Once you Pop, You Can't Stop: Pumpkin Popovers

Delicious and halfway healthy

It's still fall so I'm still all about the pumpkin and squash. Popovers are an eggy bread, similar to Yorkshire pudding.    They've been around since the 1800s. Yorkshire pudding was one of the first breads developed when wheat became popular.  To me, they taste highly reminiscent of French toast. They're called popovers because the steam from the eggy bread causes the crust to rise over the pan, hence they "pop over" the pan.

French toast has 36 carbs.  Popovers have the same amount of carbs as a dinner roll (both have 14 grams of carbs).  It's still not low carb, but it's a decadent treat that would pair well with a low carb meal.  To me, a popover is a lot more filling than a roll, and it has more protein.

I have made them with Atkins flour mix (you could probably use CarbQuick too, but I have no experience).  I think they turned out better than some breads.  Atkins mix tends to make really dry breads, but popovers are already moist because of all the eggs.  My Atkins popovers didn't pop as much as ones using regular flour, but they did pop a little and tasted great.  Just sub the flour in the recipe below for equal parts of Atkins mix.

For my recipe, I ground my own wheatberries in my Vitamix.  I feel like I get the consistency of white flour that way, but the fiber of wheat (less net carbs).  I'm probably deluding myself.  You can use wheat flour, but they will pop less.  They will probably pop more with conventional flour.


It amazed me the first time I baked a popover.  It seems like they don't have any leavening ingredients.  How the heck do they rise?   Unlike quick breads or yeasted breads, it's the steam that makes them rise. When you make this batter, you'll notice that the batter is thinner and runnier than most breads.  The liquid content of the batter produces lots of steam.  Eggs act as part of the liquid, but that's not the only reason there are so many eggs.  The egg protein also acts an emulsifier, protecting the batter from tearing when it stretches.  The egg protein and the gluten in the dough act like a balloon, stretching and filling with the air from the steam.  The middle of a popover is air, so it's mostly hollow.    Eggs help create a nice brown crust on top too. 

Knowing that, you can see that gluten is important in making the pop of a popover.  That is why low carb or gluten free popovers taste ok, but don't pop as high.  The gluten helps create the "balloon."

This is what a popover pan looks like

Heat is also important, as it develops the steam.  I use a specialized popover pan.  It looks like an elongated muffin pan separated with rods.  Those rods allow lots of space between the popovers so heat can move freely around them.  You can also use ramekins or regular muffin pans.  Just be sure not to fill whatever pan you use more than 1/2 to 2/3rds full of mix.  These things will make a mess in your oven.  I put a cookie sheet under my popover pan just in case.

Pumpkin Popovers
3 eggs
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup pumpkin
2 tablespoons butter
3/4 cup milk
1/4 teaspoon salt

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees.  Grease your popover pan, ramekin or muffin pan.  Use whatever kitchen oil or spray you like best.
2. I always put my pan on top of the oven while it's preheating.  They pop better if the pan is warm, but I haven't really found much of a different between setting my pan on top of the oven and "preheating" the pan as some recipes suggest.
3. Put all of the ingredients in a food processor, mixer or blender (I use a blender) and mix until smooth (easy).
4. The pumpkin popovers don't pop as much as plain popovers, so fill your cups 2/3 full of mix (should make 6 if you're using a popover pan).
5. Bake in the oven for 50 minutes. Remove the popovers and pierce each in the top with a knife to allow the steam to escape. 
6. They should be easy to remove from the pan, and they are best served warm.

Want plain popovers?  Alton Brown has the recipe I always use as a base. These can made sweet, savory or whatever.  A little cinnamon in them makes them taste almost exactly like French Toast.  I bet cinnamon  would be good in these pumpkin ones too.

Plain popovers pop even more than this.

Nutrition Facts for Pumpkin Popovers

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Amount Per Serving (makes 6)

Calories:  150

Total fat: 8 g

Protein: 6 g

Total carbohydrate:  14 g

• Dietary Fiber: 1 g
• Sugar: 2 g

Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls: Fall Faves

Unhealthy, but delicious

 It's fall, so I'm probably going to get a little unhealthy here.  I've been personally trying to avoid carbs and sugar, but those are required baking for friends around this time of the year.  With the holidays season coming up and my favorite goofy holiday, Halloween, it's hard to avoid carbs and unhealthy things.  At least if you do the baking yourself, from scratch, you're less likely to eat too much (that's what I tell myself anyway).

There was a pumpkin recipe contest at a local festival this past week, so I threw in my hat with some delicious pumpkin cinnamon rolls.

