I'm not one to easily back down from an argument, especially when it comes to anything food-related. (Well, except about whether brownies should have nuts or not. That's just something I just can't get worked up about, as much as some people do.) Recently I was having a bit of a disagreement with someone particularly stubborn about the role of fat in cooking.
I believe fat is fine, but should be used where it makes a difference. For example, milk is better in hot chocolate than cream, as the heavy richness of the cream overwhelms the taste of the bittersweet chocolate. And I don't think anyone who tastes a scoop of my chocolate sorbet can tells me it doesn't have the intense flavor of the deepest, darkest chocolate dessert. I dare ya.
But on the other hand, if you're going to pan-fry potatoes, a spoonful of duck fat in the frying pan will produce crackly, crisp-browned potato cubes, and they're going to be a life-changing experience. So I'm happy to use it there. If you still afraid to try it, and are too concerned about eating duck fat, walk to the gym the next time you go, instead of driving there.
Last year Amanda Hesser was reminiscing with me about Maida Heatter, when she asked me to recreate Maida's popover recipe. For those that don't know who Maida Heatter is, she's responsible for writing some of the most amazing, luscious, scrumptiously adjective-worthy baking books over the last few decades. Known for carrying around cellophane-wrapped brownies in her purse, and distributing them freely, she was equally generous with recipes as she was with words.
She's such a hero to me that I adapted her unusually-good Sauerkraut Chocolate Cake for my book, The Great Book of Chocolate. And how surprised was I that after it came out, I got a letter from Miami, in that infamous distinctive handwriting of hers?
The illustrated note was brimming with her typical effusiveness. And in her recipes, few people could get away with using as many superlatives as she does. But because she's so thrilled about the cakes and cookies she's baking up, readers can't help but being swept up in the excitement, and her headnotes make generous use of words like "Fabulous!", "Delicious!" and "Divine!" And although some folks think words like that are outdated or should be avoided as food writing clichés, one can't help but being charmed by her sincerity and passion, which invite bakers to dive right into the recipes. And sometimes, you know, a cake or cookie is just simply delicious or scrumptious, and you may as well just use the right word to describe it—to heck with all those rules about food writing.
(And can we just talk about the fact that she sent a letter with no street number or address, and it still arrived? Is there anything Maida Heatter can't do?)
Since the project was to re-think one of her recipes, I gave it prime real estate in my brain (where space is, admittedly, limited), and for some reason I kept thinking of the usual savory uses for popovers. Until it finally hit me that my recipe should exploit the crackly shell of a popover and its hollow, airy interior: I was going to turn popovers into sugared, doughnut-like pastries, with that same crispy, buttery, sugared coating, but without the doughy insides.
Like a bagel or baguette, the best part of a doughnut is the crust. And since in most pastries, I pick crisp over soft and damp any day, these sugar-crusted popovers were a revelation. I'm not going to put words in Maida's mouth, but speaking for myself, I will say that they're scrumptious, yummy, and fabulously delightful.
Sugar-Crusted PopoversMakes 9
Adapted from my recipe in The New York Times and Maida Heatter's Great Book of Desserts
I thought these wouldn't stay crisp for very long after they were baked and coated with the sugar. But the next morning, I was surprised when I pulled off a hunk and they're weren't bad. But they are the best the day they're made; leftovers can be stored in a container and snacked on the next day. You could freeze them in zip-top bags as well.
I don't have popover tins, but found these work quite well in standard-sized muffin tins. For this recipe, feel free to use salted or unsalted butter, depending on your preference.
For the puffs:
2 tablespoons butter, melted
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup (250 ml) whole milk
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1 cup (140 g) flour
For the sugar coating:
2/3 cup (130 g) sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup (60 g) melted butter
Softened butter, for greasing the pan
1. Preheat the oven to 400ºF (200ºC). Liberally grease a nonstick popover pan, or a muffin pan with 1/2-cup indentations, with softened butter.
2. For the puffs, put the 2 tablespoons melted butter, eggs, milk, salt and sugar in a blender and blend for a few seconds.
3. Add the flour and whiz for about 10 seconds, just until smooth.
4. Divide the batter among the 9 greased molds, filling each 1/2 to 2/3rds full.
5. Bake for 35 minutes, or until the puffs are deep brown.
6. Remove from the oven, wait a few minutes until cool enough to handle, then remove the popovers from the pans and set them on a cooling rack. If they're stubborn, you may need a small knife or spatula to help pry them out.
