Popovers have become a bit of an obsession of mine. Why? Well, because they are quick, fun and everyone seems to be super impressed with your cooking skills when you make them for dinner parties. The problem arises when one wants to make a nourishing popover that is devoid of refined flour.
In reality, popovers are not difficult to make at all. Follow a few simple rules and you will have lovely popovers that overtake your tins and do not collapse after being removed from the oven. Previous to my real food conversion, I would make popovers with good ol’ all-purpose flour. Of course, I don’t touch the stuff now.
So what’s a real foodie girl to do if she wants to make her famous popovers? I could always just make a whole wheat version and tweak my recipe just a bit, but there was that pesky phytic acid issue. We really do notice a difference when we don’t soak or ferment grains. So, I set out to create the elusive nourishing popover.
I have to tell you, I tried. I tried soaking my regular recipe, I wound up with something that resembled hockey pucks. I tweaked the recipe, soaked, and wound up with more hockey pucks. I tweaked yet again, soaked, and wound up with muffin-ish things. For the life of me, I couldn’t fathom why this particular item wouldn’t work. I’ve converted plenty of regular recipes into real food recipes for Eat Nourishing and I’ve made perfect popovers before. After about four attempts, I gave up the soaking method and decided that maybe I would have better luck with my sourdough.
Sourdough popovers? Wouldn’t that be awesome? It probably would, but I think they are imaginary. Even after consulting with some of my best sourdough sources, I could not find an answer as to why my sourdough popovers wouldn’t “pop.” After three sourdough attempts I concluded that a nourishing wheat popover cannot be done.
Success- The Nourishing Popover!
But I didn’t want to leave you all empty handed without a fun recipe to try. The fact is that a nourishing popover can be done. And you don’t even have to soak, ferment or sprout anything. That’s right, crusty popovers that you only need to mix and bake.
These no-fail, (fairly) quick, grain-free, gluten-free popovers are made with amazing arrowroot powder. I say amazing because it truly is. I have begun to use this easily digestible ingredient in my kitchen more and more. It does far more than simply act as a thickening replacement for corn starch or an ingredient for baby cookies. Its unique properties give it the ability to act in an almost glutenous way. I’ve even made grain-free cream puffs with it.
Though it is pure white, arrowroot is not refined. It is simply the tubers that are pounded to a pulp and the liquid is dried. Be aware though, some arrowroot is not pure arrowroot, but is adulterated with other starches like potato or tapioca. Know your supplier.
Arrowroot Nut Butter Popovers
These make fantastic snacks that you can whip up in about 5 minutes and walk away for an hour. They would also be a fun breakfast item. These popovers are crusty on the outside and have a hollow, chewy center. Serve them up with cream cheese, grass-fed butter, your favorite preserves or fresh fruit.
Arrowroot Nut Butter Popovers Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup arrowroot powder
- 1 cup milk
- 3 pasture raised eggs
- 1/2 cup organic nut butter of choice I used peanut butter
- 1/2 tsp unrefined sea salt
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon optional
- Coconut oil or ghee to grease the muffin tins
Instructions
- Combine all of your ingredients in a blender. I usually whip it up for about a minute. At this point you can refrigerate the batter until ready to use for about three days if you so desire.
- Generously grease a stainless steel muffin tin (you could use a mini if you'd like) and place in your hot oven for about 3-4 minutes (if you have a stoneware muffin dish, place it in the oven while it's preheating) to get hot. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Carefully remove the hot pan from the oven and pour the batter into the tins 2/3 to 3/4 full. Place the pan into the oven and do not open it. Walk away, do not peek at all. Bake for 50 minutes. If your oven has an oven light, it's fun to watch them pop through the glass. My kids enjoy watching the popovers bake.
- After 50 minutes, using a sharp knife, make a small slit into each popover and bake them for an additional 10 minutes. This will help the steam escape from the inside and also help the crust to dry out more, giving you a more stable popover.
- Remove from the oven. Let sit in tins for about a minute before trying to remove them. Serve warm, straight from the oven. Makes about 10 muffin sized popovers. These can be reheated in the oven, but it's really not the same.
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Are you a popover fan? What other types of fun breakfast or snack foods do you love to make?
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Phyllis
March 1, 2012 at 3:55 AMWhre did you find stainless steel muffin tins for popovers?
Jami Delgado
March 1, 2012 at 11:49 AMThey aren’t traditional popover pans. There are basic muffin tins and I got them on Amazon. These are the ones that are actually stainless (I think they have an aluminum core for even baking, but the part that touches your food is stainless steel: Fox Run Stainless Steel Muffin Pan
Therese - Artistta
March 1, 2012 at 5:04 AMOh I will definitely be trying these. Maybe for my hubbies birthday this weekend. Thank you for your experimenting!
