Tiny Toads Recipes

TINY TOADS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to fan 180C/conventional 200C/gas 6. Put a generous half-teaspoonful of sunflower oil in the bottom of each cup of a deep 12-hole mini muffin pan set on a baking tray.
• Pour the milk into a jug, add the egg, flour and a pinch of salt and whisk everything together with a hand blender or wire whisk until a smooth batter forms.
• Put the muffin pan in the oven for a minute or so until the oil is very hot. Carefully remove from the oven and quickly fill the cups just under two-thirds full (this may not seem enough batter, but they puff up in the oven). Drop a sausage into each cup and bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown, well risen and crisp. Serve with ketchup.

TRADITIONAL BRITISH TOAD-IN-THE-HOLE AND MINI TOADS TOO!

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 220°C or 450°F.
• Pour the dripping or vegetable oil into a large metal roasting tin. Place the tin in the preheated oven whilst you make the batter to heat the oil/dripping up.When the fat is hot, add the sausages and turn them over to coat them.Cook for about 10 minutes.
• Make the Yorkshire pudding batter - Mix flour, salt & pepper together in a large roomy mixing bowl. Make a hollow in the centre & add the egg, mixing it into the flour with a wooden spoon.Add the milk gradually until all the flour and egg is worked in and smooth. Add any remaining milk and beat well with a balloon whisk or hand held beater.
• Take the roasting tin with the sausages out from the oven and very QUICKLY pour the batter over the partly cooked sausages. Swirl around to make sure it covers everywhere.
• Put them back into the oven cook for a further 30 minutes or until the batter has puffed up and the sausages are sizzling and brown!
• Cut into 4 quarters and serve straight away with hot onion gravy & mashed potatoes!
• You can also use pork or lamb chops instead of sausages - making sure they are not too thick. I often use pork chops with quartered apple and stuffing balls which is really lovely!
• MINI TOADS:.
• Twist a sausage into half and carefully cut through the skin to make 2 sausages - do this once more to each half making a total of 4 small sausages out of one big sausage. (Or use party cocktail sausages - mini frankfurters) carry on until you have made 12 mini sausages. Follow the instructions above, but only cook the mini sausages for about 5 minutes first and then another 15 minutes with the batter. Serve with tomato ketchup or home made tomato sauce/relish and mugs of soup for a great Winter supper!

TINY TARTS

Steps:

• Preheat the oven toe 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
• Beat softened margarine or butter and cream cheese until thoroughly combined. Stir in flour.
• Using 24 ungreased 1 3/4 inch mini muffin cups, press a rounded teaspoon of pastry evenly into the bottom and up the sides of each cup.
• To Make The Filling: Beat the egg and mix in the brown sugar, melted margarine or butter and the chopped pecans.
• Fill each pastry-lined muffin cup with about 1 heaping teaspoon of pecan filling. Bake at 325 degrees F (165 degrees C) for about 30 minutes or until pastry is golden and filling is puffed. Cool slightly in the muffin cups, then remove and cool completely on a wire rack.

TOAD IN THE HOLE

Steps:

• Prepare batter: Combine eggs, salt, pepper, cayenne, 1 cup plus 1 tablespoon flour, and milk in a large bowl; whisk thoroughly until batter is very smooth and no lumps remain. Whisk in water. Cover and let rest at room temperature for 1 hour.
• Prepare sausages: Heat vegetable oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add sausages and cook until browned, 2 to 3 minutes per side. Remove from the heat and transfer to a buttered 9x12- or 9x13-inch baking dish. Pour oil from the skillet over the sausages; brush oil with a pastry brush all over the bottom and up the sides of the dish.
• Start onion gravy: Melt butter in the same skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and salt; saute until soft and starting to brown, 5 to 6 minutes.
• While onion is cooking, pour batter in and around the sausages. Place in the center of a cold oven and turn temperature to 500 degrees F (260 degrees C). Set oven timer for 30 minutes.
• While toad in the hole cooks, finish onion gravy: Stir in flour and cook for about 2 minutes. Whisk in chicken broth and return to a simmer. Add Worcestershire sauce and balsamic vinegar and simmer until gravy thickens up and reduces, about 5 minutes. Reduce heat to low and stir in green onions. Taste and adjust seasoning.
• When timer goes off, remove toad in the hole from the oven; it should be browned and puffed. Spoon gravy over the sausages and garnish with green onions and chives.
• Serve with extra gravy.