Popping over Popovers

I have never eaten or even made for that matter, a popover.  I knew what a popover was, just never tasted it.  I thought they were fussy to make, time consuming, and assumed the outcome of making them would not be good. When my youngest was home from college, she was game and so was I, so we tried making them.  She got creative, I wanted them plain.  Since it was the first time making them, I didn't want to mess them up.  First, I thought I had to buy a popover pan, so I did, but you can also use a regular size muffin pan.  Her and I got baking in the kitchen, and the outcome was great.  This is how we made them, recipe below.

A few very simple ingredients, flour, milk, salt, eggs and butter - that's it, not even a mixer is required!

 These were her creation - Pepperoni and Cheese popovers, and they were fantastic!  More dense than a regular popover from the weight of the pepperoni and cheese.

 My popovers were plain, light and airy.  Serve for breakfast with butter, jam, honey or fruit.  Or, serve as a bread with lunch or dinner.  No knife required, just pull them apart.

BASIC POPOVER RECIPE

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups unbleached flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 large eggs, room temperature

1 1/4 cups skim milk, room temperature

1 tablespoon butter, melted

1/2 cup chopped pepperoni, optional

1/2 cup shredded mozzarella or cheddar cheese, optional

additional butter for greasing the tins, about 1 1/2 tablespoons, softened

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  In a large mixing bowl, whisk flour and salt together.  Add eggs, one at a time, and whisk after each addition.  Add milk, then the melted butter, continue to whisk until all is combined and there are no lumps in the batter.  At this point, if you are making pepperoni and cheese popovers, add in now, stir to combine.

Divide the 1 1/2 tablespoons of butter between the cups in the pan.  Place pan in the oven until the butter melts, and the pan is hot, don't burn the butter.  Remove pan from oven and fill each of the cups to 2/3 full.

Return pan to the oven and bake for 20 minutes.  Reduce the oven to 350 degrees and bake for another 20 minutes.  DO NOT open the oven door during this baking time.  Remove from oven when popovers are golden brown and serve piping hot.  Makes 6 popovers.