Basic Popovers

Popovers are light, hollow rolls made from an egg batter similar to Yorkshire pudding, and other batter puddings made in England since the 17th century. The first cookbook to print a recipe for popovers was M.N. Henderson's, Practical Cooking in 1876.

Popovers originated in America, and although I don't think they're particularly Southern, they should be! Neither my grandmother nor my mom ever made popovers when I was growing up. However, one morning after spending the night with a friend when I was a teenager, her mother made popovers for breakfast. She served them with whipped butter and homemade strawberry preserves. They were insane, and I was hooked!

Even though they contain only 4 basic ingredients, there are certain rules that can make or break popovers. But once you get the routine down, popovers are super-easy!

Here is my recipe for basic popovers, along with "the rules."

INGREDIENTS

1 cup of whole milk
1 cup of all purpose flour
2 large eggs (preferably room temperature)
1/2 teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS

Put one oven rack on the lowest shelf, and a second one on the highest shelf.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Heat the milk in the microwave for approximately 40 seconds. (just so it's not ice cold)

In a blender ~

Mix eggs and milk until blended.

Add the flour and salt. Mix just until blended. (don't overdo) Open and scrape any flour on the sides down into the batter, and pulse a few more times.

You can cook popovers in a muffin pan; but don't. Get a popover pan; one that will make 6 large popovers. It's worth the investment, because popovers need the height.

Generously grease popover pan cups. I  use canola oil spray; then put empty pan in the oven for 2 or 3 minutes to heat it.

Take pan out and distribute the batter evenly in the 6 cups. (each cup should be about half full)

Next, put the popover pan in the oven on the bottom shelf, and an empty cookie sheet or large pizza pan on the top shelf. This will prevent the tops from getting too brown.

Close the oven and (important) DO NOT open the oven again until the popovers are done!

Cook popovers for 20 minutes at 450 degrees.

After 20 minutes, lower heat to 350 degrees (don't open that oven!) and cook for 15-20 minutes more. You'll have to experiment with your oven, because you don't want the insides to be under-cooked. I usually do the full 20 minutes.

Take popovers out of the oven and immediately remove from the pan. Poke the sides with a small, sharp knife to let the steam out. This prevents them from getting soggy inside.

Serve immediately. I like plain popovers like these for breakfast, served with softened butter and preserves, marmalade, or perhaps a nice local honey; although they can be made with herbs, spices, seeds, or cheese added, for a more savory flavor.

Popovers are best right out of the oven. However, if you have leftovers they can be stored in the fridge in an airtight container for a couple of days, and re-heated on a flat pan in a pre-heated oven at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes. Not as good, but not bad either!

Note; popovers are also fabulous with afternoon tea.

If you don't want to deal with putting everything together in the morning, you can do all of the mixing/blender stuff the night before. Just store the batter in the fridge; take it out the next morning and let it sit out for about 15 minutes while the oven preheats; pulse it a few times to shake it up; then pour into the greased, preheated popover pan; cook; and voila! Perfect popovers!

Enjoy! C