Here's a tip about cinnamon rolls.  They are almost always softer right out of the oven.  The main reason is the sugar in the cinnamon filling.  Sugar is hygroscopic, so it sucks moisture out of the dough.  My favorite way to combat that is just covering them in more butter and sugar (icing), or popping them in a microwave for 10-15 seconds.  Yum!  If you're looking for a lower calorie way to combat hard rolls, just use plain cinnamon and butter for the filling.  The rolls will still be good, but less sweet.

Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls
Dough
1 cup pumpkin puree
2/3 cups milk
2 tablespoons butter
1 egg
1 package yeast
2-3 cups flour
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp salt

Filling
1 stick melted butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup white sugar
2 tsp cinnamon (sometimes I use more, I like cinnamon)

Cream Cheese Icing
4 ounces cream cheese
1 stick of melted butter
1 tsp vanilla
2-3 cups powdered sugar
1-3 tablespoons milk

Carmel Glaze
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon milk
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup powdered sugar
Pinch of salt

The dough

1. Prehat over to 350 degrees.
2. Heat pumpkin, milk, salt and butter on stove until all are warm and butter is melted. It should be warm to the touch, but not hot (lukewarm)
3. Add pumpkin mixture, yeast, egg, pumpkin pie spice and 2 cups of flour to mixer bowl.  You can use a stand mixer or bread machine or just do it the old fashioned way.  I use a stand mixer.  Adjust flour until you get a dough that is smooth and somewhat sticky.  Knead that dough for about 6 minutes (with a dough hook or bread machine, this is easy).
4. Cover dough and let rest until it doubles in size (about 1 hour).  Prepare filling while you wait.
5. To prepare filling, just mix the melted butter and sugar together in a bowl and mix well.
6. After dough has rested, roll out into a 15 by 10 inch rectangle. 
7. Spoon or brush filling on the rectangle.

   

   Roll the dough (this is for smaller rolls)

8. Roll the rectangle up tightly.  If you prefer more, smaller cinnamon rolls, roll along the 15 inch end.  If you prefer larger, thicker cinnamon rolls, roll on the 10 inch end.  Along the 15 inch should make 12 rolls.
9. Cut the cinnamon rolls, the width depends on your tastes.  I normally make mine 3 fingers wide.  Use a serrated knife for best results (some people use dental floss or string, but being careful and not exerting too much pressure with a serrated knife works).
10. Place either on a baking sheet or Pyrex dish.  Some people like to bake their cinnamon rolls so they touch (like in a Pyrex dish).  Personally, I like mine to be separate and round.  I normally bake them on a baking sheet and spread them apart while they rise and when they bake.
11. Let the rolls rise for 1 hour, until doubled.  At this point, you can also put them in the fridge and let them rise overnight.



Roll size.

12. I sometimes brush the tops of cinnamon rolls with egg yolk, but I don't always. It makes the top shiny.  If you're planning to use a lot of icing, this is a wasted step, but sometimes I just want a drizzle.  For the pumpkin ones, I skipped this step.
13. Bake for 20-30 minutes, or until the center of the cinnamon roll reaches 190 degrees and the tops are golden brown.
14. While they cook, you can make the icing. I used two icings (one is just an accent drizzle).
15. Cream cheese icing: mix cream cheese, butter, vanilla, lemon, milk and 2 cups powdered sugar in a food processor and mix until creamy.  You can add more milk if it's too thick and more sugar if it's too thin.  I like my icing drippy.
16. Caramel drizzle icing: Heat butter, sugar, milk, vanilla and powdered sugar on stove.  Cook for about 8 minutes, until the sauce is a caramel like consistency (about 235 degrees or so).

    

    These rolls are touching, obviously.  They don't form perfect circles.

17. When cinnamon rolls are finished baking, let them cool a little bit before icing.  They should still be warm when you ice them.  I poured the cream cheese icing all over first, then drizzled with the caramel.
18. Enjoy (just not too much, these are very unhealthy).

 

These rolls form more perfect circles

Nutrition Facts for Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls (It's bad)

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Amount Per Serving (makes 12)

Calories:  486

Total fat: 22 g

Protein: 5.4 g

Total carbohydrate:  73 g

• Dietary Fiber: 1.4 g
• Sugar: 47 g

On the other hand, a Cinnabon is 730 calories and 114 grams of carbs.  Those Pillsbury canned cinnamon rolls are much better.  They are 145 calories and 23 grams of carb.  A McDonalds cinnamon roll is 340 calories and 52 grams of carbs.  

You could cut the calories considerably by limiting the icing.  With no icing, it's just 304 calories, 18 grams of fat, 32 grams of carbs (7.5 sugar and 1.4 grams of fiber).  Since it's still not healthy, where's the fun in that?