Strawberry Brie Popovers - BakeSpace Challenge

Who would've thought....here I am over, ummm.... 40 ....and I have never in my life had a popover, and I didn't even know it until I was almost done cooking these babies. I don't know what I thought popovers were...but I didn't expect a dessert version of Yorkshire Pudding. LOL

Soo sometime around 2 weeks ago, I came across a recipe for these little mini popovers on the Betty Crocker website. Bought the Brie cheese and then forgot about it. A couple of days ago I was scrounging around in one of the drawers in the fridge and came across this round box of Baby Brie Cheese and for the life of me, I couldn't figure out what the hell I had bought it for. I KNEW it was for something..... (getting old really sucks). Well...today I remembered (whew). So I dug through my email to find the recipe link I had emailed myself (ya, that reminder worked well to begin with LOL), and printed the recipe out. Then I figured in order to motivate myself to get some cleaning done I'd use the popovers as a "reward". Nothing like playing mind games with yourself. 

Then comes the BIG ta-da!!! We're in the middle of our monthly BakeSpace Challenge. Here's a little intro for this month:

OK, Calling all BakeSpace Challenge Entries... It's May and it's time to get your Challenge on!!! 

The Month of May all about Strawberries and Eggs; OK, it's also about gazpacho, but ya gotta draw the line somewhere. 

So the Challenge this month is a Strawberry and Egg-centric dish.... 

So let's see what everyone brings to the table  


Ready, Set....... GO!

If you'd like to participate....please feel free to do so. We'd all welcome you with open arms! The link is: BakeSpace Challenge May 2009 - Strawberries and Eggs

Can you guess what thought went screeching through my head? OMG...popovers contain eggs....lets add STRAWBERRIES!! wooo hoooo. I was really having a hard time trying to figure something out for this challenge. I don't know why. Guess I was just stuck on "duh". Anyways....that's the background to these fabulous little bites of yummieness. Know let's get baking.

8 oz Brie cheese

8 - 10 oz strawberries (plus more for garnish)

1 tsp or so of sugar to sprinkle over the strawberries, if needed / desired

2 eggs

1 cup all purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon lemon zest

1 cup milk

1 teaspoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat your oven to 450' F. Liberally grease 24 mini muffin tins. 

Divide your Brie Cheese into 24 pieces. I took that white paper-ish stuff off the cheese first. (obviously I'm not a cheese monger, otherwise I'd know what to call it). Whatever it's called, I'm not very fond of the flavor. If you like it, go ahead, keep it on. 

Now I have to admit something. Since I didn't know that popovers were hallow inside until later, when I was looking at those rather good sized pieces of cheese, I was thinking to myself...there's no way in hell that cheese is going to fit inside!! Plus the strawberries? But I dutifully continued with the recipe as directed. (sometimes I'm such a good girl ROFL)

Cut your strawberries into little bite sized pieces. The berries I had were from the grocery store, so I did sprinkle some sugar over them to sweeten them up a bit. Not to mention, when I'm having dessert....it has to be sweet! :)
In a medium bowl, beat eggs slightly with a fork or whisk. Add flour, lemon zest, milk, sugar and salt. Beat until smooth but don't over beat it. 

Fill your muffin tins about....well, the directions said 2/3 full, ROFL...umm...these tins are soo small and I had extra batter, so I ended up just about filling them up. Apparently, it's not a huge issue. Worst comes to worst, you might have to cook them a bit longer.

Pop them in the oven and bake for 5 minutes. Reduce the oven temp. to 350' F and continue baking for another 10 minutes, or until they are crusty and golden brown. 

Cut a slit in the top of each popover. Put a small spoonful of strawberries inside and then plug up that hole with a piece of cheese

Put them back in the oven for 5 minutes. Immediately remove them from the pan and serve.

If you want to get creative for breakfast, omg....there's soooo much you could do with these. Make them savory with basil or rosemary instead of the lemon zest. Or use orange zest. Fill them with scrambled eggs and pancetta, or Italian sausage. What about sauteed mushrooms and onions? Your imagination is the limit!