Popover goodness

Ina never fails.  I finally made her popovers last night to go with my seafood stew and they were wonderful and no fail.  They are light and airy and super flavorful without a lot of ingredients.  However, they aren't the easiest things in the world to make.  You can make a lot of mistakes if you don't follow the recipe exactly.  For great popovers that turn out right every time first you need an actual popover pan (it's shown in the above picture).  My mom tried to make them in a muffin pan and they didn't work at all.  Popover pans are easy to find- any kitchen store will have them.  Second, you need to grease the pan really well with softened butter.  Third, you need to preheat the pan (without the batter).  Lastly, don't open the oven while they're baking.  This will cause them to deflate.  Just turn on the oven light to check on them. 
This recipe comes from Ina Garten's "Parties" cookbook on page 189.  The only tweak I made was that I used 2% milk instead of whole milk and they still tasted great. 

Popovers (makes 12)
1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
3 eggs at room temperature (to get eggs to room temp. quickly, put them in a bowl with warm water and let them sit for a few min.)
1 1/2 cups whole milk (or 2%) at room temp. (microwave for about 20 sec. to bring to room temp)

Preheat the oven to 425
Grease the popover pan with softened butter
Place pan in oven for exactly 2 min. to preheat
Whisk butter, flour, salt, eggs, and milk until smooth (batter will be thin)
Transfer batter to a liquid measuring cup (makes it easier to fill the pan)
Fill popover pan a little less than half full (do not overfill- you will have a mess in your oven)
Bake for exactly 30 min. and do not open the oven door while cooking!!

Popovers are best served warm, but my husband said that they were just fine the next morning with a little bit of jam.  Enjoy!