They’re airy! They’re crisp! They’re buttery! They’re one of the best foods adapted from English cooks. They’re popovers!

Derived from Yorkshire pudding, that puffy mainstay of the British Sunday roast, popovers date back to 19th century America. Unlike their English forbearer, which was baked in a rectangular pan with a layer of meat drippings, popovers were cooked without beef fat in individual cups. As a result, instead of a fluffy souffle-like dish, you ended up with golden, crusty yet velvety rolls.

Freshly baked popovers

Similar to Yorkshire pudding, popovers come from a simple combination of eggs, milk, butter and flour. The ratio of liquid to dry ingredients gives the batter its levity or “popover-ness.” In the oven the liquids create steam, which causes the rolls to puff up. Tear into a popover and you’ll find a perfect hollow center, the lovely side effect of all that steam.

Steam also provides these baked goods with their name. As the steam increases, it pops the batter over the sides of each individual baking cup. Hence the moniker “popover.”

Rosemary Stilton popovers

Although some bakers claim that muffin tins make acceptable popovers, I prefer to use deep, cup-shaped, commercially produced popover pans. With muffin tins my rolls look like squashed mushroom caps. With popover pans they look as they should, like popovers.

Popovers can be flavored with herbs, spices or cheese. Because I love the subtle taste of these rolls, I usually leave them plain or flavor them after baking with preserves or sun-dried tomato, garlic or herb butter. The choice is yours.

ROSEMARY STILTON POPOVERS
If you prefer a plain popover, just leave out the chopped rosemary and cheese. Likewise, if you want to make mini popovers, use a mini muffin pan in place of the traditional popover pan. In this case it won’t matter if your baby popovers look like little mushrooms.

Makes 12 standard size or 36 mini popovers

1 1/2 tablespoons melted unsalted butter, plus more butter for greasing pans
3 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups skim milk, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
1 tablespoon minced fresh rosemary
scant 1/4 cup crumbled English Stilton or other rich blue cheese

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.

Grease the popover pans with butter. Place in the oven for 2 to 3 minutes to preheat.

Whisk together the butter, eggs, milk, flour, salt, pepper, rosemary and cheese until smooth. Pour the batter into the preheat pans, filling each cup to less than half full. Bake for 30 minutes, until golden brown and puffy. Serve hot.