Weekend Casual Cinnamon Sugar Popovers

Can we talk about churros for a quick minute?  Churros are a fried doughnut often made with a light and eggy choux pastry dough.  They’re often fried in long strips, drowned in cinnamon and sugar, and wrapped in paper before devoured.  Most of my churro experience has come from childhood visits to the county fair or some Disney-themed amusement park where I would enjoyed churros roughly as tall as I was.  They were never exactly fresh, or warm, or particularly delicious but they were still fried dough with sugar and thus…. AMAZING!

It’s hard to make proper churros at home.  Most of us don’t have the ability to make 2 foot long strips of fried dough a reality.

Nooooo problemo.  I might have life-hacked us a baked churro!  These light and eggy popovers are doused in butter and cinnamon sugar and happily mimic the elusive churro.  Light, eggy, warm, and sweet.

 They’re best enjoyed hot from the oven, barely held by two fingers, standing over your kitchen counter, with your third cup of coffee because I’m thinkin’ about your weekend.

Popovers are wonderfully easy to create.

As the name would suggest, their looks are pretty bold and impressive… unlike their rather simple assembly.

First, room temperature eggs are whisked well.

To the eggs we add a good dash of pure vanilla extract and whole milk.  For this recipe, I like to use milk that has been sitting at room temperature for about 15 minutes.  Like the eggs, I want to take the refrigerator chill off of our ingredients.

A cup of flour in a bowl like so.

Cinnamon, sugar, and salt for our simple flavorings.

Wet ingredients meet dry ingredients and are whisked until no lumps remain.  This batter is fairly thin… like a loose pancake batter.

It’s about this point in the process that I realize my muffin tin is nowhere in sight and missing from my kitchen cabinets.  A few frantic text messages reveal that I’ve left my muffin tin at a friend’s house.  That’s what you get for taking fresh muffins to friends…?  Clearly.

In the absence of my muffin pan and a proper popover pan, my hack is the humble foil cupcake liner.  Well sprayed with nonstick cooking spray, and filled with 3 to 4 tablespoons of batter, these cups have enough strength to stand on their own on a baking sheet in the oven.  Phew.

If you haven’t left you muffin tin at a friend or neighbors, feel free to bake these puffs in a well-greased muffin or popover tin.  In the absence of proper equipment and the presence of an intense donut craving, thank goodness for foil liner life hacks.

The result is a rustic, puffed, golden, and light pastry bite.

We’re not done yet.  Ooooohh no.

Melted butter is generously drizzled over the warm puffs because OF COURSE IT IS.

Cinnamon sugar is sprinkling lovingly then aggressively over the buttery bites

Piled in a bowl and served dang-near immediately, these bites are light and eggs.  Soft and somewhat hallow in the center.  They’re crisp around the edges with the occasional crunch of too much sugar which I’m guilty of loving all too much.

These Weekend Casual Cinnamon Sugar Popovers take about 40 minutes to come together, start to finish, and are best served piping hot from the oven.  Like… over-the-moon-DELICIOUS hot out of the oven.  I think of them as super easy soft doughnuts.  Super light and satisfying.

Weekend Casual Cinnamon Sugar Popovers

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• Prep Time: 10 minutes
• Cook Time: 30 minutes
• Total Time: 40 minutes
• Yield: 12 popovers 1x

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Ingredients

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• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 cup whole milk
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

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Instructions

1. Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Place 12 foil cupcake liners on a rimmed baking sheet and generously spray with nonstick cooking spray. You can also use a muffin tin (lined or unlined) generously sprayed with nonstick spray. I used the foil liners without the muffin tin and baked up rustic and delicious popovers. Set pan aside.
2. Place melted butter in a small bowl. Mix together 1/2 cup sugar and 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon in a separate small bowl. Set both to the side.
3. In a medium bowl whisk together milk, eggs, and vanilla extract. Whisk well, about 2 minutes.
4. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, salt, and remaining cinnamon. Add the dry ingredients all at once to the wet ingredients and whisk together until no lumps remain. The batter will be thin. That’s perfect.
5. Divide batter between the greased foil liners. Between 3 and 4 tablespoons per foil liner. They shouldn’t be too full. Less than half full is best.
6. Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350 degrees F and continue to cook until puffed and golden brown, about 15 minutes more. Don’t open the oven until near the end of the banking time or the popovers will deflate.
7. Remove from the oven and generously drizzle each warm popover with melted butter. Sprinkle generously with cinnamon sugar. Sprinkle with even more cinnamon sugar. Serve immediately. They’re best right out of the oven. Enjoy and happy weekend!

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