7. Mix the sugar and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Thoroughly brush each popover all over with the 1/4 cup (60 g) of melted butter, then dredge each puff generously in the sugar and cinnamon mixture to coat them completely. Let cool on the wire rack.
Related Links & Recipes
The Queen of Cake (Saveur)
English Gingersnaps (Caviar & Codfish)
Robert Redford Cake (Wednesday Chef)
Chocolate Whoppers (Family Style Food)
Date-Nut Bars (Market Manila)
Date Espresso Loaf (Movable Feasts)
Maida Heatter's Book of Great Desserts (Culinate)
Pascale's Perfect Roast Potatoes (Chocolate & Zucchini)
Roast Potatoes in Duck Fat (Wrightfood)
Those remind me of the morning buns at Bette's Diner in Berkeley. Yum. And how cool is Maida's handwriting?
I like the combination of food photos with other photos that you often have in your posts.
Aren't popovers in England Yorkshire pudding? And what a very delicious addition to make these even better!!
What a lovely take on popovers. They'll be on the breakfast table tomorrow. I have baked my way through all Maida's books, many of her recipes becoming staples at restaurants I've worked at. I wrote to her a few years back when I was running my own restaurant & bakery. She called me one day (in the middle of the lunch rush) and we had a wonderful conversation. She is such a warm and genuine person.
David
These look wonderful! However I am taking this opportunity to thank you, THANK YOU, thank you for your chocolate sherbet recipe. Our toddler became deathly allergic to dairy and eggs ( and peanuts and yellow peppers) when she turned one. So out went dairy dairy products and eggs from our home.
I still love visiting your blog and see the great posts on foods to admire, and I love reading the Perfect Scoop and the Sweet Life in Paris. Your chocolat chaud recipe works perfectly with soy- and almond- or hazelnut- milk by the way.
Cakes and biscuits ( cookies) weren't such a problem but frozen treats were. To serve to visiting adults too. Along came your recipe, and it works with soy- oat- nut- "milks" to make a gorgeous deep chocolate sherbet you can serve in the prettiest dishes and alongside chocolate cake.
Our little girl is now two and a chocolate fiend. She loves the darkest chocolate and never took to soy" milk" chocolate. She loves the sherbet with vengeance.
So thank you!
Oh, and from the Twitter stream ages ago, bicarbonate of soda is near tinned tomatoes in Supermarkets as many Europeans add some bicarbonate to make canned tomatoes less acidic. Not fresh tomatoes, but those in tins yes. I've lurked a long time. This blog is a great guilty pleasure!
You're absolutely right about the importance of flavour with fat!
The other good thing about animal fats (fat, lard, dripping - not butter), is that they reach a higher temperature than most oils before degenerating. Ideal then for crispiness and minimal fat penetration. Better still, duck and goose fat are said to contain omega-3 fats and closely resemble olive oil in health benefits: another foundation of the French Paradox!
For a lighter and more neutral flavoured frying medium, grape-seed oil also works well at high temperatures and is (at least in France) much cheaper.
I have learnt that you can have your fats and eat them too, as long as you know their, and, more importantly, your limits: I found out the hard way...
Those popovers look a lot like Yorkshire puddings with sugar. What's their history?
Fat, in all it's varieties available, does make most things better indeed.
We worked on Gluten Free Donuts and they turned out OK, but some things are better left alone and remain elusive for some.
Jennifer: The other good thing about duck fat (and other fats, like good-quality nut and olive oils) is that you use less. One tablespoon of duck fat has a lot more flavor than 4 tablespoons of store-bought salad oil.
Sandra: I'm fairly certain that Yorkshire Pudding is usually cooked in beef fat, when you're making roast beef. And I've seen recipes where the batter is poured right into the roasting dish. But I'm sure there's many variations on that theme and popovers, as far as I know, are always baked in individual molds.
Whilhelmina: Glad you like that chocolate sherbet recipe, too and am happy to hear you've successfully modified them using non-dairy alternatives.
Jennifer K: I love the espresso milkshakes at Betty's. Almost as much as Maida's handwriting!
This is brilliant, David. Why didn't someone think of this ages ago? It suddenly seems so obvious in retrospect. Can't wait to give it a try.
Sugar-crusted, sugar-dusted...what a great twist on popovers! As usual, your post on this classic puff weaves the idea round a fascinating anecdote about the famous Maida - enjoyed the details. And the popovers opened a memory door to scenes at our Thanksgiving table in the Midwest. My little sister's eyes always lit up when the popovers arrived, and she began to fill the empty shell with Mom's currant jelly...a sweet instinct she has not lost. Will tell her to check this post!
