I have been told that I’m a breakfast elitist.
This means that I refuse to eat breakfast unless I can have an elaborate spread or fancy treats for breakfast. Oatmeal before work? Not for me. Cereal? Too plain. Bacon, eggs, pancakes, pastries? You betcha.
I just don’t enjoy standard work week breakfast fare. It’s okay from time to time, but in the mornings, especially in the winter, I could sleep in a bit more rather than make breakfast and if you know me and how much I enjoy food, giving up a meal for sleep must mean that I REALLY like sleep.. The quick breakfast stuff bores me but I could do it in a pinch. Other people I know ahem eat breakfast every day and refuse to accept that a cup of coffee serves as the “most important meal of the day.”
Sigh.
On the weekends, however, I love doing up breakfast. This weekend, Sunday breakfast (which was actually more like brunch by the time it was started and completed) included cinnamon sugar popovers. So easy and so yummy.
When getting coffee with Dave one morning, he had ordered a morning bun…you know, those cinnamon sugar pastry treats? Well, it was delicious and I’m sure that he probably regrets introducing me to those. Not only because he made the mistake of sharing the one that he bought for himself, but also because I found a fabulously easy recipe that yields damn near perfect results (very rarely can I say that a recipe I try comes out as good as what I have in mind) and I can now make them at will.
The foundation for this recipe comes from the blog A Sweet Spoonful with some minor tweaks of my own to make up for ingredients/items I didn’t have:
Cinnamon Sugar Popovers
Yield: 8 popovers
I made my popovers in a muffin tin although you can purchase a special popover pan if you’re so inclined; I’m just a fan of using what I have in my own cupboards. If you do use a popover pan, this recipe should yield 6 popovers whereas if you use a muffin tin, you’ll end up with 8. High heat is important to the success of these popovers so when you’re ready to fill your pan, remove it from the oven quickly and make sure not to open and close the oven door while they’re baking. These are really best the day they’re made. Preferably warm.
Adapted from: Cook’s Illustrated
Ingredients:
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup whole milk (*Note from CL: I used half-and-half because I didn’t have whole milk*)
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 5 teaspoons vegetable oil
For the cinnamon sugar top:
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (*Note from CL: I used 2 teaspoons because 1 just didn’t look like enough.)
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 450 F. Blend the eggs and milk together in a blender until combined. Add flour, melted butter, salt, cinnamon and vanilla until smooth and bubbly, about one minute. Let the batter rest for 30 minutes.
While the batter is resting, it’s time to heat up the muffin pan. Pour 1/2 teaspoon of oil into each muffin cup, using only the outer 8 tins (leave the center ones empty — they won’t heat as evenly). Adjust oven rack to lowest position and make sure there’s not a rack directly above — remember your popovers are going to rise and you don’t want another oven rack to squish them. After the batter has rested 20 minutes, place pan in oven to heat the oil. You want the pan to have a good 10 minutes in the oven to heat.
After batter has rested, remove pan from the oven and, working quickly, divide batter amongst the 8 muffin cups. Return to oven and bake for 20 minutes (don’t open the oven door). Then lower heat to 350 F and continue to bake until popovers are golden brown, about 15 minutes more. After removing from the oven, gently flip them out onto a wire rack. I used a butter knife here–sometimes they take a little shimmying.
For the cinnamon sugar topping: mix the sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Thoroughly brush each popover all over with the 1/4 cup of melted butter, then dredge each puff generously in the sugar mixture. Enjoy warm.
Oh and let me tell you. We did enjoy them. Seriously delicious. If I could have these every morning, then I would eat breakfast every morning. My weight would also triple, but whatever.