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October 16, 2017
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POPOVERS! ---YUM!

        BACK WHEN I OWNED A VEGAN COOKIE BUSINESS besides the 4 distributors that covered the NY metro area for me, every Tuesday, even in the snow, I DELIVERED MY COOKIES TO PRETTY MUCH EVERY HEALTH FOOD STORE IN NYC ---54 to be exact. That meant driving uptown, downtown, eastside and westside, sometimes even backing down streets to get to where I needed to go. Needless to say, I got to be a damn good NYC driver—even with the “foreign” New Jersey plates on my car.
        I ALWAYS BROUGHT ALONG ANOTHER PERSON WITH ME, WHOSE JOB IT WAS TO SIT IN THE DOUBLE PARKED CAR WHILE I RAN INTO THE STORES. We’d do this block after block, me dashing into the stores with cookies and jumping back into the driver’s seat with cash and my co-pilot ready at a moment’s notice to move the car. Interestingly enough, in the 12 years I had the business, we only had to move the car once!
        IT WAS ALWAYS A LONG DAY, SO WE ALWAYS STOPPED FOR LUNCH. Our timing usually left us on the upper west side looking for a place to eat. One of my favorites was POPOVER CAFE. Pretty much everything came with AN ENORMOUS BURNISHED BROWN, CRUSTY, EGGY ON THE INSIDE, POPOVER WITH A SIDE OF THEIR HOMEMADE STRAWBERRY BUTTER. Some days all I wanted was to crack it open, the steam and the aroma hitting me. And then dousing it in that butter. Unfortunately, it’s gone now. But, the memory certainly lingers on. I wish I had gotten their recipe, but alas I didn’t. So, I went on another search—this time for a “Popover Café” style recipe.
        POPOVERS ARE PRETTY MUCH AN AMERICANIZED VERSION OF THE ENGLISH YORKSHIRE PUDDING. The English version uses meat drippings for the fat to grease the pans in the recipe. The American one uses butter instead. SINCE I’M A BUTTER GIRL, USING BUTTER IS EVEN BETTER. You could even use olive oil if you like. Plus, although savory versions abound, I prefer the sweet, eggy ones smeared with a lot of fruit sweetened butter that melts into all the nooks and crannies.
        These are super easy to make. It’s just a quick batter of milk, eggs, flour and salt that you whip up in a blender. But THERE IS A LITTLE BIT OF WILLPOWER INVOLVED. YOU’RE GONNA WANT TO PEEK while they’re baking, BUT DON’T DO IT! Hang tight and wait until the time is up. Then you have my permission to open the oven door. If you give in and peek, they might flop on you!
        As far as baking pans, you can go out and buy the special popover ones that have deeper and narrower cups encouraging more of a “pop” to the batter. I do like their dramatic effect baked in them. But, even if you have a basic muffin tin, you’ll be good to go.
       One more thing--- once they’re out of the oven, THEY HAVE A TENDENCY TO DEFLATE. IT’S SO SAD TO SEE them beautifully puffed only to slowly sink and sink back down. To stop that from happening, it’s best to poke them on the sides with a knife once or twice, right out of the oven, to let some of the steam escape—that will allow them to stay nice and big.

LESSONS Learned:
1. If you don't have a fancy popover pan, you could use a standard muffin pan instead. You'll get a few more smaller ones that way.
2. Grease the pans well .It's easiest and fastest to spray the wells with cooking spray, but you could also brush them with melted butter or olive oil.
3. Room temperature milk and eggs are inportant to make them pop!
4. Don’t peek at them! Let them bake almost the full baking time and then look.
5. Remember to pierce each popover on the side to let some of the internal steam out and so that they hold their shape.

Popovers!
Ingredients:
4 large eggs, room temperature
1 1/3 cups milk, whole or 2%, room temperature
1 1/3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
3 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly, or olive oil

Make the popovers:
        Place the rack in the center of the oven, place a 6 well popover pan in the cold oven and preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.
        Add all of the ingredients into the blender container and blend until completely combined, 30 seconds. Scrape down the sides once if necessary.
        Carefully take the hot pan out of the oven and spray the wells thoroughly with cooking spray. Evenly pour the batter between the wells, about 3/4 -7/8 full. Place back in the oven and bake for 15 minutes. Turn down the oven temperature to 350 degrees F, and bake for about 15-20 minutes more until well-browned and "popped". NO peaking into the oven allowed! Immediately after removing from the oven, remove form the pan and poke the sides of each popover with a knife to release some of the steam. If you have any leftover, wrap in foil and store in the fridge. Pop the popover in the foil back in a hot oven for 15-20 minutes to reheat..
        Serve with the strawberry butter.

Makes 6 large popovers.       YUM!

        To make the strawberry butter: Stir together 1 stick of softened unsalted butter with 3/8 cup ( 6 Tab.) strawberry preserves (or any other flavor you like) and a pinch of salt until well combined. Store in a container in the fridge.

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