Whole Wheat Popovers

I don't make popovers often because they really only taste good right out of the oven.   Popovers can be so temperamental I hesitated making any changes to the recipe.  This is my same recipe halved but substitute 1/2 the flour for whole wheat flour. I had been wanting to try whole wheat flour to see how they would come out.  They came out great there is a very slight heavier texture as there is whenever you substitute some whole wheat in a recipe but they were very good.  Of course you can certainly just halve the regular recipe also but you will stare at a dozen wonderful popovers hot out of the oven that will be hard to resist.  They also sound so decadent but actually there are less than 150 calories in each of these.

Whole Wheat Popovers

1 C milk  (I used 1% because that is what I had on hand)
1/2 C all purpose flour
1/2 C whole wheat flour
2 large eggs
1 T butter
pinch of salt


Heat oven to 425° with popover pan in it.

Have all ingredients at room temperature (this is the secret to them popping!)
Mix all ingredients well, I used hand blender to do this.  Let sit while oven comes to temp.  when oven is ready carefully remove pan, spray cups with oil, pour batter equally into cups.  Bake for 20 min when you remove them from the oven dump them out immediately, if you pierce them with the end of a knife it will stop them from deflating to quickly.

Enjoy them while hot!!

***You can make them savory or sweet with different additions.  Grated cheese on top, cinnamon & sugar added to batter or sprinkled on top, add Rosemary or Thyme to have with a roast, the possibilities are endless.

Set the pan on top of a cookie sheet for easy handling.
I keep this old one just for catching spills.

Whole Wheat Popovers

These were topped with a small amount of Swiss cheese.

I love popovers, they look amazing, taste amazing, but wow have I gone through a lot of failures to get success.  It isn't that they don't always "pop" it is usually more of an oven issue or stuck to the pan issue.  I have had 2 oven fires, one of which weakened my heating element which I didn't realize and it broke on Thanksgiving day mid way through cooking my turkey---(thank you Priscilla for finishing my turkey!).  The pan issue didn't help as I would prepare the pan more and they would of course spill over, I really wish I took photos now of all the mishaps.   I think the prepared pan heats up the butter runs down the sides and as the batter rises up then the sides aren't as coated.  They are still tasty but not as great for presentation.  I can remember my grandmother making them and I had tried them years ago, but a while back we were at a meeting in Scottsdale, AZ where we had the most unbelievable popovers.  BLT which has many locations makes the largest most perfect popovers I have ever seen, so I came home determined to make these and so began the trials and errors.  I do think every time I make them there is possibility of something going wrong.  However last night success!  One of the biggest issues is I only have one oven (like most households I assume) when I want these the main course is in the oven so timing is usually an issue.

BLT gives you their recipe at the table when they bring the popovers, I also had a recipe card come with the pan which I bought at Williams & Sonoma  most recipes I've tried are pretty similar.  I halved the recipe which didn't affect the outcome, halved the flour to whole wheat and prepared the pan with softened butter rather than melted.

Whole Wheat Popovers

ingredients:
3 eggs
1 c milk
1/2 c all purpose flour
1/2 c whole wheat flour
1 tsp salt
2 T butter melted

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425°, take softened butter and spread into heat cup coating sides & bottom well.

In a bowl whisk together eggs and milk, then whisk in melted butter.
Blend flours and salt then whisk with egg mixture for 2 min till blended well.
Divide batter into prepared pans, only fill about 1/2 way up cup.
Bake for 20 min. reduce heat to 325° bake for 15 more min.
Remove from oven and dump out popovers (that would be a miracle for me) take a knife to go around popover and loosen from side. serve warm.