Popover
I love butter. No substitutes, please. (In fact, if you read the ingredients on substitutes, you will not likely let them cross the lips of anyone you love.)
Real butter on hot popcorn beats movie theatre “buttery topping” every time. Butter melting into the nooks and crannies of a toasted English muffin makes me smile… just before I take a large, crunching chomp! And when I am even thinking about steamers or chunks of hot lobster or king crab legs, I know I will be dipping them in freshly melted butter… and I do NOT mean clarified butter. I want all the solids and saltiness. (Just go with clarified butter when you need a higher smoke point for some cooking.)
Now, I could go on and on about yummy foods with butter, but I will not torment you any further today. Instead, I will share a recipe that simply sings out for butter. Even as a child, I went wild for fresh, hot popovers, served with plenty of softened, salty butter. So, try these Lemon Popovers if you have a hankering. If you rather have traditional popovers, simply leave out the pecans, zest, lemon juice, and honey from this recipe. My other suggestion is that you plan on only serving 4 or 5 of these, which lets you consume 1 or 2 immediately by yourself. (Just to be certain that they are okay for everyone else, of course.) LOL
Lemon Popovers
Rarely do I state in a recipe to preheat the oven. For popovers, I state it clearly… and with the popover pan in the oven. You will LOVE how this helps popovers rise more fully and get perfectly crisped edges.
2 lg eggs, at room temp
1 c milk
1 c flour
½ tsp salt
6 T finely chopped toasted pecans, divided
2 tsp freshly grated lemon zest
2 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
8 T butter, softened to room temp
8 T honey
Preheat oven with 6-cup popover pan inside to 450°F. Meanwhile, whisk eggs and milk till well blended. Then whisk in flour and salt just until smooth, but no more than that. Stir in half the pecans, along with the lemon zest and juice. Then spray your hot popover pan with cooking spray right to the tops of the cups. Fill the cups half full with batter & bake 15 minutes. Without opening the oven door, then reduce heat to 350°F. Let bake 10-15 more minutes. Meanwhile, combine the butter, honey, and remaining pecans. When you remove the popover pan from the oven, immediately remove popovers to a wire rack and pierce the side of each one with a sharp knife to let the steam escape. Serve them piping hot with the pecan honey butter. Makes 6.
(Photo by BD McIntosh)
