Popovers Made Easy
Ahh, the incredible, versatile food vessel: the popover. Great for housing any number of things like chicken salad, puddings, or chowders, largely because of the hollow cavity and hard crust that manifests when baked on high temp. However creatively crafty these unique dinner accessories might be, the crustaceans are a bit tricky to perfect. The secret to a successful finish is room temperature ingredients, smooth batter, a consistent oven and zero peaking. Like crème brulees- which are particular about their oven temp - the popovers are just as persnickety. Ovens can honestly make or break a delicate recipe. If an oven bakes on high temp, or is not consistently holding the programmed heat, the end result can be disastrous. If your oven is occasionally temperamental, use an oven thermometer to determine how the heat varies in comparison to what you've programmed. This investigative work is really only necessary if, like us, you dabble in recipes that are rather delicate.
You may not achieve your ideal finish the first attempt at this recipe. The oven temperature may need to be altered. We use 425F on our oven because it's a smidge off, yet the recipe calls for 450F. So please don't get too discouraged. The puffy masterpieces will come.
*Recipe yields 12 popovers. Please read instructions before attempting.
Ingredients:
3 T melted butter
1 1/2 C all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
4 large eggs, room temp
1 1/2 C skin or low-fat milk, room temp
1. Preheat oven 450F. Place the oven rack at lowest level to avoid burning tops. If your oven runs hot you may want to try dropping temp to 425F. Place a cookie sheet on top rack also, to prevent burning. Spray a traditional cupcake pan with cooking spray. If you are lucky enough to have a popover pan that is ideal.
2. Okay when we say room temperature on eggs and milk, we mean virtually no chill left to them. To achieve this it takes about 2 hours to bring ingredients to room temp.
3. Sift flour into a large bowl. (We sift flour for every baking recipe; the end result is a fluffier, more uniformed product.) Using either an electric beater or blender, add milk, eggs, salt and butter all at once. Mix for about 30 seconds until frothy. The butter may congeal in mixture resembling rice; this is normal.
4. Pour batter into cupcake slots, 3/4 of the way. Bake for 20 min. Without opening oven (unless you are so worried about the ovens temp fluctuation & don't have a window or oven light, peak quickly to make certain no burning is taking place) then drop temp to 350F and bake for another 15 min.
5. After removing from oven serve immediately. If not eating right away, stick the tip of a knife through top of each one to prevent sogginess. The end result should be a popover that has puffed several inches above the cupcake cavity. The base should have extended outside of pan, (if not puffed out of pan, then they needed to bake longer), and top should be whole with no hallowed-out centers (this means the oven was opened while baking). The inside should be moist and eggy, tasting similar to a crape, with the sponginess of a pancake. The exterior will be crispy, almost fried in taste and texture.
*A light, decadent, and quick finish to popovers is a lemon Chantilly cream with blueberry compote. Here are our recipes.
Lemon Chantilly Cream
2 T granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 tsp of lemon curd
1. In large bowl whip cream, sugar and vanilla until stiff peaks, using electric mixer. Don't over whip. Then carefully stir in lemon curd with a rubber spatula until incorporated completely. Use immediately. Chill leftovers.
Blueberry Compote
3 C fresh blueberries
1/3 C granulated sugar
3 T lemon juice
pinch of salt
1. Place all ingredients in a small sauce pan on medium heat until blueberries begin to pop, about 6-8 min. Simmer until thickened then remove from heat to cool. Serve immediately. Chill leftovers.
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