Popovers deliver as a comfort food extraordinaire! I quite simply adore them… hot from the oven, crispy & golden on the outside, and yet soft and steamy inside… split and slathered with plenty of salty butter and then delightfully devoured. Of course, they can be served on their own, with brunch, alongside a favorite soup, or even filled with a favorite creamy anything… from seafood to beef burgundy.
They are very much like Yorkshire Pudding, but instead of baking the batter in a roast beef’s delectable juices, we use a somewhat deeper version of a muffin tin. The typical popover pan has 6 cups, rather than a dozen. When we butter each tin before filling with batter, we also butter the rims as the batter will “pop” over the cup’s edges as it bakes.
On this day, we are sweetening up these precious puffs. If you already make popovers, it’s a simple matter of adding 1-2 tsp sugar and a couple teaspoons of freshly zested orange and lemon peel to the batter, and up to ½ tsp vanilla extract, if desired. Just before baking place half a dozen fresh raspberries on top of each cup of batter, slightly pressing them down. Bake as usual and serve hot, with a dusting of confectionary sugar…. Plus, butter and some extra raspberry preserves, if you’d like.
It all starts with Super Simple Perfect Popovers. Glad you “popped” in to enjoy my recipe for popovers, baking technique tips, and some variations.
Super Simple Perfect Popovers
4 lg eggs, at room temperature
1½ c whole milk, at room temperature
¾ tsp salt
1 ½ c flour (all-purpose works best)
3 T butter, melted, slightly cooled (and another T for prepping the popover pan)
Use an eggbeater or immersion blender to combine eggs, milk & salt in large bowl. Then add the flour, beating or blending till smooth. Finally, drizzle in the butter, blending till frothy. Let the batter rest 15-20 minutes at room temperature. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 450°F, with 1 rack at the very highest position and another rack in the bottom third of the oven. Place a popover pan on the lower rack to preheat with the oven for 3-5 minutes. Once preheated, remove the pan from the oven and brush the 6 cups and their rims with the extra melted butter. Pour batter into the 6 cups till ¾ full. Place pan in lower third of oven and close door. Without opening the door again, lower the temperature to 400° and let bake 20 minutes. Without opening the door, reduce heat again to 350° and continue baking for 10 more minutes. Remove pan from oven and pierce the top of each popover with the tip of a sharp knife. Immediately split and serve with softened butter or anything else you choose.
KISS Tips: Not opening the door while baking popovers is key, so resist the temptation to “peak.” If you have an oven door with a window, that will have to do. IF in the last 10 minutes of baking, the tops appear to be getting too brown, quickly open the oven door and slip a baking sheet onto the top rack and immediately close the door again. Piercing the tops of popovers when they come out of the oven lets the steam escape to prevent them from getting soggy. Some people like to place their popover pan on a baking sheet before placing it in the oven, but I prefer to let the heat access the cups of the tin to help the bottoms of the popovers also get toasty.
KISS Variations: A favorite savory variation of mine comes from adding 1-2 T dried onion soup mix to the batter along with the flour. To satisfy a sweet tooth, turn these into Raspberry Popovers by adding ½ tsp 100% pure vanilla extract to the beaten egg mixture and 1 T sugar + 1 tsp each lemon zest + orange zest to the flour mixture. Before placing in the oven, add half a dozen fresh raspberries to the top of each popover cup and press down slightly. When they come out of the oven, sprinkle with a dusting of confectioners’ sugar and serve with butter and raspberry preserves or a drizzle of raspberry syrup along with more fresh raspberries, if desired. You can use fresh blueberries, blackberries, cut & pitted fresh cherries, or diced peaches in the same manner, to turn these into Blueberry Popovers, Blackberry Popovers, Cherry Popovers, or Peachy Popovers.