I'm obsessed with breakfast foods right now--these seem so perfect! Who would've thought you could transform a savory classic into something this simple yet effective? Thank you for this recipe, I'm looking forward to baking them in my tiny kitchen in Paris!
These popovers deserve all the superlatives you can throw at them. I made a batch a couple of months ago and they've been on my mind ever since. Fabulous!
1. Hmmm, there is a bit of duck fat in the fridge. I guess there will be pan fried potatoes on the dinner table tonight! 2. Visiting my son tomorrow, I guess I will be baking these in the morning. He has been brought up on Maida Heatter baked goods, from the bran muffins to the blueberry cakes from the hamentaschen to the chocolate pudding. 3. Thank you for writing and thinking about Maida, each time I bake one of her recipes I feel she is over my shoulder watching me.
Brownies - no nuts. That way you can share with me 'cause I'm allergic. :)
I have been making these periodically since I saw your recipe in the NYTimes (I even have a popover tin now). They are phenomenal - and so so easy to make.
Delightful post and scrumptiously delicious recipe! I haven't made popovers for so long... You've inspired me to dig up my pan and make a batch very soon... And I couldn't agree with you more about the use of fat!
Maida Heatter's Book of Great Chocolate Desserts is the first cookbook I ever bought, and the only one I never lent out until the new version came out. I made sure I got it back, though.
Her "Positively The Absolute Best Chocolate Chip Cookies" recipe is the basis of my own cookie recipe, and I've made her "Queen Mother's Cake" and "Craig Claiborne's Rum Chocolate Dessert" more times than I can remember.
You are my hero, she's my champion.
Completely with you on the whole using fat when it makes a difference, your example of the milk based chocolate ice cream is spot on!
Not come across pop-overs before... it seems to me to be a variation on the Yorkshire pudding, synonymous with our classic sunday roast. The idea of a less greasy and sweetened version of a 'yorkshire' sits very very well with me!
Dylan
p.s. read about GORDON RAMSAY visiting our culinary school last week on my blog :-)
It's a Saturday morning, I'm sitting here drinking coffee and lamenting my breakfast options. This post is torture. My granola is really going to suck now.
Wow, looking at the photos I thought the recipe was going to be all complicated and scary-looking, but it looks really doable - and doesn't even require me to go out and buy more kitchen gadgets! I definitely foresee a muffin tin coming out of the drawer today :)
P.S. So glad to see cinnamon in the sugar crust. Cinnamon makes everything better :)
So beautiful! I used to work at La Farine in the Bay Area when I was in high school...these look a bit like those wonderful morning buns they used to make. Totally different recipe but lovely reminiscence just the same...
Really enjoyed reading your post and learning about Maida Heatter. She sounds delightful. This recipe looks wonderful and got me thinking about crispy, crunch egg kichel. I'm going to make your chocolate sorbet recipe.Just got an ice cream maker a couple of weeks ago and I'm having so much fun with it!
I made these the morning I read the recipe in the NYTimes last year and have continued to have them in our weekend breakfast rotation. A great treat to brighten up any grey winter morning!
i'll have one with some strawberry butter, please!
From the picture, they looked like baked "bugnes" to me (the Burgundy word for plain beignets)... I am working on new breakfast option for my children. That would be one! Thanks!
Maida Heatter's cookbooks are at the top of my 'go to list' when I want to 'do dessert'. Her flourless frozen chocolate mousse recipe has been given out to every person who's ever eaten it in my house. None would leave until I shared!
The first time I made a German or Dutch pancake, my first thought was that it was almost a popover, just less sturdy with less flour and milk. I then looked at popover recipes and wondered how to go about making a sweet version. Then I thought..nah, who am I kidding..I'm not trained in the chemistry of baking, I'd botch it for sure. Thanks for this, because I still thought about it and you've validated that I wasn't wrong in thinking it could be a sweet treat too.
These look interesting. I don't think I've ever eaten a popover. I've heard of them though.
I wish there was an option of pushing a computer key and having those delicious looking popovers delivered instantly to the door. I agree with you that a moderate amount of fat in a recipe can greatly improve the flavor and be necessary. There is an autographed photo of Julia Child in my kitchen and we all know how she felt about butter!
Yum!
