fray Bentos pie tins are 6″ across and taper to the bottom and are only 1″ high.  Maybe I’m just greedy …. 🙂

How Big are the Aunt Bessie’s Giant Yorkshire Puddings?

I did just open the packet and peek inside, to check they weren’t broken or faulty … it’s better to know now than when I pull them out of the freezer to use them!

These Giant Yorkshires are 7″/18cm wide.  The height is variable, in this packet the lowest point is 1¼” high and the highest point is 2¼” high.  I think I was a bit disappointed in the height of one of them, to be honest and that they weren’t more evenly sized.  If I’d been in the factory that one would’ve gone into the bin as people are paying “a premium price” for this brand.

You can’t see inside the packet, which would enable you to inspect them before you bought them… probably a good thing from their point else they’d get broken as people carelessly tossed them around looking for “the best Yorkshire puddings”

How Long Do They Take to Cook in the Oven?

You cook these frozen Yorkshire puddings from frozen; no defrosting required.  If you’ve not got a freezer and they had already defrosted before cooking then I’d reduce the cooking time by just 1-2 minutes … there won’t be a lot of difference in cooking time between “from frozen” and “from defrosted”.

I’ll be using my Silverline Mini Oven to cook these, the packet instructions say they take just 9 minutes in a pre-heated oven at 200° C, 400° F, Gas Mark 6.  Using my mini oven I’ll be cooking these with the shelf on the bottom – I’d not usually pre-heat the mini oven, but for a Yorkshire I’d pre-heat it by having both top and bottom elements on for a quick 5 minute blast.

Giant Yorkshire Filling Ideas: 

You can put anything inside a Giant Yorkshire pudding.  My favourite fillings are probably:

• Roast dinner, with roast meat, plenty of vegetables and lashings of hot gravy. You can use any roast meat.  I made a Chicken Dinner with one of this pack.
• Sausages, mash and roast onion gravy
• Curry or keema.
• Meatballs with tomato sauce, mashed potatoes and cheery peas!

Many people like to fill their Yorkshire pudding with a curry, or even chilli con carne, but, given the choice, I prefer them to be filled with good old fashioned comfort food!

Low Calorie Meals?

While a Giant Yorkshire Pudding might not be the best of low calorie meal ideas, one baked Yorkshire pudding only contains 260 calories – it could be a great way to eat a low calorie vegetable stew and still feel you’re having a “big and hearty proper filling meal”.