Cold Oven Popovers

Poppin up all over the place.

After all that intense eating on the weekend, we decided to go with salad for dinner Sunday. I wanted to make some bread to go with, but I couldn't find a good recipe. Instead, I decided on popovers. CCO suggested using the American Heart Association Cookbook recipe. It uses only egg whites, rather than the whole egg. This means the popovers aren't as full-bodied as ones you've eaten in the past. Still light and fluffy, but not as rich and buttery. Good for if you've eaten way to much in a weekend.

There are two important tricks for this recipe. First, don't preheat your oven. That may sound weird but the trick to popovers is that the pop is created by steam. It works better if the temperature increases gradually. So don't turn the oven on until after you put the tray into the oven.

Secondly, muffin tins don't work very well. You're supposed to use a popover pan. The cups are deeper than a muffin tin. If you don't have a popover pan (because who actually does), you can use custard cups, sprayed with olive oil. The recipe will make about 18 5-oz popovers. That's a lot, so unless you have a big family or company, I'd suggest halving the recipe. Nine is a much more doable number anyway.

Eat Rating: Ok. You can definitely tell they are the "heart healthy" recipe, though.

Difficulty: Easy. The hardest part is separating the eggs.

Adapted from the New American Heart Association Cookbook, 7th Edition

Whites of 6 eggs

2 cups skim milk

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1 tbsp margarine or butter, melted

2 cups all purpose flour, sifted

1/4 tsp salt

Spray the popover pan or custard cups.

In a medium bowl, beat the egg whites lightly with a fork, then add milk, oil and melted butter. In a second, larger bowl, stir together flour and salt. Gradually add the milk/egg mix to the flour, mixing with an electric mixer until well blended. Then beat for 1 to 2 minutes.

Fill each cup half-full. Any more and it'll spill over onto the bottom of your oven. Set into the oven, then turn the oven on to 400 degrees. Bake for 45 to 60 minutes. Popovers will be done when they have puffed up and baked to a light golden brown color.