Susan
March 1, 2012 at 5:18 AMPerhaps I’m missing it completely but I don’t see an oven temp listed for making the popovers? These sound absolutely amazing and I’m definitely ready for some healthy, real food popovers!! Thank you!
Jami Delgado
March 1, 2012 at 11:45 AMDon’t know why it’s not there, but it’s 375 degrees. oops
Tracy
March 1, 2012 at 5:19 AMAt what temp do you bake these?
Jami Delgado
March 1, 2012 at 11:44 AMEek! Must have accidentally got removed in my editing. Bake at 375 degrees.
Diane
March 1, 2012 at 5:56 AMThese sound really good — thanks for sharing. What oven temperature? An hour sounds like a long time to bake something bread-like so I’m guessing it is a lower temp.
Jami Delgado
March 1, 2012 at 11:45 AM375
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March 1, 2012 at 8:22 AMOh my goodness – I am totally trying these! I LOVE popovers, but just haven’t attempted them since improving our diet. Thanks for doing the work to figure this one out!!!
Jen Voss
March 1, 2012 at 9:20 AMI will have to try these! I was intrigued by your sweet potato popovers too, but when I clicked on the picture, it just went to an image file. Will have to search your site for that recipe 🙂
Jami Delgado
March 1, 2012 at 11:43 AMSorry about that! Here’s the link to the Sweet Potato Popovers http://eatnourishing.com/recipe/sweet-potato-popovers-grain-free/
Holly @ Faithful Womanhood
March 1, 2012 at 10:47 AMI don’t think that I’ve ever had a popover, but these look AMAZING! I will have to give them a try! Thanks!
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March 1, 2012 at 3:10 PMOh wow–I’ve never made popovers, but these looks AMAZING!
Leah
March 1, 2012 at 3:51 PMMaking these right now for breakfast tomorrow morning. I was going to ask the oven temp. but I see it in the comments. 😉
Ruth
March 2, 2012 at 8:42 AMThese look great. We can’t have them right now because we are on GAPS (no arrowroot).
We can’t have grains either, but I’ll look forward to trying this someday or making them for others.
Have you thought of using sprouted flour? Soaked/sprouted wheat that is dehydrated and then ground? This is my preferred method for quick bread items. It truly isn’t the hassle it sounds like once you get a pattern down and it sure saves a lot of time in the future if you want to make a quick batch of cookies or muffins and had not planned it in advance if you have sprouted flour in the freezer or sprouted and dried grain ready to grind.
Jami @ Eat Nourishing
March 2, 2012 at 10:14 AMI have played with baking and sprouted flour before, but I honestly prefer using sourdough for the flavor and texture it imparts.
I meant to address sprouted flour in this post. After all my experimenting and my previous use of sprouted flours, I’m not sure they would work in this recipe (unless the grain was barely sprouted), otherwise there may not be enough starch and/or gluten left in the grain to hold it together properly. Let me know if, when you’re off of gaps, you try it with sprouted flour. 🙂
Hannah
March 2, 2012 at 11:43 AMI made these for my extended family who came in town for the day to visit. WOW! These popovers were super yummy and easy. We topped some with honey, some with nut butter, and some with fresh berries that we mashed. I will be making these again and again and again. Thanks!
Jami @ Eat Nourishing
March 2, 2012 at 1:30 PMHannah, thanks so much for your review! I am so glad you and your family enjoyed them. They really are fun and different. I personally like having honey butter on mine 🙂
charis
March 4, 2012 at 6:02 PMi have never even had popovers before, but these look so tasty! i will have to give making them a try! thank you!
Kirstin
March 6, 2012 at 10:07 AMThese look wonderful. I don’t usually make pop-overs (who am I kidding, I never make pop-overs) but my family loves yorkshire pudding. Since we just learned my oldest daughter has a gluten sensitivity/intolerance I have been looking at ways to make some of our favourites gluten free. I will have to try these with a little tweaking! Thank you!
Jennifer Milner
April 8, 2012 at 5:30 PMI have a mild dairy allergy and would love to know if you’ve ever experimented with a liquid other than cow’s milk in the popovers? I absolutely adored them but felt run-down for a day or so because of the milk in them. I really want to make them again, if I can figure out a cow’s milk substitution!
Jami Delgado
April 8, 2012 at 7:52 PMYou could use coconut milk or almond milk as a sub just fine I would think, but havent tried it.
Jennifer Milner
May 21, 2012 at 5:27 PMThanks – I’ll try the almond milk and see how it goes!