One of my favorite places to take colleagues and clients to “wine and dine” them when I lived and worked in Newport Beach, California, was Mariposa, the gorgeous, airy cafe inside the Neiman Marcus in Fashion Island shopping center. Although I would not call myself a girlie girl, the entire experience was so decidedly and delightfully girlie. Soon after being seated, instead of a standard bread basket, each guest is presented with her own huge, golden brown popover, and a little ramekin of strawberry butter. The popovers were slightly deceptive in size – they looked huge until you tore into them, and realized they are virtually hollow inside, with the most incredible crusty outside and slightly soft, brioche-like inside. Even though I generally try not to fill up too much on bread, I could never manage to have any willpower around those popovers – they always got the best of me.
This past Saturday, my dear friend Greta came up to visit me in San Francisco, and we had a very girlie day planned – first a trip to the Marina Morrison bridal salon, where I met and fell in love with THE dress, and then to International Orange for an afternoon of pampering and facials. To properly prepare us for the girlieness ahead, I immediately recalled these delicious popovers, and knew they would be perfect. They are so easy to make, simply mix the batter together, let it rest at room temperature for an hour, and then bake in a hot oven. While the batter is resting, make the strawberry butter by mixing room temperature unsalted butter with strawberry preserves. While the butter alone is phenomenal {and would be excellent on toast, pancakes or waffles}, it was pure heaven slathered on a freshly baked, warm popover straight from the oven.
For another delicious-sounding popover recipe, check out Clara’s chai tea popovers here.
Recipes
Note: If you are making these popovers for breakfast, I recommend taking the butter and eggs out of the fridge the night before to let them come to room temperature overnight.
Popovers
- 1 3/4 c. milk
- 2 c. all-purpose flour
- 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 3 large eggs, at room temperature
Pour milk into a saucepan and set over medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes, or until lukewarm {but not hot}, about 110°F. Sift together the flour, salt, and baking powder into a large bowl.
Preheat oven to 450°F. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a wire whisk, beat the eggs on low speed for about 3 minutes, until foamy and pale in color. Stir in the warm milk and continue to mix at low speed. Gradually add the flour mixture to the beaten eggs at low speed then increase the speed to medium and mix for 2 minutes longer. Let the batter rest for 1 hour at room temperature.
Note: you could probably use a hand-held mixer for the above steps instead.
Spray nonstick popover tin {or muffin tin} generously with nonstick spray and set on a baking sheet. Fill the cups of the tin almost to the top with batter. Bake for 15 minutes, then reduce the over temperature to 375°F. Bake the popovers for 25 to 35 minutes longer, or until they are deep golden brown and crispy on the outside and airy on the inside. Serve hot with strawberry butter.
Strawberry Butter
- 1/2 pound {2 sticks} unsalted butter, softened
- 1/2 c. strawberry preserves
Beat the butter until light and fluffy. Add the preserves and beat until well combined. To serve, spoon or pipe into one-ounce ramekins or bread and butter plates.
Adapted from here
I’m so going out to get me “one of these popover pans! And, once again, bloggers I follow seem to have had the same inspiration within a short time of each other!. Just the other day, a blog I follow posted a great recipe for popovers with cheese.
Love the idea of butter with strawberry jam – as well as the idea of taking out the butter b& eggs the night before so they can come to room temp.
I’ve gotta start LIVING LARGE – I’ve gotta start treating myself to popovers!!!
I guess everyone is on a popover streak! 🙂 I also think these would be delicious with a pumpkin butter – perfect for fall! You should absolutely treat yourself to popovers! 🙂 I do think that they could be made with a regular muffin tin, although I love how huge they became in a popover pan with room to spread out. xoxo
I agree – I don’t think they’d be good made in a muffin tin. I know recipes used to call for making them in little ceramic “thingies” – which I bought and used “for other things”…. and never made the popovers.. What’s wrong with me?! ; o )
Oooh that’s a good idea – I think that those sound perfect for popovers! I have terra cotta yogurt pots that I carried back in my luggage from France – I think those may work well too – thanks for the inspiration! xoxo
Quick one about the terra cotta yogurt pots… if they’re not glazed… I wonder if the popovers would stick and be difficult to get out.
