Popovers

Popovers were an event in themselves in my childhood. I vividly remember the excitement and magic of waking up to discover my mom whipping up a batch of these pastries.

Light, fluffy, pilloughy, airy, flakey dough smothered in wild strawberry butter. Best of all, they’re strikingly easy to make, requiring only a few basic ingredients and relatively little prep time. A warm popover with butter and homemade wild strawberry jam is a cathartic experience.

The one stipulation is that a popover is only as good as the strawberry jam that you put on it. In making this recipe a few days ago, my mom and I ate the last bit of 2019 summer wild strawberry jam that she had reserved for one more batch of popovers. If you don’t have real jam, it may be better to forgo this recipe until you can get some.

With that being said, here is our tried and true popover recipe.

Ingredients

  • 3 eggs
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1/2 cup flour (all purpose, cake or bread flour all work fine)
  • 2-4 tablespoons butter
  • Salt
  • Vanilla extract
  • Strawberry jam
  • More butter

Steps

  1. Preheat oven to 425F and melt 2-4 tablespoons of butter
  2. Combine eggs, flower, milk, melted butter, salt, and vanilla extract and whisk a bit to combine ingredients fully and incorporate air into the mixture
  3. Butter a muffin tray, coating the inside of each pocket with butter
  4. Whisk the batter a bit more and then fill each muffin cup about 2/3 full
  5. Bake for 15-25 minutes or until the popovers have puffed up a lot and are beginning to brown
  6. When the popovers are done, pull them from the muffin wells and leave them on top of the hot pan and in the oven for about 2 minutes to set up.
  7. To make strawberry butter, combine roughly equal parts strawberry jam and softened butter.

Notes and Results

  • A word of caution: if you open the oven door before the popovers are done, they might deflate. I learned this the hard way. The desired popover has risen in the oven and is very light with a great deal of air incorporated into the pastry.
  • On cook time: After the popovers have cooked for 10-15 minutes and are beginning to rise, I like to check on them every couple of minutes (by looking through the oven window, not opening the door), and pulling them out when they have achieved a golden brown color.
  • Another word of caution: If you use too much flour, the popover will be too dense. The first batch pictured above have a bit too much flour in them (closer to 3/4 cup). They’re still delicious, but they are more akin to a muffin than the desired airy texture. This seems to be a recipe in which careful measure of ingredients is important.
  • On butter: Popovers can be made without the addition of melted butter in the batter, but I like the incorporation of butter which adds a richer flavor.

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