Hello my dears!
This year’s holiday is going to be miles away from the holiday I usually spend cozy in my parents’ living room in Los Angeles. I’ll be literal miles away – with Tron and our tiny tree in New Orleans.
No doubt your holiday looks different this year too. Certainly more quiet, but still room for a little magic? Gosh, we have to make it so.
Our family has a scheduled Zoom (we’re tired and grateful for Zoom, aren’t we?) and they don’t know it yet, but our gathering is going to be part piano recital because I’ve learned Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas on the piano juuuuust well enough to play it badly. Also taking in the words of that song this year has been tough and I’ve cried while playing it more than once. My neighbors are no doubt anxious to get this holiday behind us.
I have the makings of gumbo in the refrigerator that I’ll be happy to simmer for most of the day (to bring my neighbors back into my good graces). And Christmas breakfast – a batch of popovers to be enjoyed with my second and third cups of coffee.
Popovers qualify as kitchen magic thanks to the levity of eggs in a hot oven. They’re show offs with minimal effort which is the mood this Christmas.
I’m wishing you a mellow, safe, healthy, and contented holiday this week. Take good care of yourself, ok?
Now, let’s make breakfast!
Here’s what you need to bring the magic of popovers to your holiday morning:
โข 4 large eggs, warmed just slightly to relax to proteins
โข whole milk, lukewarm without the chill
โข flour, a bit of sugar, and salt
โข melted butter – for always
โข a greased metal muffin tin
โข powdered sugar, lemon curd, and fresh blueberries for serving
Do you know how to make popovers? They’re super simple but there are a few key things that need to go right in bringing the batter together.
Allow the cold eggs to sit in a bowl of hot sink water for 10 minutes before cracking the eggs. We want the proteins in the eggs to relax so they can evenly whisk into the just-warm milk. Whisk until thoroughly combined, and no yolk bits remain. The mixture will be frothy – that’s what we want – air in our batter.
Next, sift the flour and sugar over the eggy milk. Whisk until there are virtually no lumps in the batter. A few bumps here and there are fine, but really get in there to work any lumps out.
Whisk in the melted butter.
The batter will feel like a very thin pancake batter. Pourable.
The batter will be at a warm room temperature and we want the oven at a screamin’ hot 450 degrees F.
For ease (and one extra dirty dish) transfer the batter to a liquid measuring cup before pouring it into the prepared pan. I used a muffin tin (instead of a popover pan I don’t have) and filled each cup 3/4 full.
Into the hot oven where the eggs will do their good work of lifting and lightening our popovers. It’s all about temperature – we can to create steam on the inside to lift the puffs and quickly crisp the outside to hold the shape. That means no peeking into the oven. We don’t want to drop our precious temperature.
The puffs bake for 35 minutes, with one temperature change. They should be puffed high and deeply golden when they come out of the oven. I like to serve them hot from the oven so I poke a hole in each puff to release some steam and keep them from getting too soggy.
Wonky puff shapes are just part of their charm.
The inside of each puff is eggs soft and airy while the outside is crisp and crunchy. It’s truly the fastest way to a doughnut-type pastry in the morning.
Sprinkle lightly with powdered sugar, smear with lemon curd, and dot with any berry.
I hope you have a handful of slow mornings to enjoy between now and the end of the year. Here are some other breakfast moments I wish for you: Extra Crumb Blueberry Coffee Cake + Overnight Biscuit Cinnamon Rolls or a big pot of Breakfast Jambalaya to carry you into the new year.
Photos with Jon Melendez.
My love to you, friends!
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Christmas Morning Popovers
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 30-35 minuts
- Total Time: 55 minutes
- Yield: 12 popovers 1x
Description
A simple breakfast batter with show-stopping results. Light but crisp, golden and airy popovers spread with lemon curd and sprinkled with fresh blueberries and powdered sugar.
Ingredients
For the Popovers:
- 4 large eggs, warmed in a cup of hot sink water for 10 minutes before cracking
- 1 1/2 cups whole milk, lukewarm (any fat milk will do)
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- Serve with powdered sugar, lemon curd and blueberries
Instructions
- Place a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat the oven to 450ยฐF. Grease a 12-cup metal muffin tin with butter or nonstick cooking spray. Grease the area between the cups as well as the cups themselves. Make sure the oven is close to temperature before you begin to make the popover batter.
- In a medium bowl, use a whisk to beat together the eggs, milk, and salt. Whisk till the egg and milk are well combined, with no streaks of yolk showing.
- Sift the sugar and flour over the egg mixture and beat with a whisk till frothy; there shouldn’t be any large lumps in the batter, but smaller lumps are fine.
- Whisk in the melted butter, combining quickly.
