Aunt Bessie's Saves Dinner!

Why would anyone go to all the effort of making batter for a yorkshire pudding when someone else has done it for you?

Four eggs? Four?!

Why would you when you can buy a packet of either ready-made, or cook from batter, yorkshire puddings? I certainly don't and that is why I always have a supply in my freezer.

Therefore when I had an e-mail asking me to try some of the Aunt Bessie products, I jumped with glee and agreed immediately. A few days later a very nice chap knocked on my door (having driven from Yorkshire) and delivered this for me…

There are a few things that really stood out to me from the selection above:

• vegetarian toad in the hole;
• boat-shaped yorkshire puddings (perfect for The Boy);
• gravy tablets;
• apple pie.

These vegetarian toad-in-the-holes are absolutely gorgeous. Yes it's a tray full of batter with two vegetarian sausages in, but they are genuinely some of the nicest sausages I've tasted; herby and succulent, they swelled beautifully while cooking in the batter. I thoroughly enjoyed this and have since bought them to eat again because of the ease and convenience.

The image on the left is of the boat-shaped yorkshire puddings which are a genius idea and perfect for children! I managed to fit two hot-dog style sausages in alongside each other (although one 'normal' thickness sausage would fit just as well) and The Boy thought it was magic! He absolutely loved them floating in the sea of gravy and wolfed the lot down. On the right above is a giant yorkshire pudding which I filled with chopped up sausage, carrots, brocolli and topped with a cheese sauce. It's a really quick meal, incredibly filling and because it's presented in a different way, my sometimes-difficult-eater was far more engaged in eating his meal.

The frozen gravy is something that I know Aunt Bessie's are very proud of, and I'm told by the meat-eaters in the family that it's with good reason. A concentrated gel-like capsule which is kept in the freezer, melt it in hot water over a stove and it is just as good as 'proper' gravy and far superior to granules. And for a vegetarian cooking meat, it's such an easy and fool-proof way of producing a quality gravy.

I'm a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to apple pie; I don't like crunchy pastry, I like a deep filling and the lightest amount of crunchy sugar sprinkled on top. Unfortunately the bramley apple pie fell apart when I took it out of the oven, and the ability to serve it in a complete slice also seemed elusive. It tasted good, but I would have preferred more chunky apple filling with a bit more cinnamon.

I'm thoroughly impressed with the range of convenience products that Aunt Bessie's produce; I had no idea there were so many different items and some of them are truly imaginative. I personally prefer the yorkshire puddings that cook from frozen batter, but I will be adding the boat-shaped yorkshire puddings, the vegetarian toad in the hole and the gravy to my regular shopping list.

I was sent these products for the purpose of this review, my opinion is honest and unbiased.