All popovers are not created equal. Awhile back I made a recipe for oatmeal popovers by Marion Cunningham, whom I normally adore. With finely ground oatmeal, and a dollop of orange marmalade baked in the bottom, they sounded superb. Well, turns out they weren’t. They never really puffed (or popped as it may be), and I had a muffin pan of full of deflated batter with marmalade that was too bitter for my taste. Oh well, every cookbook writer is allowed a dud every now and again.

When I was at the market last week, the strawberries finally looked good– rosy, with a sprightly green stem– not a crinkly brown one. I bought a basket, and ate almost all of them plain. But with the final few, I decided to make a more classic popover to redeem the oatmeal debacle of late. And these strawberry popovers definitely did the trick. To say that these popovers were redemptive is putting it mildly.

There is something just so exciting about taking popovers out of the oven. In goes an ordinary milky batter, and a half hour later, out comes glory. These popovers had everything I love about the classic– a subtle eggy-ness, a beautiful brown crust, and an almost custard-like texture. The only twist to this morning treat were the chopped, fresh strawberries contained within. The berries got even sweeter upon baking; they juiced, tinging the popover with a berry-scented goodness. With the strawberries baked right in, these lovelies didn’t even need butter to spread, or honey to drizzle, just a hot cup of coffee, and a bright morning.

Strawberry Popovers
adapted from Mark Bittman and Michael Ruhlman

makes 9-12 popovers depending on muffin pan

2 eggs
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon sugar
pinch of salt
1 cup flour
3 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 cup chopped strawberries

Place a muffin pan in the oven, and preheat to 450 degrees.

Beat together flour, eggs, milk, sugar and salt. Let the mixture rest while oven comes up to temperature. When oven reaches heat, remove pan and working quickly, drop some strawberries and a few teaspoons of butter into each cup. You want enough butter to cover the bottom of each cup. Fill the muffin tins, at least halfway, with batter.

Drop the heat to 375 degrees, and bake for 20-30 minutes. Remove from pan with an off-set spatula.