This week the TWD BWJ recipe was popovers. My family and I were very excited because my mother-in-law often makes fabulous popovers for holiday meals and I have never attempted them at home. My youngest daughter even asked me to wait to make these when she was back from her church youth group trip. She is not much of a foodie so this was a significant request. Well the first batch was quite a disappointment compared to Grandma’s!
They were very toasty! The insides were beautifully hollow but the outside….. well that was another story. The recipe directed me to bake them for 25 minutes at 425 and then lower the temp to 350 and continue to bake for 15-20 minutes. Well these were over toasted before the 25 minutes were up so I just turned off the oven and let them sit until we were ready to serve dinner because I was afraid they might still be doughy inside. They were not. We ate them all and no one complained but this was a definite do over. Even before they were out of the oven I emailed grandma “what went wrong” ? I missed her call the next day but she left me her recipe on voicemail. She had always had great success with the Sunset magazine recipe http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/classic-popovers-10000000656213/ . I took a look at this, it was not much different but did have different baking instructions. I also posted to the TWD P&Q : Popovers post (I think this means Posts and Questions?). As I was posting my dilema, I realized all the things I had done wrong, first I had been obsessing all day on a practice version a Rainbow Cake I was making for a bakery order.
This was my version of Whisk Kid’s Rainbow cake meets Ina Garten’s lemon cake with a lemon buttercream frosting, I was making this by special request for a 65th birthday! Anyways not only had I forgotten to take the eggs and milk out of the fridge to come to room temp for the popovers, I only had nonfat milk (recipe call for whole or 2%) and I set the oven to convection which is what I always use for baking but it does brown a bit quicker.
Round 2 went a bit better:
I used whole milk and eggs at room temp. I put all the liquid ingredients in the blender first and slowly incorporated the flour. And I lowered the oven temp. The end result was much improved but still not quite like grandma’s. I had to turn off the oven at 17 minutes and they were still a little over toasty. I think I’ll give grandma’s version a try next time!
If you’d like to try them for yourself Paula of Vintage Kitchen Notes and Amy of Bake with Amy are this week’s hosts and have the recipe posted on their sites.
Next up Nectarine Upside-Down Chiffon Cake and those nagging 8 recipes I’m behind on!
Bake on!!
Bake, Garden, Cook ... repeat 
Wow, your rainbow cake looks amazing!
I had to re-make them as well, as my first batch was so stuck to the ceramic custard cups…
But I had more luck (because I not only buttered but also floured them) and totally loved them
(I’ve made some sweet and some cheesy (Grana cheese) adding rosemary and spices).
Hope with your grandma recipe you’ll have more satisfaction.
Please let us know how it goes.
I had the same issues with the oven time. Your second round look golden and crusty! And the rainbow cake is beautiful!
Glad batch #2 was successful. Man I do love your rainbow cake–it is a work of art!
Your rainbow cake is beautiful! I think Julia must have had an awfully slow oven – a lot of folks had trouble with over-browning. Your first batch looks almost as good as your second, which looks perfect.
Love the rainbow cake! I’m glad your popovers turned out better the second time. We loved these!
What a beautiful cake! And your second round of popovers look perfect!
That rainbow cake is very cool! And even if the first ones came out a little “tanned” they really popped!
your first popovers might be a little tanned, but they sure did pop nicely! and the rainbow cake is pretty cool too.
That cake is great!
My oven is pretty spot on and they were done much quicker than the recipe called for. I guess that’s where instinct helps 🙂
Put the pan in the oven, on a lower rack. Your goal is popovers whose tops come about midway up the oven. If you put the pan on an upper or even middle rack, the tops will be too close to the upper element, and they’ll scorch. Shut the oven door, and bake the popovers for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, reduce the heat to 350°F. Bake for an additional 15 to 20 minutes, until they’re a deep, golden brown. If you can leave them in for the full 20 minutes, they have a better chance of holding their structure and not deflating as they start to cool. I opened the oven door to take this picture towards the end of the baking time. But leave the door shut, tempting as it is to peek inside, until very close to the end.