No-Peeking Popovers

Jill and I decided to make popovers together using the recipe from Rebecca Rather's book The Pastry Queen Christmas. I've made popovers before and though they turned out big and puffy, I wasn't all that thrilled with the flavor since they seemed eggy to me. This recipe includes some grated cheese, which gave the popovers a really nice non-eggy flavor.

The two big rules for popover success are: 1) Never open the oven to peek before the popovers are done, and 2) Make sure to use a really hot oven to ensure nice tall popovers.

This recipe makes 6 large popovers.

No-Peeking Popovers
6 teaspoons unsalted butter
3 large eggs at room temperature
1 1/2 cups whole milk at room temperature
1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
6 tablespoons grated cheese, such as Gruyere, sharp Cheddar, or Parmesan

Preheat the oven to 425F. Use a cast-iron popover pan, which has especially deep cups, or a Texas-sized muffin pan (with 3 3/4-inch cups) for this recipe. Each has 6 cups. Put 1 teaspoon butter in each popover or muffin cup and set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs and milk until combined. Whisk in the flour, salt, and melted butter.

Place the pan in the oven until the butter melts, about 2 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and fill each cup half full with batter. Top the batter in each cup with 1 tablespoon of cheese. Pour in the rest of the batter until each cup is three-fourths full. Return the pan to the oven and increase the oven temperature to 450F. Bake for 15 minutes, then reduce temperature to 350F and bake for 15 minutes more. Resist the temptation to open the oven door until baking is complete. Remove the popovers from the oven and immediately invert the pan to remove them. Don't be slow, or the popovers may stick. Serve immediately.

Please visit Jill's blog to check out her perfect popovers.


The Pastry Queen Christmas: Big-hearted Holiday Entertaining, Texas Style