Popovers.

"POPovEEEERRRs....ow isn't butter divinity"

Ow good golly gosh, I really need to READ Little Women. You see I am about to get all gushy about it, but only referring to the film instead of the 19th Century novel just sounds so low-brow....and while I know that high-brow doesn't feature tooooo heavily in this little life of mine, I do like to keep up the pretense ...you know, I listen to radio 4, have a double barreled name and have a massive thing for Pachelbel's Canon in D and pearls, so I can kid myself most of the time that I am some kind of sophisticated....despite the copious amounts of sweat I drip over my spinning bike and the amount of time I spend in pajamas and the way my hair looks when I've slept on it a bit damp.

Maybe if I pretend it's the old Elizabeth Taylor film version I'm talking about....that's fancier isn't it?

Ow whatevs. There are a million and 1 books I 'have to' read so I might as well just get over it and fully confess my love for Winona Ryder and Kirsten Dunst and Susan Sarandon as the March family and CHRISTIAN BALE as Laurie. So much love.

So yes...popovers, they appear in this very wonderful film and I'm suresure they appear in the book and I have always been fascinated by them while having no clue what they were; Little Women being the extent of my experience of them. Turns out...they're basically Yorkshire Pudding for breakfast (a la Dutch Baby) and heck that is just plain genius. They're not even filling and fatty because they puff up so much that you're pretty much just eating tasty air.

So maybe you have a day free soon, and you want to feel all homey and civil war chic....well than I suggest you make these and crack open a bit of Louisa May Alcott....and well, if you're not, make these and stick on the film....did I mention the CHRISTIAN BALE thing. With Love and Cake.  

Popovers.

Recipe by King Arther Flour

A few notes:

• For those out there that are popover mad, you can indeed get specific popover pans; a bit deeper and skinnier than traditional muffin pans.
• I mixed my batter in a blender to get a really smooth mixture, you could do it with an electric hand whisk or just a plain old balloon whisk too; just make sure everything is really well amalgamated, with no streaks of egg or lumps of flour.

Makes 6

You will need

1x6 hole muffin pan, very well greased with a flavourless oil

2 eggs

120ml milk

pinch salt

88g plain flour

22g butter, melted

• Make sure your oven is set up so the shelf you're going to use is in the lowest third of the oven with plenty of space above it for the popovers to rise.
• Preheat the oven to 230°c.
• Put the eggs and milk into your blender and whizz until totally smooth.
• Add the flour and whizz again to incorporate.
• Finally, blend in the butter so you have a batter about the thickness of thick double cream.
• Make sure the oven is definitely up to temperature before dividing the batter between the muffin holes in your tray so they are 2/3 to 3/4 full.
• Bake on your prepared oven shelf for 20 minutes, then turn the temperature down to 170°c and bake for another 10 minutes. Try and let this all happen without opening the oven door; only doing after the initial 20 minutes baking has occurred if you're worried about burning.
• When the popovers are fresh from the oven, stab them with a knife or skewer to allow any sog-making steam to escape.
• Serve immediately, dusted with icing sugar, maybe with jam, or honey or syrup or chocolate sauce or anything you just so happen to feel like .