We used a muffin pan to bake these (I have a ceramic one). I had better luck treating them like mini- Dutch Babies. Our muffin pan is a small one, so I did them in two batches. The first, I greased the pan as described above; the second, I put a teeny pat of butter in the bottom of each indentation in the hot pan (pea-sized, it quickly melted). I found that they puffed up much better the second way. Our first batch were more like dense, eggy pucks! :)
Also, we tried two other toppings: delicious with lemon juice and powdered sugar, and equally awesome drizzled with melted honey-butter. YUM!
My hands are tied. Half crepe, half doughnut, oh, my!
That looks amazing and dead easy too.
Now, of course, I am tempted to make a savoury version...
Not only did she write you a lovely letter, but she used a Cary Grant stamp to send it! You must have really made an impression on her! :-)
Ahhh, these look AMAZING!! You know I'm totally gonna have to try these out now.
Genius! Baked "donuts" that look (and taste?) like fried donuts!
I may have to test this theory out. ;-)
i had the distinct pleasure of visiting Maida Heatter's house in Fla. and spent two hours with my baking idol. she served her twice baked biscotti and she gave me the recipe before the book came out.she told great stories about how she started her baking career and how she go the idea to do a cookbook. It was a major highlight in my culinary career.
David - Yorkshire puddings are much the same batter recipe. Traditionally cooked in individual portions - form the first course of Sunday lunch with gravy made from the beef roasting juices (fills you up so you don't need as much of the meat - as meat was always so expensive). Best I ever had was on a restaurant barge where the beef had been cooked in Theakston's Old Peculiar (a very strong beer made in N Yorkshire).
And yes lard is usually used for the fat - although these days any good quality fat (not oil!) will do.
If any puddings left over they were served as desert with jam, golden syrup etc and custard.
Sometimes the batter is cooked in a large container - notably for 'Toad in the hole' (believe that may be similiar to 'pigs in a blanket') - always confuses my European friends when they do the translation! And nowadays a huge pudding cooked on its own and then filled with the rest of the main course.
And there speaks a true Yorkshire woman whose puddings always rise!
Will have to try your recipe next time (tomorrow lunch!)
Ha! Another use for my Aebleskiver pan. I've been posting different ways to use that new utensil of mine (so as to justify the purchase), and recently made mini Yorkshire puddings. For that savory version, I just saved out some of the beef roast drippings to put in the little cups. Now I can do these delightful breakfast pastries. I do have a popover tin, but think for this, a smaller size would be perfect. So, thanks David. You've done it again.
I want one. Now.
And you are so right. Maida Heatter is THE original, never-to-be-duplicated domestic goddess. When I started out making pastry in our restaurant in the seventies, I worked my way through her books. She is "Fabulous!", "Delicious!" and "Divine!" And I love the re-work of this. I always forget about popovers, so old-fashioned and so reassuring. I've been having a serious yen for donuts--really good donuts so hard to find-- but I think these are going to be even better. Thanks.
david said> airy interior
first I've read : "Hairy interior" , huh.. :)
I discovered this recipe when it was in the NY Times. I love it. I even like to have them without the butter and cinnamon sugar and have nice homemade jam or lemon curd. A good friend just said last night, "We haven't had those sugar puffs in a while..." I guess this is a sign to have them for breakfast tomorrow!
I completely agree with your stance on the whole fat in cooking thing. When it makes sense, it just makes sense. Just like complaining about being healthy then jumping into a car to go to the gym.
I can't wait to try this recipe. Thanks again!
Wow. I haven't had popovers for very long. My wife was reading your post and yelled at me "when was last time we had popovers??". Now I am done, lol: since I am the only person making them at home, oh well...I know have the responsability to conceive them as soon as possible, lol. I will give it a try this upcoming weekend in two versions: the one I used to do and also some of them following your recipe. Thanks David for your always informative postings. Highly appreciated.
I love the fact that you still use a muffin pan to make popovers. (Same here, but I'm not a world-known cooking guru.) Maida sounds like a marvel--how wonderful to receive such accolades from her.
I'm adapting this recipe to be gluten free and making these popovers tomorrow for breakfast.
Thanks!
Shirley
I TOTALLY agree with you about your amazing chocolate sorbet! ;)
Oh, and yum to the popovers and Maida Heatter's awesome books and recipes!
I just read your book (The Sweet Life In Paris). It was hilarious and awesome! I'm still laughing about it! You're a great writer. Which I'm sure you know. And have been told plenty of times. Just decided to comment about it.