- Pour the batter into the muffin cups, filling them about 2/3 to 3/4 full. Make absolutely certain your oven is at 450ยฐF. Place the pan on the middle rack.
- Bake the popovers for 20 minutes without opening the oven door. After 20 minutes, reduce the heat to 350ยฐF (don’t open the door yet), and bake for an additional 10 to 15 minutes, until they’re a deep, golden brown.
- Plan on serving the popovers immediately – remove them from the oven, and stick the tip of a knife into the top of each, to release steam and help prevent sogginess. Slip them out of the pan to serve piping hot.
- To serve, dust lightly with powdered sugar. Serve alongside lemon curb and fresh blueberries though butter and jam will also be delicious
14 Responses
They remind me a lot of our italian zeppole, which I love!
Just made half the portion this morning for breakfast. Overall came out well but had to adjust the time at 350 degrees to 6-7 as the popovers were darkening too quick.
Had some with fresh blueberries and powdered sugar and other half with butter and black raspberry jelly.
This recipe is spot on! I had to do it twice because I filled the cups with the door open and lost all my heat and I think I didnโt mix long enough. A few popped the first time and they ALL popped the second time. Enjoyed with powdered sugar and Lingonberry jam.
This would be my A#1 choice for xmas morning breakfast, but I’m locked into a bit of a crowdpleaser that would be difficult to replace. It involves making small balls out of Pillsbury crescent roll dough, dipping it in a sugar / cinnamon dredge, then dropping the balls into a bundt pan (mine is decorated to be a FAIRY CASTLE – you can imagine the draw as the details come forth!). Once all of the sugared balls are in place, I pour melted butter with brown sugar in it OVER all of the balls and toss the whole thing the oven for quite awhile … long enough for us to hope that it sets and will slide out and LOOK LIKE A FAIRY CASTLE THAT WE CAN PICK APART LIKE MONKEY BREAD. Sometimes it works, sometimes it falls apart. It always tastes really good – kind of candied together?!. So anyway, That’s why I won’t be making the popovers tmrw. I think I will plan to make them Saturday morning. Can’t wait. They’re my favorite.
I made them this morning! Turned out great. So fun & yummy!
So timely for me…I asked for a popover pan for Christmas and I think it’s under the tree (in it’s Amazon box). I was going to wait until NYD to try it, but now I’m ready to open the box on Christmas Eve and spend my quiet Christmas morning making these. Thank you so much…and happy happy new year.
My mother always made popovers for special occasion mornings. They were accompanied by slices of cheddar cheese or butter and honey — whichever you liked best. (We didn’t have a popover pan either; she used a special set of custard cups instead. They were a little deeper and narrower than the custard cups sold today, and she was always keeping an eye out at thrift stores and antique shops for additional cups to round out her “popover” set.)
You’ve 100% convinced me of what to have for breakfast Christmas morning. And as luck would have it, I have lemon curd in my fridge!
I don’t know why looking at these popovers makes me happy. I’ve made popovers with dinner but never tried them for breakfast. The blueberries and lemon curd are a delightful combination. I willl definitey be making these soon.
Havenโt tried this recipe yet, will try it tomorrow morning. My wife remembers her mother made them when she was a kid. The have never had them, so itโs not new experience for the.
These look really tasty and the photos are lovely – I can see that they are more tiny Dutch baby than Yorkshire pudding, though frankly either would be excellent!
Sadly, I had a positive COVID swab yesterday (my birthday!) and will be spending my next nine days on my own in staff accommodation at my workplace. Turning on the oven shuts off the electricity to the whole flat, so these popovers are not going to be in my stomach in the near future. I’ll look forward to giving them a try when I have a brand new oven of my own and my sense of taste has been restored!
I just wanted to say thank you for your blog. I’m feeling pretty rubbish today (and frankly a bit peeved – I go and get COVID after nine straight months of looking after patients with it and when there is actually a chance of me getting a vaccine in the near future? Brilliant timing!) but was still so pleased to see a new post from you appear in my feed. Thank you for being just a little bit of bright light in a thoroughly crappy year. Please carry on being you :-)
Peace and love to you for all of your hard work!! My husband has been in the trenches too- there is light at the end of tunnel…. Iโm a teacher- so lots of Zoom this year… but you are a warrior and you will have those popovers when the time is right!! Cheers to you!!! ??
Didnโt mean the ??? Markโs- LOL 2020
@Claire – wish I could make these for you and slide them under a door or something — some way. to get them to you with all the accoutrements and GOOD CHEER. Hoping that you are resting well and taking good care and sincerely hoping this is just a minor blip in the road for you. Sending my very best healing thoughts your way and will continue to hold you in my heart as you recover. All my best to you – Jessica JD