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 ⅓ 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.
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Easy 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 ⅓ 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
Keywords: popovers
From Baking With Julia, by Dorie Greenspan
teaandscones says
Great tips you shared with us. I will make these often. I mean, really, how much easier can something be. And so fun to watch.
Yours look fantastic!!
Jora says
Your popovers are gorgeous - I'm glad mine weren't the only uneven ones. I thought mine got a little too dark, next time I'll follow your advice and reduce the baking time. Thanks for hosting!
Chris H. says
Thanks for sharing your notes on experimenting with the batter. Is it also crepe batter that can benefit from being rested and refrigerated before use? Anyway, being able to store the popover batter gives you a little more flexibility if you don't think you can consume all of them in one sitting!
pamkaren says
great job hosting and wonderful pointers on baking issues. I especially liked to know that one can refrigerate the batter and use the next day since these taste best straight out of the oven. Lovely aluminum tins!
marilyn says
Hi Paula! that's so interesting about the refrigerated batter. and practice makes perfect, right? and yours look perfect! I can tell how yummy they were from your great pictures!
louisawalter says
I think these look great! I love the photos! Kristine Mika
Maggie says
I totally agree with Mary - frame that last pic for sure! Great job Paula!
createdbycarlene.com says
Your popovers are beautiful! Thanks for hosting!
sanyaliving.com says
Wow! They are amazing looking popovers! Well done!!!
Cakelaw says
I baked mine with cold ingredients too, as time is not one of the luxuries that I have, but was happy with my results. Your popovers turned out wonderfully - thanks for hosting.