POPOVERS

Meet my best friend: the popover. These delicious little puppies are a mainstay in my kitchen. This simple, magical combination of milk, eggs, and flour creates the most incredibly airy and crispy puffs you could ever imagine. Get creative by adding Gruyère and chives, cinnamon and sugar, or just keep it simple and enjoy the basic recipe. Either way, you’ll agree that this is just the beginning of a lifelong friendship.

1½ tablespoons unsalted butter, melted (and cooled to room temperature), divided, plus softened butter for greasing pans

3 extra-large eggs, room temperature

1½ cups milk, room temperature

1½ cups all-purpose flour

¾ teaspoon kosher salt

Makes 6 popovers

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

2. Using a pastry brush, coat an aluminum popover pan or muffin tin with 1 tablespoon of the melted butter, and put the tin in the hot oven for 2 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, in a large bowl whisk together the eggs and milk until frothy (about a minute). Add the flour, salt, and the remaining ½ tablespoon of melted butter, and whisk until the batter is the consistency of heavy cream with some small lumps remaining. Remove the popover pan from the oven, and quickly fill each cup three-quarters full with batter. Bake for 30 minutes until the tops are golden brown. Do not open the oven during baking.

4. Popovers lose their crunch if they linger in the pan, so turn them out onto a wire rack and poke a small hole in the side of each with a paring knife to let the steam escape. Serve immediately.

For Gruyère and Chives Popovers: Add ½ cup of shredded Gruyère and 1 tablespoon of minced chives to the popover batter and bake per the directions.

For Cinnamon-Sugar Popovers: Bake per the directions and let popovers cool on a metal rack. In a small bowl combine ½ cup of sugar and 1½ teaspoons of cinnamon. Brush each popover with melted butter and then roll them in the cinnamon-sugar, coating each popover.