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.