Thursday, July 2, 2009

I think I've FINALLY mastered it....

The POPOVER!

You all have NO idea how I've labored with this bugger! Out of the 25 times I've made the popover...
I think like TWICE it worked for me.
Why was it failing so miserably all the time?
I am an educator of cooking dammit, I am a good cook, I can pretty much cook anything; but why can't I get these to work for me? Popovers were driving me crazy.
The results were always haphazard at best. ....it became an obsession to try different recipes. Searching out tips and tricks....
Over and over I'd say: "why can't I get these to pop? They did once/twice before!"

I invested in the popover pan. Used warm ingredients. Heated the pan while I prepared them. Cooked it in so many varying ranges.... Every recipe was a bit different. This struggle has been going on for YEARS I tell ya!

Of course when I made this new recipe and tried to take pix. BEEP - memory stick full! OH NO! Finally success and no proof!!!! So we gobbled those beauties up and I made them again. I was nervous that they would fail like the random attempts in between those past two successes. One day later POOF, they popped again.....I did the happy dance. I finally found the recipe that works!

If you never made popovers they are so good with butter....I swear I could eat all six of these babies! Cause they are totally HOLLOW...

So crispy on the outside and light and soft on the inside! You have to eat them right after they bake. If you store them for the next day....they will totally be soft and no longer crispy. Great with dinner, great for breakfast with your favorite jam. Also good stuffed with chicken salad as a brunch!

So here's the recipe for you to use!

Tried and True Popover
found and adapted from Mommy I'm Hungry who got the recipe from Lynn's a Hot Dish who took it from Baking With Julia by Dorie Greenspan

1 cup flour
1 cup milk (whole or 2%) I used skim and it worked fine!, at room temperature
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp. sugar
3 large eggs, at room temperature
2 T melted butter (I added about tsp. more due to the lack of fat in my milk)
cooking spray (I think melted butter makes the outside burn too much)

Heat oven to 425. Spray muffin tins or popover cups. This recipe made 6 popovers using popover cups. It should make 9-10 popovers using muffin tins.



Using a blender, put the eggs, milk and butter in first, blending for a few seconds. Then add the flour and salt and whirl it until smooth. This prevents the batter from becoming lumpy.




Fill the popover cups 3/4 full, if using muffin tins fill 1/4 cup of batter for each cup. Make sure you alternate muffin cups to give the batter room to expand.

Bake for 25 minutes without opening the oven door. I baked mine for about 23 minutes. Turn down the temperature to 350 and bake for another 15 to 20 minutes, again I used less time, around 13 minutes.


Serve immediately. I love mine with jam or honey. Or with just plain old butter. Enjoy!




Oh look at those beauties. Finally so proud of gotten the knack!








Now, I know I am all giddy that I have finally found success here but what happened to this popover?......

LOL....what's with THAT? Was it doing the fist pump "YES" cuz I finally got this down? Was the chicken from the egg trying to escape? Well, it's alien for sure!

Of course K-man loves these as well. He likes to save the last one for dessert and slather it with orange marmalade. Little does he know I am making orange butter to go with these!

Try This, it's YUMMY!

Orange Maple Butter

Makes 1/2 cup.

1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1 tablespoon fresh orange juice
1 teaspoon finely grated orange zest
1/4 teaspoon coarse salt

Using a rubber spatula, combine ingredients in a small bowl. Orange butter can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 1 week.


Jumbo Popovers on Foodista

4 comments:

Donna-FFW said...

I bet I could eat all 6 also. They look perfect. I love the flavored butter with it.

Anonymous said...

looks like a yorkshire pudding. trick I've used is to put a little oil in the bottom of each section of the muffin tray and heat it up super duper hot, then pour the batter mix into the hot oil and straight back into the oven. works every time!

Anonymous said...

This is a Yorkshire pudding. Nothing new under the sun!!!!

Anonymous said...

It's no different then making Dutch Baby's.