These are delicious and beautiful as you take them all puffed up from the oven. They're a great recipe for brunch or to accompany meat juices.
Sometimes things happen at the right time.
Today we are baking from the wonderful book Baking with Julia by Dorie Greenspan, and the recipe is Popovers. The contributing baker is none other than the great Marion Cunningham.
This is my first time making popovers, and boy, they are a tough thing to photograph.
Even if you, like me, had never baked popovers there's a big chance you had wanted to for a long time. Just looking at a picture of these incredible golden irregular towers of dough makes most of us drool.
And it's a very well-deserved title they hold. A blender, a few ingredients, and a while later you're taking amazingly tall popovers from your oven.
Metamorphosis like this one is what draws me to baking. Such a simple, unassuming-looking thing before it goes into the oven, and then boom… the most incredible result!
Like a soufflé, these little things are a bit temperamental. They should go from the oven to the mouth with as little time in between as possible. A few minutes later they start deflating a bit and lose their crisp exterior.
I had mine smeared with butter and honey, a bit of a mess but a delicious one.
The recipe is written exactly as it is in the book, but I will tell you what my personal experience was, since being a novice popover baker, I followed the recipe exactly the first time and then adjusted a few things.
I baked three batches using the same batter. I put the remaining batter in the fridge overnight, as you would for pancakes, and by far, the best batch was the one I baked almost a whole day later. They were less eggy and had more flavor.
I used aluminum cups (not glass) and had a hard time un-molding them, except the ones that had less batter and consequently didn't rise as much, those popped out easily. I buttered them the first time, double buttered them the second time and used vegetable spray the third time. I have to admit the spray was the winner. That and no more than â…“ of the cup full of batter.
And, though I didn't open the oven door for the first 25 minutes as instructed, the first batch, which I dutifully baked for 15 to 20 minutes more, came out with an opaque, thicker crust. Not nice.
In the second and third batches, I left them only an additional five and ten minutes and they were golden and much better. The interiors were the same each time.
Even though the recipe calls for room-temperature ingredients, the popovers I baked with cold batter straight from the fridge were perfect.
PrintEasy and Best Popovers
These are delicious and beautiful as you take them all puffed up from the oven. They're a great recipe for brunch or to accompany meat juices.
- Total Time: 55 minutes
- Yield: 12 medium
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup whole or 2% milk, at room temperature
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 3 large eggs, at room temperature
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
Instructions
- Melted butter, for greasing popover cups.
- Position a rack on the lowest rung of the oven and preheat the oven to 425ºF.
- Butter or spray nine ¾ cup glass custard cups or ten ½ cup muffin cups. If you're using custard cups, place them on a jelly-roll pan, leaving space between each cup. If you're using muffin pans, you'll need to use two 12-hole tins because you won't be filling all the muffin cups to give the popovers ample air circulation.
- Pour all the ingredients into the container of a blender and whirl until smooth. (This can be done in a food processor or in a bowl using a hand-held mixer). Strain the batter if it is at all lumpy.
Baking the popovers:
- For the custard cups, pour â…“ of the batter into each cup, dividing any extra batter among the cups.
- For the muffin cups, use ¼ cup of batter for each cup, filling alternate cups in each tin so that every popover has puffing space.
- Bake, without opening the door, for 25 minutes, until the popovers are puffed, nicely browned, and crisp on the exterior.
- Turn the temperature down to 350ºF and bake for another 15 to 20 minutes, to help dry out the interior, which, no matter what you do, will always be a little doughy in the center. (Some people love this part, others pull it out).
- Serve immediately.
Storing:
- Popovers are at their puffiest right out of the oven.
- You can hold them at room temperature for a few minutes, or wrap them airtight, freeze them for up to a month, and reheat them in a 350º F oven for 10 to 15 minutes, and they'll taste good, but never as good as freshly baked.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Category: Bread
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
From Baking With Julia, by Dorie Greenspan
Jessica of My Baking Heart says
Lovely job, Paula - I adore your aluminum cups, too! 🙂 Thanks for hostessing this week!
Sophia says
Your popovers look great- thanks for hosting his week!
spike. says
Your popovers look great! Thanks for hosting this one
ferda says
Beautiful photos.. Thanks for hosting and sharing the results of your experimenting with the recipe..
breaddivas says
Your photos are beautiful and your popovers look delicious. Thanks for all the great tips and for hosting this week!
Miette says
Thank you for hosting. Your photos are awesome and the popovers look delicious!
Sweet and That's it says
Paula thank you for sharing your precious "culinary secrets" and thank you for hosting: beautiful pictures (especially the last one), beautiful post!
and last but not least: thank you for having visited my post.
loavesandstitches says
Interesting how different the popovers were after different rest times. I like the idea of making a lot of batter and being able to have them, sort of, on demand. I like mine any way they turn out, except stuck to the pan. Thanks for hosting this week!
Kat says
I'd have no problems finishing these right from the oven. I've never made popovers either. Thanks for including the notes on the process (I make notes to myself when I bake too), I find these to be really helpful.
Kathy says
Paula, Absolutely gorgeous popovers!! So perfect looking! You also took some beautiful photos…magazine quality!! Thanks for hosting this week! Great job!!
asopranobakingwithjulia says
Gorgeous popovers! Thanks for hosting:)
Dawn says
Beautiful, gorgeous, amazing pictures!!! I'd never made popovers before either, and was equally impressed with their ease...and yumminess. 🙂
baker in disguise says
oh wow... yours came out just like the book!! i like the info on keeping the batter to rest for some time.. because i would have definitely liked them to be a little less eggy!!
Angie's Recipes says
Can you believe that I have never made popovers? These popovers look terrific!
Baker Street says
Great pick, Paula! these popovers look so delicious and thank you so much for sharing this lovely recipe.
Cindy says
Thanks for hosting a great recipe. it was delicious. I can't wait to make these magical muffins for my grandkids! I do appreciate your hints, it's always nice to know what worked for others. Thanks.
Susan says
Wow, Paula - I think your photos are great! And your popovers look perfect. Congrats on hosting, too!
Cathleen says
Lovely photos! I thought the same thing; that they were challenge to photograph. Thanks for hosting!
Bev says
They look over the top delicious- it sounds like popovers don't like to follow rules much at all!
Julia says
They look amazing. Thanks for hosting! I have never heard of putting pancake batter in the fridge overnight. I will have to try that with my standard recipe next time and see what happens.