Sugar-crusted popovers what can I say! These popovers are THE BOMB, and one of my kids favorite breakfast treats (I’ll admit, they’re one of my favorite treats as well)! They’re sugar crusted goodness on the outside and warm and gooey on the inside. They’re a cross between cinnamon toast, a sugar and cinnamon donut and a popover.
I make these every year for our Christmas brunch and the kid’s can’t wait. These popovers have replaced cinnamon rolls in our Christmas brunch rotation, so you know they’re good!
sugar-crusted popovers:
Note: These popovers, as all popovers, are best when served fresh and warm. If you have leftovers, store them in a covered container overnight and then re-heat them in a 250 degree oven until warm. I usually freshen them with a bit with some cinnamon/sugar mixture after they came out of the oven.
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, divided – you will use 2 tablespoons butter for the popovers and 2 tablespoons for buttering the popover pan
- 3 large eggs, at room temperature – I always use extra large eggs
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
- 1 cup flour
for the sugar coating:
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
Get out a popover pan. If you don’t have a popover pan, no worries, you can use a standard muffin tin with 1/2 cup indentations.
Put the empty popover pan in the pre-heated oven for 5 minutes to warm up. I usually put my pan in when the oven temp reaches 275 degrees and then take it out when it reaches 400 degrees.
While the pan is heating up, melt the other 2 tablespoons of butter.
Take the popover pan out of the oven and divide the 2 tablespoons of melted butter between the cups. Just pour the butter into the tins and let it rest at the bottom. The butter will sizzle and brown, but that’s fine.
Blend the batter one more time to froth it up again.
Fill popover cups halfway with batter. Make sure that you pour an even amount in all cups.
Pour the batter into the popover cups filling them 1/2 to 2/3rds full. If you’re using a muffin tin then divide the batter among the 9 greased molds, filling each 1/2 to 2/3rds full.
I love this grand popover pan from Nordic Ware. It may cost more than the normal popover pan, but it makes the perfect popover and they don’t stick to the pan. The pan is made of cast iron, so it cooks up the popovers evenly. I’ve had mine for 3 years now and I use it at least once a week, if not more, and it’s still looks brand new. If you find yourself making popovers quite often, then I would invest in a good quality popover pan. 
Put your popovers into the oven and bake for 35 minutes, or until the popovers are deep brown. You can turn on your oven’s light to see the transformation, but do not open the oven door during baking, as this will cause the popovers to deflate. I baked mine exactly 35 minutes and they were perfection.
This is what the popovers looked like when I pulled them out of the oven. They’re all twisty and funky looking. Looks can be deceiving though as they were crunchy on the outside and warm and gooey on the inside.
Now is the time to melt your butter. Just stick the bowl in the microwave and melt away. Once the butter is melted, you can start the buttering process. Just grab a popover and brush it all over with the butter. Make sure to get in all those nooks and crannies.
Next, dredge your buttered popover into the sugar and cinnamon mixture, making sure to get in all those nooks and crannies.
Once all of your popovers are covered in sugar, let them cool on a wire rack. If your kids are home or you’re serving these for breakfast, then by all means put them immediately on a plate and dig in. As you can see, they were devoured in a matter of seconds. I didn’t even get a word in from the kiddos until they were finished. I actually think Eli ate his in one bite. Check out that happy kid!
- for the popovers:
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, divided - you will use 2 tablespoons butter for the popovers and 2 tablespoons for buttering the popover pan
- 3 large eggs, at room temperature - I always use extra large eggs
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1½ teaspoons sugar
- 1 cup flour
- for the sugar coating:
- ⅔ cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
- Get out a popover pan. If you don't have a popover pan, no worries, you can use a standard muffin tin with ½ cup indentations.
- Get your blender out and put in the following, 2 tablespoons melted butter, 3 eggs, 1 cup milk, 1 teaspoon salt, 1½ teaspoons sugar and blend for a few seconds. DON'T ADD THE FLOUR YET!
- Add the 1 cup flour and blend for about 10 seconds, just until smooth.
- Put the empty popover pan in the pre-heated oven for 5 minutes to warm up. I usually put my pan in when the oven temp reaches 275 degrees and then take it out when it reaches 400 degrees.
- While the pan is heating up, melt the other 2 tablespoons of butter.
- Take the popover pan out of the oven and divide the 2 tablespoons of melted butter between the cups. Just pour the butter into the tins and let it rest at the bottom. The butter will sizzle and brown, but that’s fine.
- Blend the batter one more time to froth it up again.
- Fill popover cups halfway with batter. Make sure that you pour an even amount in all cups. Pour the batter into the popover cups filling them ½ to ⅔rds full. If you're using a muffin tin then divide the batter among the 9 greased molds, filling each ½ to ⅔rds full.
- Put your popovers in the oven and bake for 35 minutes, or until the popovers are deep brown. You can turn on the oven light to see the transformation, but don't open the oven door to check, as the popovers can deflate. I baked mine for exactly 35 minutes and they were perfection.
- While the popovers are baking you can prepare your sugar & cinnamon mixture. Just combine the ⅔ cup of sugar with the 1 teaspoon of cinnamon in a large shallow bowl and whisk the two together. Cut the butter into small pieces, so it melts faster, and set it in a ramekin or small bowl. Set these both aside until the popovers come out of the oven.
- Remove the popovers from the pan and set them on a cooling rack.
- Now is the time to melt your butter. Just stick the bowl in the microwave and melt away.
- Once the butter is melted, you can start the buttering process. Just grab a popover and brush it all over with the butter. Make sure to get in all those nooks and crannies.
- Next, dredge your buttered popover into the sugar and cinnamon mixture, making sure to get in all those nooks and crannies.
