25 Days of Christmas Recipes, Day 18: Mini Pizza Waffles and Spiced Yorkshire Puddings with Poached Pear and Blue Cheese

Day 18 and we’ve reached the Party Food section of the Advent Recipes. There’s not much I can say about the Pizza Waffles. They’re a cheesy waffle, cut into pieces with pizza toppings and they taste amazing. They’re also incredibly addictive so the real challenge is seeing if they actually make it to the buffet table or not.

The Yorkshire Puddings however are something that some people may look at and go– what? Why would you do that to a Yorkshire pudding? You’ve ruined them. etc. etc. Once they find out I’m from Yorkshire myself they may say that I’m letting all of Yorkshire down or that I should know better. Well, they’d be in even more shock and horror if they learned that I, in fact, learned my Yorkshire pudding recipe from my Lincolnshire Grandmother (who in turn learned it from my sort-of-Yorkshire Grandfather). And since then I’ve not only made plenty of Yorkshire puddings, I’ve also tested many other different recipes for them, and I’ve played with them myself.

This version is a spiced, sweet version and you can really fill them with whatever you like. Last year I filled them with a little bit of biscuit spread and blackcurrant jam and they were just as tasty. However the tastiest version, according to my Mum at least (and an unexpected hit with my Art Club), was the version below which was a savoury/sweet mix of poached pear and blue cheese. In order to make these canape size you need to own/purchase a mini-muffin tray that allows you to make mini muffins or pies (mine was from Lakeland and was, I believe, a mini Pie tray). A quick bit of research shows that you can purchase many different versions on Amazon as well (at least in the UK).

Pizza Waffles

Ingredients:

WAFFLE MIX

• 2 Large Eggs
• 150g Plain Flour
• ½ tsp Baking Powder
• 1tsp Paprika
• 1tsp Dried Basil
• 100g Comte Cheese, grated
• 1 250g tin Sweetcorn, drained
• 200ml Full-Fat Milk

TOPPING

• 1 Ball Mozzarella, sliced thinly
• 1 tube or jar Tomato Paste
• Toppings of your choice, for example: quartered Cherry Tomatoes, strips of jarred sweet Pepper, Olives, Pepperoni Slices, Cured Meats etc.

Method:

1. Put your milk into a pan with your drained sweetcorn. Bring up to the boil and then turn down to a simmer and cook for 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat.
2. Blend your sweetcorn milk with a stick blender until the sweetcorn is liquified. Sieve into a clean bowl. Leave to cool for ten minutes.
3. Turn on your waffle maker (if electric) or get it heating on a stove.
4. Separate your eggs. Put your whites into a clean bowl and add your yolks to your milk.
5. Add all your other waffle ingredients, except your egg whites to your milk. Blend until smooth and season.
6. Beat your egg whites and a pinch of sugar with an electric mixer until stiff peaks are formed (you should be able to lift your whisk and little unmoving peaks are left behind).
7. Grab a wooden spoon. Add a spoonful of egg white into your waffle mix and beat until it’s looser.
8. Pour in the remainder of your egg whites and fold in gently.
9. Use a ladle to fill your waffle maker with the waffle mix. Close and cook.
10. Open your waffle maker and remove the waffle to a clean plate. Repeat with the remaining mix. You can make your waffles up to a day before you plan to use them (wrap the plate in cling-film if you don’t plan to use them immediately).
11. Preheat grill.
12. Cut your waffles into smaller squares (they should be able to be eaten in 1-2 bites).
13. Spoon a little tomato paste on top and spread thinly over your waffles. Place your squares on a tray, tomato paste side up.
14. Place your mozzarella slices on top of your waffles.
15. Top with a quarter of a cherry tomato, a small section of pepperoni, a sliver of grilled sweet pepper or any other topping you’d like.
16. Place under the grill and grill until the cheese has melted. Serve immediately and enjoy.

Spiced Yorkshire Puddings with Poached Pear and Blue Cheese

Ingredients:

Yorkshire Puddings

• 150g Plain Flour
• 150ml Milk
• 4 Medium Eggs
• 1tsp Cinnamon
• 1tsp Nutmeg
• 1tsp Powdered Ginger
• 2tbsp Caster Sugar

Poached Pears

• 2 Pears (preferably Conference or a cooking pear)
• 500ml Water
• 250g Sugar
• 1 Cinnamon Stick
• 1 Vanilla Pod, split down the middle

Soft Blue Cheese, e.g. Saint Agur, Roquefort  

Method:

Yorkshire Puddings

1. Beat all of the ingredients together, making sure to remove all of the lumps.
2. Leave the batter to rest, with a clean tea towel over the top, for at least half-an-hour.
3. Heat your oven to 230 Degrees C/Gas Mark 8.
4. Pour oil in the holes of a mini-muffin or mini-pie tin until the bottoms are covered with oil. Put in oven and allow to heat for twenty minutes or until the oil is very hot.
5. Pour your batter halfway up the tins. Shut the oven door.
6. Do not open the door until your puddings have risen and have turned a golden brown.
7. Allow them to cool for a couple minutes outside the oven and then remove from the tray and place on a clean plate or tray.

Poached Pears

1. Put your water, sugar, vanilla and cinnamon in a pan and bring to the boil. Turn down to a medium heat.
2. Peel your pears. Leave the core inside.
3. Place your pears into the liquid and cover with a cartouche (or simply a circle of parchment paper laid over the top with a small hole in the centre).
4. Leave to cook for 15-20 minutes or until the pear is soft but not falling apart.
5. Remove the pears from the liquid and place on a plate. Allow to cool.
6. Remove the cinnamon stick and vanilla pod from your liquid. Turn the heat up on the sugar syrup and allow it to boil until it’s reduced to a thick, golden syrup.

Assembly

1. Carefully, with a knife, slice the pear off the core. Cut it into 1cm cubes.
2. Fill your Yorkshire pudding with 1-2 cubes of pear. Add a small cube of blue cheese to each pudding.
3. Drizzle the syrup over the top of your puddings. Enjoy warm or cold.