Savory Cheese Popovers; Daring Bakers Challenge, February 2012

  (6 popovers)

The Daring Bakers’ February 2012 host was – Lis! Lisa stepped in last minute and challenged us to create a quick bread we could call our own. She supplied us with a base recipe and shared some recipes she loves from various websites and encouraged us to build upon them and create new flavor profiles.

My mum used to make popovers fairly frequently. She liked to experiment and made some interesting tall ones, using empty tin cans. I've never made them, so now was the perfect time for me to give these a try. 

My popovers didn't rise as much as my mum's and the holes were more evenly distributed. Hers used to have one large hole in the middle, making any leftovers perfect for stuffing with tuna or egg salad the next day.

Savory Cheese Popovers

Basic Popovers recipe adapted from All Recipes

2 tbsp *canola oil

2 eggs

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup milk

1/8-1/4 tsp salt, to taste
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese

1 tbsp green onion, sliced or jalapeno, finely diced

Preheat oven to 425°F.

Divide the oil evenly between the cups of a standard 6 cup muffin tin; 1 tsp per cup. Place muffin tin into oven to heat; 5-10 minutes. It doesn't matter if the maximum temperature has been reached yet, you just want to get the cups and oil smoking hot.(My mum used to say heating the tins first made the popovers rise more.)

In a bowl whisk the eggs, then add the flour, milk, salt and pepper and whisk only until the mixture is evenly combined and smooth. Whisk in the cheese and onion or **jalapeno.

**I served my popovers with chili and thought later that jalapeno might have been more interesting than green onion.

Carefully remove the hot muffin tin from the oven and ladle enough batter to bring it up to about 1/4 inch from the top.

Return to the oven and bake for about 25-35 minutes or until the popovers are a nice even brown. My baking time is shorter because I use a convection oven. The popovers will begin to collapse once you remove them from the oven. If you prefer them a bit dryer (and stiffer), then turn off the heat and leave them in the oven an additional 5 minutes or so. I remember my mum doing this.

*Despite the amount of oil I used, two popovers still managed to stick to the tin and I had to pry them out with chopsticks.