On the printed recipe it says to bake at 400 35 minutes but the video says preheat to 450 and set the timer for 16 minutes then turn the oven down to 350 and bake for the second round 15 minutes. So do you bake for 16 minutes @450 THEN TURN THE OVEN TO 350 and bake an additional 15 minutes? I’m just trying to figure out the video vs the printed instructions! Thanks
Hi Marta so sorry for the late response. This is an old blog recipe, so I just realized that the baking instructions are not accurate in the printed instructions. The popover video is for my regular everyday popovers, but these sugar crusted popovers are a totally different recipe and therefore have a different ratio and baking time. You will cook these popovers in a pre-heated 400 degree over for 35 minutes, or until the popovers are deep brown. Let me know if you have any additional questions and so sorry for the delayed response. Best,
Jackie
Mercy! These were delicious! Thanks so much.
Awesome! I’m so happy you loved these. They are a huge hit in my house! xoxo, Jacquelyn
Mine barely rose at all – I had to use a muffin pan as I don’t have the special pan. I have to admit I made the batter using a whisk not a blender as blender broken at moment – need a new one – but I noticed your other popover recipes use a whisk so I figured it would be ok. I didn’t pre-heat the pan as the sugar coated recipe doesn’t suggest you do so but I buttered the pan. So not really sure what happened – they rose a little but more like cup cakes than the sort of explosive lift you get in your pictures. Was the flour supposed to be self raising? did it need baking powder? Anyway – any tips would be appreciated – it seems like these are actually the same a Yorkshire puddings and my one and only attempt at those failed as well – quite frustrating. We’ll see how they taste when hey cool down a little but I figure they are going to be a little greasy given they are small and were sitting in the butter rather an rising up out of the pan.
Hi Pete! I’m sorry to hear that your popovers were not successful 🙁 This is a different batter recipe than my other ones, so using the blender may be the trick here to get them to rise up so high. The blending process aerates the mixture. Also, they do tend to rise higher in a popover pan than standard muffin tins. I’ve made popovers in muffin tins before and they don’t seem to get as high. Maybe next time you can fill up each tin a bit more and not fill all of the tins so they rise higher?
No, you don’t need self rising flour or baking powder. We’re your eggs room temp? Did you open the oven door at all while they were cooking? Popovers are a bit strange sometimes as they will be huge sometimes and then not rise as high other times. I think it’s due to different factors such as humitidy, oven temps etc. Again, I’m sorry your popovers did not pop! Let me know if you have any other questions! xoxo, Jackie
Hi Jackie – thank you for the quick reply. I will try when we get the new blender – eggs were cold so maybe that was part of it. Didn’t open the door. They tasted pretty good but just a bit dense as so compact. One of the kids liked it the other didn’t so I will keep working on it. It always makes me laugh getting cooking advice from people on the other side of the world – wee are in Hong Kong The first time I made white loaf bread I was getting advice from a very helpful lady in mid west US – we both found that quite funny. It was quite humid yesterday as well so maybe that was another factor – I will have another go – actually will be in Perth this Friday with the girls so I will try using Nanna’s blender and I think she may have the right pans. Thanks again. Like the website – I try and cook as much as possible for the girls of the house – we started making our own tortillas recently – just much more satisfying knowing whats in the food you eat (and tastes better).
Hi T-bo! Yes, the popovers do rise extremely high in this recipe, but they do deflate as they come out of the oven and cool. That is totally normal and what they’re supposed to do. They also loose some of their shape as you butter and sugar them up. Popovers are not the prettiest things, but they’re the tastiest!
I always place my rack on the middle rack which is 3 up from the bottom and they never come close to the hitting the top of the oven, but all ovens are different sizes, so maybe you should place them on the 2nd rack up next time. Don’t be scared, they will never just spill over in your oven like marshmallows. They sometimes do look like they will just pop out of their cups, but they never will.
I have literally made over 300 batches of popovers and to be honest they don’t always come out the same. That’s the beauty and nature of them. Please let me know if you have any other questions. I hope you enjoy the second batch. xoxo, Jackie
Hi. I’m a friend of Andrea P who lives in the Peninsula. I’ve been enjoying your blog for awhile now. I have a question for you: my kids and Iare making these popovers for a second time. I am new to popover making and it seems to me that the popovers rise so high that the tops tend to burn. Do you ever lower the cooking rack to prevent this? Also, is the shrinking of the popover when they come out normal? By the way, these are delicious!
What?! This is genius! That soft eggy custardy middle coated in crusty cinnamon sugar? Omg. My mind is officially blown! My family always fights over popovers at the dinner table, we just love them, but I’ve never, ever thought of making a dessert version! I’m bookmarking this recipe to try asap. Thanks for posting it!
Hi Katie. That’s exactly what I said when I saw this recipe the first time. We are popover fans as well and one that is covered in cinnamon and sugar is truly amazing. I make these all the time for my kids’s sleepovers as they are truly original. Let me know how they work out for you.
This is brilliant! I have eaten popovers all of my life and have never had sugared ones. I should have known David Lebovitz had thought it up. I’ll be making these some fall morning for sure.
Hi Sharyn. I know, they are so darn good. David rocks. He has made 2 of my favorite recipes thus far, sugar-crusted popovers and Robert’s absolute best brownies.
my dad used to make popovers…i havent had one in about 20- 25 years!
these look great!
So making these this weekend…boys left at 5am for a lacrosse tournament…thinking these will make make the happy this afternoon while decorating the tree….love all your photos and your kids are adorable!!
I can understand why these didn’t hang around – delicious treat 🙂
Mary x
Thanks for stopping by ladies!
Wow these look SO delicious! Thanks for your sweet comment on yummymummykitchen.com
I’m following your blog now and can’t wait to read more of it!
Those look great! Thanks for sharing! This is my first visit to your blog =).