Today we are making popovers. They are a hollow bread that utilizes the steam given off during the baking process to “pop” or rise into their final shape. The hollow shape makes them the perfect vessel for a little butter or small sandwich fresh out of the oven. Popovers can be flavored in a variety of ways, using different cheeses or herbs in the batter. I chose cheddar cheese and fresh chives from the garden for this particular batch, which I think makes a great base for a little breakfast sandwich, but you can flavor them with whatever you prefer, or just make plain popovers by omitting the cheese 
and herbs.
CHEDDAR CHIVE POPOVERS
- 2.25 cups Flour
- .75 Tbsp Salt
- 1.75 cups Milk
- 4 ea Eggs
- 1 cup Cheddar, shredded
- 3 Tbsp Chives, chopped
Once you have your ingredients listed above gathered, you will also need a small saucepan, either a stand mixer or a hand mixer, a ladle, and pan spray. You will need two popover pans as well, but since most people don’t keep those in their kitchens, cupcake tins will work just fine!
- The first thing we are going to do is preheat the oven to 400°F and place our popover pans or cupcake tins in the oven while it preheats. It is very important that the pans are hot when we are ready to fill them. While the pans and oven are heating, measure out your remaining ingredients. Place the milk in the saucepan, and crack your eggs into your mixing bowl with the whisk attachment.
- Next, heat the milk on the stove just until the chill is gone. It should feel slightly warm to the touch, but not hot. Once the chill is gone, you can remove it from the heat and return to the mixer for the next step.
- Whip the eggs in your stand mixer or hand mixer on low-medium speed for about 30 seconds. Then, add about half of the heated milk to your mixer and whisk on low speed for another 30 seconds or so.
- Add all of the flour and salt to your mixer. Start the mixer on low speed, still using the whisk attachment, and mix until combined. It will be rather thick at this point. Turn the speed up high for about 30-45 seconds to break up any flour clumps that may be remaining.
- Once the mixture looks mostly smooth, add the second half of the heated milk. Make sure to start the mixer slowly…it might splash out if it’s started too quickly! The batter should be very liquid at this point.
If you are using an herb in your batter, now is the time to add it. I added about 1.5 tablespoons of chives to the batter and saved the remainder for the top.
- Now for the fun part!
Remember we are using hot pans, so we need to have everything ready before we take them out of the oven. What you’ll need is the batter that we just finished mixing, the bowl of shredded cheese, the remaining chopped herbs, the ladle, and the pan spray. And don’t forget the oven mitts! Take the two cupcake pans, or popover pans, out of the oven. If you are using cupcake tins, spray the tins alternating every other cupcake opening, in order to leave room for the popovers to pop. If you are using popover pans, just spray 12 tins with pan spray, as the pan is already spaced appropriately.
- Use the ladle and fill the pans that you just sprayed 1/8 inch from the top with batter, alternating every other pan to leave room for the popovers to expand. Top each popover with about 1 tablespoon of shredded cheese and a pinch of chopped herbs.
- Now place the popovers back in the oven, but don’t forget the pans are still hot! Use your oven mitts! Bake them at 400°F for about 45 minutes, turning them halfway to ensure even cooking.
- All that’s left is to wait for them to POP! As they bake in the oven the liquid in the batter will create steam that will make the popovers rise.
- Once your popovers are done baking, you can remove them from their pans and serve warm. Enjoy!!!
