When I was small, but still old enough to not need a restaurant booster seat anymore, mom used to take me shopping at Neiman Marcus at the King of Prussia Mall. We would always go to the in-store café for “tea,” and we would always get their fresh popovers with strawberry butter. To this day, I still cannot have popovers without strawberry butter. They are locked in sync forever. You cannot have one without the other. -C

Popovers with Strawberry Butter

Ingredients:
3 eggs
1 cup milk
1/4. t. salt
1 T. melted butter
1 cup flour
4 T butter, cut into twelve (12) equal pieces

Directions:
1. In a blender, add the eggs, milk, salt, and melted butter. Add the flour last, sitting on top of the rest of the ingredients.
2. Blend for 2 minutes. Allow the batter to rest and come to room temperature for 20-30 minutes. (Assuming you pulled cold milk and eggs out of the refrigerator just before making.)
3. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
4. Drop once piece of the 4 T. of cold butter into each of the twelve (12) popover wells, put back in the oven for a minute until just melted (about 1 minute). Ensure that the butter does not burn.
5. Remove the pan from the oven, close the oven door to retain the heat. Working quickly, pour enough batter to fill each well halfway. Return to the oven and bake for 20 minutes. Do not open the oven door while the popovers are baking. Turn the oven down to 325 degrees F, continue baking for 15-20 minutes.
6. Serve the popovers hot!

Notes:
This recipe makes enough for twelve (12) individual popovers. We used two carbon steel popover pans, outfitted with 6 popover wells in each. This recipe, and popovers in general, are not great for a make-ahead meal. Between the oven temperature changes, the butter melting, and the batter resting, popovers are an attention-consuming recipe. But oh so worth it.
The only make ahead ability it has is making the batter ahead, putting in the refrigerator overnight, but you would still need to allow the batter to fully come to room temperature by the time the batter goes in the pan.

Strawberry Butter

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, softened at room temperature
1/2 cup strawberry jam, such as Bonne Maman

Directions:
1. Blend the soft butter together with the jam using a hand mixer.
2. Put into a container and cover. Let it firm up in the refrigerator.

Notes:
You can easily double this recipe and use a food processor to blend. We also like to roll the strawberry butter in plastic wrap, form into a log shape, and let it firm up in the refrigerator for easy service. If you want to get creative, pipe onto a baking sheet lined with parchment into small shapes and let chill for individual little servings of strawberry butter. Great for making ahead!