Aaaaaaahhhhhh, the power of the POPOVER. America’s answer to Yorkshire Pudding!
Popovers are made from a floury/eggy batter baked in muffin tins or (better yet) a popover pan starting in a really hot oven where they puff up like crazy into the most delicious, delicate, edible balloons.
Browned and firm on the outside, supple and airy on the inside, these big boys are at their undeniable best straight out of the oven – slathered with butter, honey, jam – or all of the above. Kind of like a cross between a crusty dinner roll and a pancake, the UK version contains beef fat (to be served alongside the traditional English Roast Beast), but we here in Amir-ka aren’t quite so extra I guess.
Still. O M G! I am hooked, and now I’m making everyDAY, SOUP day because there is nothing better than a little popover action to fancy up a big steaming bowl of something slurpy.
And as impressive as these look, they are unbelievably simple to make.
You want? Yeah, me too.
Milk, flour, eggs and salt. Some cooking spray or oil to grease the pan. That’s about it.
It’s best if everything can be at room temperature, so pop that cup of milk into the microwave for 20 seconds and plop the eggs (like, with the shell on, K?) into a cup of hot tap water to get the temp up a tad. The ingredients are obviously simple; the trick lies within the oven, so get that heated up to 450°. Make sure to place a rack on the very bottom shelf,
and place your popover pan in there to heat up along with the oven.
Um………..
Hold up.
(Waaaaaait a minute now. What if you don’t HAVE a popover pan like this? These are looking really good and you had me all jazzed up until you pulled out this specialized, medieval muffin torture chamber thingie. Can I still have popovers if all I have is a regular pan? Did you mean to get me all excited here for NOTHING???
I got you Bunny, it will be okay. A few little tweaks are all that’s required to make all the popovers you want in a conventional muffin pan. No problemo! Check it out HERE, if you wanna) 🤗
Now back to the batter. Eggs and milk. Check. Beat down. Check.
Add the salt to the flour and the flour to the eggs/milk mixture.
Whip this together ferociously until you have a smooth frothy batter going. Don’t get out beaters or anything electric to dirty up, just do it the old-fashioned way. Put some elbow grease into it! Whip it (good) for about thirty seconds, that should do the trick.
Now CAREFULLY remove the pre-heated popover pan from the oven, and give it a grease down. This is where a spray like Pam or something like that comes in really handy. You can definitely go rogue and swipe it out with some olive oil or butter on a paper towel. Just don’t burn yourself!
Pour the bubbly batter into your hot popover tins, making sure to fill each cup no more than halfway. This recipe will divide out perfectly for 6.
Into the hot 450° oven these go, for 15 minutes….and when the buzzer rings, turn the oven down to 350°.
But NO PEEKING! Don’t even think about it! Another secret to the success of a popover is your willingness to fight the urge to open that oven door. SO don’t do it………not yet at least. You can certainly turn on the oven light and take a gander through the glass.
Yes, that’s my not so pristine oven door for all the world to see, and THOSE are the beginnings of some crazy good popovers. Only 15 more minutes at 350° and you will have……
some supremely puffy popover perfection! Pretty, huh? Remove these from their popover pan prison right away and serve immediately! Smear ’em with butter, spread ’em with jam (I used fig jam….awesome!) or splatter ’em with apple butter, honey, whatever. You get the idea.
Health food, (BIG SIGH) yeah, no…..these are definitely NOT.
But they are so easy and yummy and hey, you’re kinda making up for just having some soup, you know?
It’s not like you’re PIGGING out or anything. And besides, they ARE mostly air, right? 😇
RECIPE BELOW: Oh man these are so good I can’t even stand it. Serves 6 (okay, let me put it this way…..makes 6). Perfect partnered with any soup, chile, or really anything……these guys can even do dessert (no brainer there). Takes mere minutes to whip together, the only time you will invest is the time in the oven, which is pretty much hands off unless you want to count the 1/2 calorie you burned turning the heat down. Yeah, don’t count that though. How lame.
- 1 cup milk, brought to room temp (or placed in microwave for 20 seconds)
- 2 eggs, brought to room temp (or placed in a cup of hot tap water for a few minutes)
- 1 cup of all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- cooking spray (or olive oil or butter, to grease the tin)
- Preheat your oven to 450° Position a rack at the very bottom of the oven. Place your popover tin inside to heat up as well.
- In a medium sized bowl (preferably with a pour spout) whisk together the eggs with the milk. Add the salt to the flour and then add the flour to the milk mixture. Continue whisking this all briskly together, for about thirty seconds, until you have a fairly smooth slightly frothy batter.
- Carefully remove the hot popover pan from the oven and (preferably) spray it with cooking spray to coat. You can always use olive oil or butter with a paper towel. Just be really careful not to burn yourself.
- Pour the batter into the muffin tins, making sure not to go above the halfway mark. This is where a spout on your mixing bowl comes in handy. You can always transfer your mixed batter to a cup with a spout for cleaner pouring, you really don't want to get the batter all over the place.
- Into the hot oven these go, on the very bottom where you placed the rack. Set the timer for 15 minutes. DO NOT open the oven door after this point!
- At the 15 minute mark, turn the heat down to 350°. Set the timer for an additional 15 minutes, making sure to check at the 13 minute mark. Ovens can vary and I removed my popovers at the 14 minute mark, you'll know what to expect after you make these the first time.
- Remove these right away from the pan, to a wire rack. Serve 'em up immediately because that's when they are at their puffy, delectable best!
- Serve with butter, jelly or jam, fig spread, honey, even a dusting of powdered sugar or my personal favorite, apple butter.
- Okay, everything is basically the same as far as the batter goes but you need to tweak it just a tad and here's how.....preheat the oven to 425°. Place a teaspoon of butter in each of 6 muffin cups and let that melt in the oven for a few minutes. Then carefully remove the tin from the oven and fill 'em up - only halfway, just like with the popover pan. Bake for 25 minutes total, no need to turn done the heat midway. They won't get quite as regal as they can with the popover tray, but they will puff up plenty for you and still be amazing!
- As good as these are......there is no such thing as leftover popovers. First and foremost, you will not be able to keep your hands off of them and secondly, once they get cold they lose a lot of their ethereal charm. I'd still eat one that has gone tepid.....but hey that's just me. 😜
- Love these!
3 Comments
Love your description of popovers! I much prefer Crisco shortening to spray for greasing pans. Try it next time. They pop out much easier!😘
I will remember that! Although I really don’t need another excuse to make these evil things. Lol
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