Foolproof Popovers

I have a confession. I am addicted to food blogs. One of my favorite fixes is looking at Deb's food on Smitten Kitchen. A few weeks ago she featured a corn, buttermilk, and chive popover recipe that looks awesome.

For those of you not familiar with popovers, they are the American version of a Yorkshire pudding, which is a sort of eggy roll that can be savory or sweet. Traditional Yorkshire puddings are usually made with the drippings from a roast, but drippings are not necessary for popovers (although I'm sure it would make them even more delicious).

I am a competent cook, but I have never made popovers before and was intimidated because apparently lots of people have trouble making them "pop". There are two schools of thought on making popovers. One says you should use preheated pans and turn the oven down part way through the cooking time and the other starts the popovers in a cold oven and uses a steady temperature. I looked for a basic recipe using method number two and here are the results:

Mmmm, popover perfection. (Okay, well, not quite perfection. They're a little dark in a couple spots because I started them in the toaster oven and then panicked because it heats too quickly for these and then switched them to the regular oven.)

The texture of these reminded me of the egg souffles Panera serves, which are mighty tasty. Next time I think I'll make a ham and cheese or sausage and cheese version for breakfast. 

Good news too: you only need four ingredients to make these! FOUR!

Anyway, the intimidation was for naught. These are easy and you can make them in a muffin tin, ramekins, or popover pan. Try them out!

Foolproof Popovers
(adapted from LAURIE's recipe)
(Yields about 7 popovers in a standard muffin tin.)

Ingredients

2 eggs
1 cup flour
1 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. Mix everything together. Batter can be slighly lumpy but make sure eggs are broken up and incorporated.

2. Thoroughly grease your pan and fill the tins ( or whatever you're using) 3/4 full of batter.

3.Put the tin in a COLD oven and set the temperature for 450 degrees. Cook for 30 minutes and do not open the oven. (In the last 5 minutes you can crack the oven an inch or two to check that they aren't overly browning). The popovers should be medium to dark brown. Best when warm from oven.