Cheesy Popovers with Pepper Confetti

I was highly inspired by Saffron Trail's Eggless Savoury Muffins with Sun Dried Tomatoes, Cheese and Olives. So much so, that I instantly made it for breakfast that day and loved every bit of it. So did Sam. Going by the smell of it, Sid even rechristened the muffins as Pizza balls.


Excitingly, he took a bite and threw it and said "Yuccky!" and had a great expression to match! The lad was mightily disappointed. There was nothing wrong with the original recipe, but with my tweaked version. The original recipe calls for mild cheddar or Amul cheese cubes. Both child friendly varieties. I, on the other-hand had used a medley of Three Cheeses: Asiago, Emmi Swiss and Fontina. Asiago, is a hard cheese with a rind and has a characteristic tangy flavor and a strong scent. Most kids are not too fond of it and the same goes for Sid. Though my Three Cheese Three Pepper Savoury Muffin Pops were delicious, they were not kid friendly. The cheesy blend were too overpowering.

Bell Pepper Confetti
Next time I made these muffins were a week later, using the same recipe but with  only mild Cheddar and creamy Fontina cheese instead of the Three Cheese blend. The muffins disappeared within in minutes and Sid began to demand it every week. I have renamed them Cheesy Popovers, because they look like popovers and are soo cheesy. The Fontina cheese on baking becomes gooey almost like mozzarella, but less stringy. I have used a medley of bell pepper in all available colors. Once I chopped the bell peppers, that looked likes cute confettis. So my Cheesy Savory Muffins becomes Cheesy Popovers with Pepper Confetti - sounds exotic huh?
Here how I did it:


In a big bowl, shift together ½ cup of all-purpose flour and ½ cup of whole wheat flour, ½ tsp of baking powder, ½ tsp of baking soda and ½ tsp of salt.


Now add the cheese. I have used a combination of mild Cheddar and sweet creamy Fontina cheese. I kept the cheese mild, because that's the way Sid likes it. You can use any cheese you prefer.


Its the pepper confetti time! Add the chopped peppers, parsley and finely minced garlic.


 Finally add the Italian Seasoning and black pepper and mix it well so that the peppers and the parsley is well coated with flour, to avoid sinking.


 Next in a measuring cup add an egg and 2 tbsp of Olive Oil and whisk it together.


 Add enough water to make 1 cup of eggy liquid.


Add the eggy liquid mix to the dry ingredients.


And mix until just incorporated.


Fill up a 24 cup lightly greased mini muffin tin. It goes in a 350F oven for 15 to 20 minutes.


And comes out golden and fluffy and incredibly delicious.




Recipe Snapshot:
What I used:

Dry Ingredients:
All Purpose Flour – ½ cup
Whole Wheat Flour – ½ cup
Baking Powder - ½ tsp
Baking Soda - ½ tsp
Salt – ½ tsp (depends on what cheese you are using)
Cheese - 1 cup (I used Mild Cheddar (½ cup) and creamy Fontina (½ cup))
Garlic - 2 cloves finely minced or grated.
Fresh Parsley - ¼ cup
Bell Pepper - ½ cup very finely chopped (I used a medley of green, red, yellow and orange peppers)
Cajun Seasoning- ½ tsp
Italian Seasoning- 1 tsp
Black Pepper - ½ tsp

Wet Ingredients:
Egg - 1
Olive Oil - 2 tbsp
Water - as needed

What I did:
1. Preheat the oven at 350F.
2. In a large mixing bowl, add all the ingredients listed under “Dry ingredients” and stir together. Take care to coat the peppers and parsley well with flour, to avoid sinking.
3. In a measuring cup, break an egg and add the oil, whisk it with a fork and then slowly add water to make 1 cup of eggy liquid.
4. Now add the liquid mix to the dry ingredients and mix until just incorporated. Caution: Vigorous mixing will result in tougher muffins.
5. I used a 24 cups mini muffin tin and greased it.
6. Fill up the muffin tin with the batter and bake it for 15-20 mins.


This recipe will yield 24 mini popovers or 12 standard popovers or 6 jumbo popovers.

My efforts did not go in vain. Little Sid enjoyed every bit of it.



Comments

  1. Pee gee

    Love this recipe. But unfortunately can't eat it. I have a strange egg allergy. I can eat them in cakes but not anyway less. Looks yummy though.

    ReplyDelete

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