I think it's safe to say popovers are on my Top 10 list of favorite foods. They're a bit below chocolate, bananas, and Ramen noodles, but certainly ahead of cherries and the apple things I make.
(While blogging this, I asked Sexy Nerd what he'd say are my favorite foods, to which he listed "smores, those apple things you make, cherries, chili cheese burritios, green tea, McDonalds Cinnamelts, and the burritos I make with couscous". No chocolate or Ramen? Really, Sexy Nerd? And tea isn't a food, my love!)
Popovers with Onion and Gouda Cheese
Makes 12 awesome, savory popovers
(While blogging this, I asked Sexy Nerd what he'd say are my favorite foods, to which he listed "smores, those apple things you make, cherries, chili cheese burritios, green tea, McDonalds Cinnamelts, and the burritos I make with couscous". No chocolate or Ramen? Really, Sexy Nerd? And tea isn't a food, my love!)
I came up with this recipe while trying to use up some leftover gouda cheese and think it's a real winner. Remember the last popovers I made, which were perfect with jelly? These are delicious, but the complete opposite of those. Popovers with Onion and Gouda are ideal for a dinner party or simply to elevate an average meal into something a bit more special.
Sexy Nerd and I polished off all 12 within an hour.
Start off by throwing 1/2 a cup of diced onion into a pan of hot oil. Stir it and watch as the little onion pieces turn translucent and oh so yummy. Remove them from the oil when cooked, about 5 minutes, and throw into a large mixing bowl. If you have a stand mixer, save some dishes and use that.
Toss 1 cup milk, 1 cup flour, 1 chicken bouillon cube, 3 eggs, and 1 Tbsp melted butter in with the onion. These seasoning packets really pile up at my house because I prefer curry powder (Even Better Ramen Recipe here). This is an ideal use for them.
I see a dog smiling. Possibly drooling. Possibly something worse. Bad dog! How about you?
Now is a good time to preheat your oven (I hate recipes that tell me to preheat waaaaay before I'm ready to use the oven. "Preheat, mix everything, then refrigerate the dough overnight." Phooey!) We're going for 425F for 15 minutes.
Mix, mix, mix! I love to turn my stand mixer on to the highest setting, but most recipes recommend 'medium' and to be careful not to overmix. Friends, for this recipe you can crank that baby up!
No mixer? A blender would work well or, you poor dear, your hand and a whisk. While these are baking though, I really think you should Google "refurbished stand mixer". Mine is a refurbished KitchenAid Heavy Duty Plus and I've never felt anything short of love for it.
Add about 1/2 a Tbsp of butter to each cup of a standard (12 cup) muffin pan. Stick it into your preheating oven to get nice and melty. Use a brush to distribute the heated butter onto the sides. Stuck popovers are just sad.
Next it's time to, you guessed it, pour the batter into the pan. If you're clumsy like me, pouring it first into a container with a lip can make a huge difference in how much actually makes it into the oven. Bonus: if, also like me, you're 6 muffin cups in and have only 1/2 a cup of batter remaining, you know you're doing this wrong! Ideally, each cup will be filled about halfway.
Gouda! After your popovers have baked for 15 minutes, stick 2 chunks of cheese into the center of each. And isn't my photo pretty? I'm quite proud of myself.
Drop the heat to 350F and bake for another 20 minutes, during which your house is going to smell soooooo good!
TA DA!!!
They "popped" up. Go figure, right?
They're slightly crisp on the outside, but have a soft, almost chewy layer on the inside. Oh, and they're darn good.
Yum, yum, yum, yum, yum!
Popovers with Onion and Gouda Cheese
Makes 12 awesome, savory popovers
- 1/2 C diced onion
- 1 C milk (nonfat works fine!)
- 1 C flour
- 1 chicken bouillon cube (or seasoning from a Ramen Noodles package)
- 3 eggs
- 7 Tbsp butter
- 24 bite-size cubes of Gouda (Old Amsterdam is a yummy choice!)
- Cook onions in hot oil until translucent.
- In mixing bowl, add the onions and remaining ingredients, minus the Gouda and butter. Combine with 1 Tbsp melted butter and mix thoroughly.
- Preheat oven to 425F.
- Butter a 12 cup muffin pan. 1/2 a Tbsp per cup works well and just a minute in the preheating oven will melt the butter enough to spread onto the sides of each muffin cup.
- Distribute the batter into each muffin cup, filling about halfway.
- Bake for 15 minutes.
- Remove from oven. Insert 2 Gouda cubes into the center of each popover.
- Reduce temperature to 350F. Return the pan to the oven for another 20 minutes.
- Enjoy!
*If you make these (or any of my recipes) and blog about your experience, let me know. I'll gladly link to your post!