Orange Popovers

Happy New Year everyone and welcome to 2015!  Marin mama is back! I honestly can’t believe that it’s been over a month since I last posted. I mean I really feel like a lame food blogger! I didn’t mean to take such a long break, but life and work got in the way, and thus the blog got put on the back burner.  My commitment, or should I say resolution for this upcoming year is to make the blog a priority again. I know I’ve said it before, but I’m serious this time.  I really miss cooking, creating, writing and talking to you all, so this is the year that Marin mama gets launched, oh yeah!  I’m not sure entirely what that means, but I have lots of ideas that I will share with you all over the next few months. I’m excited for 2015 and enthusiastic to get out in the community more and expand and grow Marin Mama Cooks!

You’re probably wondering why am I starting off the new year with a popover post when most food bloggers are focusing on healthy detoxing foods.  I thought about inventing a new kale salad or some sort of quinoa dish, but honestly I just wasn’t in the mood to really create and eat anymore kale or quinoa. I’m still kale obsessed as always, but lately I’ve been craving soups, meats and carbs, and thus that’s what I’ve been cooking up.  I listen to my body and my cravings, as my body is usually telling me what it needs, and right now it wants winter comfort foods!

So since I’m a bit of a carbaholic, I decided to play around with one of my favorite carbs, popovers! I love experimenting with popovers, as it actually relaxes me in a strange way.  I wanted to create a slightly sweet popover for snack time, breakfast and/or brunch.  I had an orange handy and thought to myself, why not try tossing in some orange zest. Verdict, the kids love them, as well as a few of their peeps that I had be the guinea pigs.  These popovers have a touch of sweetness and are the perfect afternoon snack for the kiddos, or a great breakfast and/or brunch addition.  Serve them up warm from the oven plain, or open them up and slather their insides with some jam or butter. Yum!

orange popovers:

makes 6 popovers or 12 mini popovers in a muffin tin

• 2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon fine kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon finely grated orange zest
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted – you’re going to use this to grease the popover tins

Note: Don’t pre-heat the oven yet, you’re going to pre-heat the oven once the popover mix has been combined.

Measure out the ingredients and get out a zester and zest up your orange.

In a mixing bowl with a wire whisk, blend together the 2 eggs, 1 cup milk and one tablespoon melted butter until completely combined.

Add the 1 cup flour and 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt.

Whisk the batter until frothy and bubbly. You really want to give the batter a good whisk here.

 Add to the batter the 1 tablespoon orange zest and 1 tablespoon sugar, and whisk to combine.

Now it’s time to pre-heat the oven to 450 degrees.

Let the popover mixture rest while the oven is heating up. Note: Letting the mixture rest, gives the flour time to absorb the liquid and gives the popovers a better texture.

Put the empty popover pan in the pre-heated oven for 5 minutes to warm up. I usually put my pan in when the oven temp reaches 400 degrees and then take it out when it reaches 450 degrees.

While the pan is heating up, melt the other 2 tablespoons of butter.

Take the popover pan out of the oven and divide the 2 tablespoons of melted butter between the cups. Just pour the butter into the tins and let it rest at the bottom. The butter will sizzle and brown, but that’s fine.

Whisk the batter one more time to froth it up again. Give it a good whisk!

Fill popover cups halfway with batter. Make sure that you pour an even amount in all cups.

I love this grand popover pan from Nordic Ware. It may cost more than the normal popover pan, but it makes the perfect popover and they don’t stick to the pan. The pan is made of cast iron, so it cooks up the popovers evenly. I’ve had mine for 3 years now and I use it at least once a week, if not more, and it’s still looks brand new. If you find yourself making popovers quite often, then I would invest in a good quality popover pan. For those of you that are local, Sur La Table carries this brand.

Put the pan in the oven and bake the popovers at 450 degrees for 15-16 minutes until they begin to brown and rise. You can turn on your oven’s light to see the transformation, but do not open the oven door during baking, as this will cause the popovers to deflate.

Reduce the heat to 350 degrees and bake the popover for another 15 minutes or until the popovers are brown and crisp. Mine always take 30-32 minutes to cook to perfection.
Note: Finished popovers will be golden-brown, feel dry to the touch, and sound hollow when tapped.

Immediately turn the popovers out onto a drying rack or plate to cool for a few minutes.

Note: Don’t leave them in the tins, as the bottoms will get all wet from the butter.

Popovers rise up and come out differently each time, so don’t be weirded out if you see a strange-looking one.

Popovers are the best when they’re fresh from the oven, but if you need to make them ahead, just warm them on a tray in a 250 degree oven until warm and crispy again, about 5 minutes.

Serve them up warm from the oven plain, or open them up and slather their insides with some jam or butter. Yum!

As you can see from the below assortment of popovers, we’re a bit crazy for popovers.

These rosemary and sea salt popovers are my kid’s favorite popover and get requested the most.

Here’s our favorite traditional popover recipe. This recipe only requires 5 simple ingredients! We pair these with just about anything and my kids even love them for breakfast with some jam or Nutella inside. They also love them cold as a snack for school.

We also love these lemon thyme popovers.

Here’s our favorite breakfast or brunch treat. These sugar-crusted popovers beat out donuts in our house and have replaced cinnamon rolls for Christmas brunch.

So go get a popover pan and start baking up some tasty treats!  I guarantee you that your family will find a favorite version of one of the above popovers!

I’m experimenting with some cauliflower rice on Thursday, so fingers crossed!  If it’s good I will be sure to post the recipe for you all!  Enjoy your week and Happy New Year!