Pop, Pop, Popovers!

Before Hawaii: a story and recipe from The Baking Wizard. Pop, Pop, Popovers is a Greg Patent Christmas Tradition.

This became a ritual when our kids lived at home or came home during college break. I’d whip up the batter the night before, refrigerate it, and bake the next morning. On Christmas, we’d open stocking gifts while the popovers baked and delicious aroma.

While we’re on the magic of air in baking, let’s consider the popover, those amazing mountainous puffs of crustiness and egginess. To make them you beat eggs, milk, and melted butter into flour and salt, pour the cream-like batter into deep pottery or metal cups, and bake them until they more than triple in volume and become beautifully browned with huge cavities in their middles. Heaven.

I made my first popovers from Maida Heatter’s mom’s recipe, Sadie Heatter’s Popovers, in Maida Heatter’s Book of Great Desserts. Maida said she likes to bake popovers in pottery custard cups that are deep and narrow, in either the 4-ounce or 6-ounce size. In the mid-1970s these were easy to find, so I bought some of both sizes. Maida says, “Naturally, the popovers will be more dramatic if baked in 6-ounce cups.”

Drama wins every time in my book. Over the years, I got into the habit of making popovers every Christmas and New Year’s Day. This became a ritual when our kids lived at home or came home during college break. I’d whip up the batter the night before, refrigerate it, and bake the next morning. On Christmas, we’d open stocking gifts while the popovers baked and delicious aromas wafted their way to us in the living room. About 5 minutes before they were done, I’d open the oven door and quickly stab each one in 2 or 3 places to release the trapped steam, then I’d bake them a few minutes more to ensure they’d be crisp and not collapse. Ease them out of their cups, arrange them in a napkin-lined basket, and bring them to the table.

How to Eat Pop, Pop, Popovers

And don’t be dainty when it comes to eating popovers. Rip them open to reveal their custardy innards and be generous with butter, honey butter, or whatever. No matter how many times I make popovers I can’t get over the fact that it’s just the air beaten into the batter that causes them to puff so miraculously. It doesn’t matter if I whisk the liquid gradually into the flour or use a food processor to do the job in seconds. Cold batter or room temperature batter bake into equally spectacular popovers. And I never preheat my pottery cups or metal popover pans.