Classic Breakfast Popovers: Impossible Thinking


Classic Breakfast Popovers

"I can't believe that!" said Alice.

"Can't you?" the queen said in a pitying tone. "Try again, draw a long breath, and shut your eyes."

Alice laughed. "There's no use trying," she said. "One can't believe impossible things."

"I dare say you haven't had much practice," said the queen. "When I was your age, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."-- Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

To begin the practice of believing impossible things, especially before the breakfast hour, I suggest whipping up a batch of old-fashioned, classic popovers. If the voluminous pastries don't make a believer of the fantastic out of you, perhaps nothing will.

Popovers, Straight from the Oven

The light, airy, eggy puffs of bread that so wonderfully hold a spoonful of favorite preserves or marmalade always put me in a good mood for the day. I suggest starting them first thing upon waking, as while they are incredibly easy to make, they do take some oven time to get their full "pop" on. Mix up the 5-ingredient batter and "pop" it into the oven, sit down to your first cup of coffee or tea, and ponder the impossibly possible within you while you wait.

Classic Popovers

2 large eggs
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon vegetable or canola oil
1/2 teaspoon salt

Place a muffin tin in the oven, and preheat oven to 475˚.

In a mixing bowl, beat eggs vigorously. (Traditional recipes ask you to do this with an electric mixer, but I get fantastic results with some extreme wrist action and a good whisk.) Add flour, milk, salad oil and salt, and beat until perfectly smooth.

Remove hot muffin pan from oven and carefully and generously butter each individual cup. Don't be stingy with the butter, or your popovers will stick profoundly, causing you to give up entirely on impossible thinking for the rest of the day.

When cups are generously buttered (it's okay for the butter to pool in the bottom of each cup) fill each cup 1/2 full with batter. Pop into the oven for 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350˚ and bake 25 to 30 minutes longer or until popovers are brown and firm.

Allow to cool for up to 15 minutes before removing from pan. Makes about 9 popovers in a standard sized muffin pan.

Comments

  1. I can think of at least 4 different jams I would love to eat with these! I wouldn't mind starting my day with one of these!

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  2. I LOVE popovers, especially when they are straight from the oven!

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  3. I've only had popovers once, I guess I forgot they existed. Thanks for reminding me!

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  4. I love popovers:) They always remind me of watching the movie Little Woman as a kid, which introduced me to them, and thinking, "What are popovers?"

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  5. My mother-in-law used to make these to go with roast beef. I never thought of them as a breakfast item, until now. I'll have to try them.

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  6. How wonderful! Great popovers!

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  7. These look fantastic! I've never made popovers before, but your post has inspired me!

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  8. Your popovers look beautiful! I suspect I will be making some this fall!

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  9. I used to make popovers all the time and I am not sure why I stopped, thanks for bringing me back to them!

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  10. I have to admit that I've never actually had a popover... I don't have a pan, but maybe might need to add that to my wish list!

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  11. I've been wanting to give popovers a try for a while now. Your post has totally inspired me! Plus I love that quote from Alice in Wonderland. :)

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  12. Wow, gorgeous. At first, I was confused, because there was no butter in your ingredients list, but then you restored my faith in humanity in the instructions. :-)

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  13. I haven't had popovers in forever! A wonderful idea -- especially for breakfast! I guess I thought I needed a "Popover pan" to make them. Good to know a muffin pan will work!

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  14. This is something new for us here, we will try it this weekend and I let you know it goes!
    grts,
    A

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  15. Wow. This takes me back. My Dad was a gourmet chef and one of his favorite things to make for the family on Sunday mornings were popovers. Such great memories! I haven't had them in so long. Will be bookmarking this recipe and trying them out on my family. Thanks!

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  16. These popovers look wonderful...This is my idea of breakfast :)

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  17. Popovers aren't done in Australia, and I'm thinking that we are missing out! Those hangy-over-bits (the popped bits!) look so inviting.

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  18. i love alice in wonderland and popovers! nice post!

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  19. I have NEVER had a popover! I feel that I am my life is incomplete. I think that I need some instructions on how to eat these. Help!

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