Popovers with fresh thyme and gruyere cheese

Here is great addition to the basic popover recipe that I posted last month.  I am giving full credit to my friend, Amanda Baker (aka theBaker mama), for her twist on the traditional popover.  She decided to add fresh thyme and gruyere cheese to her popovers one day and texted me a photo.  My mouth was watering just looking at the photo, so I knew I was going to have to make them soon.   John was making some orange glazed ham and sautéed spinach with shallots for dinner so we decided these popovers would be the perfect compliment to the meal.   Needless to say, they were delicious!

• 2 eggs @ room temperature
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 Tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons fresh chopped thyme
• 1/2 cup grated gruyere cheese

In a mixing bowl, combine eggs, milk, butter, flour and salt.  I use a whisk here and mix until the ingredients are just blended and only tiny lumps of flour are visible, about 1 minute.  

Add your gruyere cheese and thyme and combine.

Once the cheese and thyme are combined, pour the mixture into your popover pan.  Fill popover cups about halfway with batter (make sure you pour an even amount into each cup).  

Bake popovers at 425 until they begin to brown and rise, about 15-20 minutes depending on your oven.  Then reduce the heat to 350 degrees and bake until popovers are brown and crisp, about 20-25 minutes more.  Please just keep an eye on your popovers and gage your own cooking times.  I usually gage 45 minutes or so to cook my popovers from start to finish.  We like them to be brown and crisp not doughy and yellow.

When you pull them out they should look like this:  Note:  These popovers will not rise as high as the traditional popovers due to the gruyere cheese.

Popovers are best served when they are just out of the oven, so try and time them with your meal.  

These were amazing and the thyme and gruyere cheese added such an intense flavor to the traditional popover.