Day 12: So glad they're soft... Poppy-Seed Popovers

Today’s recipe needed to be something quick and easy to swallow… literally. I have strep throat, which would, I guess, be a valid reason for the lack of quality posting last night. While I feel like junk, I have discovered that ibuprofen gives me just a couple hours of sanity (before the rock swallowing feeling and the fever return). Thankfully, mini-man went to bed easily tonight, and little-man is well on his way and reading with his Daddy. I have spent the majority of the last couple of days in bed, and I am SO thankful that my husband is a GREAT father.

I remember, in my pre-GF days, making popovers often- to serve with whatever meal we were eating that evening or to spread jam on. I had not ever considered being able to make them again. When I found this recipe (below) I was pleasantly surprised by how easy it looked; and by the prospect that in only 30-40 minutes I could be enjoying some of my old favorites.

Today’s recipe was stolen from the Living Without Magazine website…

 1 cup gluten-free all-purpose flour blend of choice (I used ½ C Brown rice, ¼ C Tapioca Starch and ¼ C Potato Starch)
½ teaspoon xanthan gum
½ teaspoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon unsalted butter or dairy-free alternative, melted and cooled
2 extra-large eggs, lightly beaten, room temperature
1 cup milk of choice (low-fat is fine, nonfat is not), room temperature
1 tablespoon poppy seeds

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Generously grease a 6-cup popover pan (or a regular muffin tin with deep wells, if you don’t have a popover pan) and set aside.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour blend, xanthan gum and salt. Add butter, eggs and milk, whisking well after each addition until the batter is smooth. Add poppy seeds, whisking to combine. The batter will be thin.

3. Fill each well in the pan just under half full. Place the pan in the center of preheated oven and bake for a total of 30 minutes. After the first 20 minutes, pierce the top of each popover with a sharp knife to allow steam to escape. This helps the popovers maintain their puffiness.

 Recipe adapted from Gluten-Free on a Shoestring by Nicole Hunn. Reprinted by arrangement with Da Capo Lifelong, a member of the Perseus Books Group. Copyright © 2011.

 Well, Justin is a milk-o-holic… so we were out of milk… even though I was almost done making the mix. Instead I used rice milk, which does contain fat, but obviously not enough to make these popovers really pop. Mine sort of “popped-under”. I followed all of the instructions to the mark, the rice milk being the exception, and while these did pop a little and tasted just like their gluten containing counterparts, they did not get that nice airy pop to them. Needless to say, Isaac and I sat in bed reading a little and munching on popovers tonight.

 Hopefully by tomorrow I’m feeling a bit better (especially since I’m not allowed to return to work until after the weekend). Maybe I’ll be able to make an actual meal again by then?!

 Naturally,
 Raych