Hattie's Gluten Free Adventures: Perfect Gluten Free Toad in the Hole

Just take a minute to admire the rise on these babies…^

YES they are 100% gluten free!! They were made using the Doves Farm Yorkshire Pudding recipe. This is another recipe I absolutely love because it is fool proof – works every time. One mixture perfectly makes 12 muffin sized toad in the holes, each with half a part cooked sausage in (fried on a medium heat for about 10 minutes) . I made up the batter in the morning, giving it a bit of time to rest while I got my jobs done for the day. This meant it was quick and easy when I got home to fry up the sausages whilst pouring the mixture to a cold tray, adding the part cooked half sausages then placing it all in a 220C fan assisted oven for 30minutes while I went to have a shower.

The recipe feeds about 3-4 people easily

My Top Tips:

Go and buy a stone muffin tray!! They are so useful, from low fat meals to treats, you just lightly oil them with a spray for the first few uses of use then they are completely non stick – no oil or baking paper is needed ever again. Just remember to wash it with water (do not use soap) and you are set for life! The once fat sponges can now become part of a healthy, low fat diet. Particularly if you use a low fat meat such as turkey sausages, but I am too fussy for that. This tray was from The Pampared Chef but it seems like they have stopped selling in the UK now. I have found one available from Lakeland which looks just the same. I missed this Stone Muffin tray so much at uni I am about to order this one for next year, it is well worth the cost!! P.S. if you are not convinced by the low fat advantage, I don’t know what magic is involved yet but it definitely makes free from cakes a lot lighter. I made gluten free dairy free coffee muffins in it a while ago and they were the best I have ever made-even my gluten and dairy full muffins!!
Do not over oil. As well as them becoming unpleasant oil filled sponges, it can cause them to burn. I would recommend investing in an oil spray, one you put your own oil in. This will help to lower the amount of fat in your meals whilst helping the food to cook. I would recommend filling it with rapeseed oil, particularly for these Yorkshire puddings as it is fairly flavourless but mainly because it can reach higher temperatures than most other oils.
Put the mixture in a cold tray. Many recipes I have grown up using have recommended pouring the batter into a preheated tray of piping hot oil. As well as being a high danger risk (both burns and health), you really don’t need to. especially in a stone tray. Mini side note rant: As a child, I loved to bake and cook, it is the one thing that prevented my relationship with food from getting any worse but pointless things like this in many recipes stopped me being allowed to many times. If you have a child or even for future reference, please ignore things like this in recipes and allow them to continue cooking helping you cook the family dinner. In light of the recent child obesity strategy, I believe allowing children to cook or to help cook their meals is very important in both avoiding obesity and malnutrition. Obviously it didn’t completely help with me but I 100% believe it prevented me from being any worse.
Only half fill each hole. This will allow the mixture to puff up and create the well known texture associated with Yorkshire puddings. Overfilling them weighs the mixture down and they will become dense.
Do not open the oven until they have had at least 30 minutes cooking – even if they look cooked!! When I make them they usually look browned from about 20 minutes of cooking but the extra 10 minutes ensures they do not sink when you bring them out of the oven – it allows the sciency cooking process to finish.