Cheddar Popovers

For many people, popovers are a luxury item.  They see them at fine restaurants, or the occasional excellent breakfast place with astounding cooks who make you wonder how they make them all.  Heck, there's even a restaurant in New York City named "Popovers"!

The truth is, basic popovers are even easier to make than pancakes, although they do take more time.  With pancakes, you have to get the griddle or frying pan to the right temperature, be careful not to slop batter when pouring it in, be careful flipping it -- and Heaven help you if you put in fruit or chocolate!

Popovers, by comparison, are pretty simple.  Once you've poured the batter in the pan, you don't touch them for over half an hour.  If you have a good non-stick pan, the first time you touch your popover with a knife will be to put butter or jam on it.

I do have a dedicated popover pan at home.  I do not use it as often as I'd like, but I do use it.  I have learned, from painful experience, never to let this pan go into a dishwasher.  A little soap and water serve nicely for cleaning purposes, and then I let it dry.  No muss, no fuss, and no risk of losing the non-stick properties of my popover pan.

You don't need a dedicated popover pan to make popovers.  Some people use standard muffin pans, with 12 cups for small muffins or cupcakes, but I find those make tiny popovers that are a bit too cooked for me.  If you don't have any sort of muffin pan or popover pan, and there isn't a good popover pan for sale near you, don't panic.  Look for what some places will call a Texas muffin pan, which only has six larger cups in the same space a standard muffin pan would hold twelve.  Get a non-stick one for your own peace of mind.

This recipe is adapted from "The Joy of Cooking," which is an excellent reference book for a home cook.  Newer editions aren't always as good as the old ones on some recipes, from my experience, but they still explain a lot of terms and foods.

All the hardware you need for this recipe are some good measuring implements (1 cup and 1/4 cup), a 2 quart bowl or measuring cup, a whisk or a hand-mixer, and possibly an OK knife and a cutting board.

Ingredients:
1 cup flour
pinch of salt, to taste
2 large (or bigger) eggs, preferably room temperature though not required
1 1/4 cups milk
1 tablespoon butter, melted
2 oz cheddar cheese, shredded or finely sliced.  I slice my own with a knife; you might find it easier to buy pre-shredded cheese, and that is fine for this application.

Preheat your oven to 450ºF.  Melt your butter in your microwave for 20-30 seconds, or on your stovetop for however long it takes.  Beat the eggs into the butter, then the milk into the eggs.

In a separate bowl, put in your flour and salt, lightly blending them.  Add your milk, egg and butter mixture to the flour and whisk thoroughly until the mixture is smooth.  Pour the mix into each cup until it is about 1/3 full.  Add roughly an equal amount of cheddar to each cup, then pour in enough batter to cover the cheese and bring the cup to 2/3 to 3/4 full.  This will fill all 6 cups in a standard popover pan or a Texas muffin pan.

When the oven reaches 450º, put your pan in the oven for about 16 minutes.  At the end of that time, turn the oven down to 350º and reset your timer for 22-24 minutes.  At the end of this time, take out your pan and stare in wonder at the beautiful popovers sitting on your stove.

Grab your butter or your favorite jam, spread it inside or out as you prefer, and dig in!

If a friend asks you how much work they were, you could lie and tell them that it's the most complicated dish you've ever heard of.  However, I suggest that instead you tell them how easy it was to make and share the recipe, as sharing good food is one of the oldest expressions of friendship on the planet.