I wanted to try something new for Father’s Day Brunch and
since I had some homemade jam to showcase (more on that later!), I landed on
popovers. Have you ever had these
amazing and surprisingly easy pastries?
They are definitely best warm right out of the oven which is why you
don’t see them at bakeries or stores frequently, but they’re like a wondrous
cross between and soufflé and a croissant; flaky, airy, moist, buttery, and
really the perfect vehicle for some great honey or jam. They rise beautifully if you can resist the urge
to keep checking them in the oven and when the steam releases as they cool, it
creates this incredibly buttery pockets, just perfect for holding jam or
whatever topping you decide to add. They truly are heavenly and you probably
have the ingredients and equipment in your kitchen right now!
Basic popovers only have 5 ingredients – butter, flour,
salt, eggs and milk. That’s all the ones
I made had too, but you could definitely make them into a dinner item by adding
a little thyme and grated cheese! Let’s
start with the basic recipe for now. If
you have a popover pan, by all means use it!
You will get taller and slightly larger popovers, but you can definitely
use a muffin pan too. A muffin tin was
all I had, and mine came out wonderful.
Since there are only five ingredients, focus on good ones! Use farm fresh eggs if possible and good
quality sea salt and butter. It really
will make a difference.
Ingredients for 18 muffin-sized popovers
2 cups Milk (2% or whole works best)
4 Eggs
½ tsp Salt
2 cups Flour
6 Tbsp Butter
Preheat your over to 450. You can easily make the batter in
your blender - that’s what I did for easier clean-up. If not, get out a large bowl and a whisk or
your standing mixer. First, melt 2 Tbsp
of the butter (microwave works well for this). Now, add the eggs and milk into
the blender or bowl and mix together. Add in the melted butter and blend a bit more,
finishing with the flour and salt. Now
melt the remaining 4 Tbsp butter, and set it aside.
Once your oven is preheated, place the muffin
or popover tin in the oven for at least 3 minutes to get it hot. Carefully remove it from the oven and add the
melted better equally into each of the muffin cups. Pour the batter about 2/3 full into each cup,
on top of the melted butter. Place the
pan in the oven on the center rack. Back
for 15 minutes at 450 and then reduce the temp to 350, baking for another 15
minutes.
Don’t open the oven door to
check on them until the time is up. I
know it’s hard to resist, but it will cause your gorgeous popovers to fall
early which will affect their unique and lush texture. Apparently, starting with a warm pan and high
heat, helps the popovers rise and get flaky on the outside, lowering the
temperature midway, helps them not collapse immediately and creates the wonderful
airy texture on the inside.
As soon as you remove these from the oven, flip the pan over
to get all the popovers out and then take a small knife and quickly pierce the
bottom of each pastry to allow some steam to escape. Then, you can turn them all back over the
serve warm. Some people add more butter
but my family just enjoyed them with plenty of jam. We happened to have homemade jams on hand
(plum and strawberry), but any good preserve, honey or jam would be excellent.
I promise there won’t be any leftovers and if there are,
they’d be delicious with a little chicken salad served in the center the next
day for lunch. Enjoy!