Ooh good point Cecile – thank you! I don’t think the interior of the pots are glazed, so I probably shouldn’t use them after all…thanks for looking out! xoxo
I did “throw” pottery at one point in my life, but I’m certainly not an expert…. You know, I really, really would LOVE to “get me” a porous, un-glazed tangerine pot in which to make Moroccan chicken. Hmm.. Christmas gift idea from my children!!
Ooh that’s a great idea! xoxo
I love popovers, have not made them in the longest time. You have inspired me to dust off my popover tins. Love the strawberry butter too!
Wonderful! They are a perfect thing to make for brunch for guests – so easily to throw together in the morning if you allow yourself time to let the batter rest. So easy! xoxo
I think the big man will love these! Thanks FSM!!
Haha awesome! Matt devoured about 3 in one sitting. Thanks for reading FSM! Love you! xoxo
Just beautiful! Can’t wait to make these!
Thank you so much! And thanks for stopping by! xoxo
OMG, is there anything better than popovers? No! And the strawberry butter is perfect. Seriously, I need to get me a popover pan, or can I just make them in a muffin pan?
Thank you so much! No, a popover pan is definitely not necessary – a regular muffin tin should work just fine, although they will likely just be slightly smaller. If you do give them a try, please let me know what you think! xoxo
I’ve never made popovers, but these look delicious. I’m definitely going to break out the biscuits and make some strawberry butter. . . or raspberry butter. . . omg the possibilities are endless!
Oooh nice idea! Biscuits would also be wonderful with that strawberry butter…In fact, that strawberry butter would be fantastic on just about anything! I think the key is good quality strawberry preserves. I used Bonne Maman’s, and it was heavenly. Thanks for stopping by! xoxo
Well… those look seriously good. I’ve never made these, but now I want to. What a rise!
Yes, the rise was so wonderful! I think the key is to let the mixed batter rest at room temperature for a good hour before baking. Hope you do give them a try!
You found THE dress?!? AH SO EXCITING!! The thought of strawberry butter on a popover also sounds pretty exciting! 😉
Haha thanks Brittany! It was definitely the first dress I tried on that I felt that feeling, you know? Haha, of course it is also way over budget! 🙂 xoxo
So happy you found the dress too!! yay!!!!! Ahh… love girlie lunches at Neiman’s with the popovers and strawberry butter! You just got pinned, girl 😉
Thanks BP! We should do our next meet up at Neiman’s for brunch! 🙂 xoxo
Popovers look a little like Yorkshire puddings… airy, crispy-edged, deliciously soft and chewy inside. The strawberry butter sounds DIVINE. Such a beautifully styled, beautifully written post as always Lindsay. Love everything you do xo
Thank you Laura! xoxo
Darn – I can’t believe I had forgotten you’d posted this recipe for popovers…. and,now that I’m working on my ‘The Popover Experiment’, I can honestly say I hadn’t found another popover recipe with the ingredients formulated like this. The heck with the popovers I was going to make for my 3rd & final post about popovers – I’m gonna make these – AND OF COURSE – give total credit to you!!
Haha how fun! I love you popover experience – what a great idea! xoxo
I just posted my 3rd & final recipe for my ‘The Popover Experiment’. I actually made a few ‘shortcuts’ to your fabulous recipe and I was happy with the results. In fact, they’re my favorites of the three recipes.
That being said – they’re not a large (or a lovely looking) as your popovers. I’ve included a link to your page – as well as telling people that, although my popovers are very good, they looked a bit weird compared to your lovely popovers!!!
Thank you so much Cecile, and for trying out the recipe I used! I had good luck with it – the popovers really were so light and airy. Yours look lovely. Yum! xoxo
These little guys look yum 🙂
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Thank you so much! And thanks for stopping by! xoxo