Popovers with Strawberry Butter

Back in the day, I would have lunch at the Nieman Marcus Cafe across the street from my office. They always served a popover with strawberry butter with their salads. So delicious!!! The original recipe can be found on Leite's Culinaria website. As yummy as the popovers from NM Cafe are, when I make them they come out tasting a bit too eggy. Go figure. There are hundreds of recipes on the net calling for bread flour, self rising, etc. I think it's unnecessary. This is my favorite recipe for the taste AND simplicity in ingredients.

1 c. milk (whole milk - not skim nor 2% nor 1%. You need the fat for poppage)
2 T butter, melted
2 large eggs
1 c. all purpose flour
1/2 t. salt

The trick is to have the batter at room temperature (my batter gets these crazy air bubbles at room temperature - it's great!) and the baking tin super hot. I will let the milk and eggs sit on the counter for about 15 minutes. Add the melted butter to the milk, then the eggs and mix well. Sift flour and salt together in a separate bowl and add the milk mixture to the flour mixture. Stir until just mixed (it will be lumpy). Set the batter sit while you wait for the oven to preheat. Set the oven (with the racks in the low position) at 450 degrees and let the empty popover pan (or muffin tin) heat up with it (learned this idea from Deborah Krasner).

Fill the hot tins 1/2 full with batter. Bake at 450 degrees for about 15 minutes. Lower the heat to 350 and bake for another 15 minutes. Slather on the strawberry butter (recipe below) and enjoy!

Strawberry Butter

1/2 c. (1 stick) butter, softened
1/3 c. good quality strawberry preserves (I use the swiss brand Hero)

Mix together. This is the ratio I like - slightly less preserves than butter. Definitely use the amounts you like. If you've never had the pleasure of strawberry butter, do try! You will not regret it.