Whole Wheat Popovers with Berry Butter

I’ve basically been on an all-carb diet since our second miscarriage. There’s comfort in talking about our loss with others, especially those who have been there before, and there’s comfort in surrounding myself with family and friends. There’s also comfort in carbs.

Fresh, doughy bread. Warm pasta. Muffins. Popovers. Cookies.

Almost exactly 48 hours after my second D&C, my family and I had reservations for dinner in the city. It was supposed to be my mom’s celebratory birthday dinner.

I miscarried on my mom’s birthday and spent the next day decorating our house and making birthday signs with Chase to hang on our front door to welcome my mom in town. It was a distraction and it was much-needed.

My parents and Ryan repeatedly asked me whether or not I wanted to cancel our dinner plans. I said no. The first time I said no, I didn’t mean it. But by the third no, I meant it. I wanted to celebrate my mom and I wanted to get out of our house. I wanted a glass of wine and I wanted distraction. I wanted to be around random people who knew nothing about the pain I felt and feel a little normal again. Whatever that meant.

We arrived at BLT Steak, a gorgeous restaurant with a southern flare located in the heart of Uptown.

I ordered a much-needed glass of wine and perused the menu. Give me the carbs. All of them.

And they did.

Our meal began with BLT Steak’s famous popovers, huge pillowy rolls of cheesy bread. Airy and savory and melt-in-your mouth good. Just what my empty stomach and my hurting heart needed.

The popovers were delivered to our table with a mini recipe card detailing step-by-step directions so you could recreate the cheesy rolls at home.

Thinking about making popovers sounded a lot more appealing than spending the next day crying again and even though the day included tears, it also included baking. Baking, along with reading, is something that brings me joy and relaxes me, especially during hard times.

So I baked.

I made three versions of these popovers until I found one I felt was worthy of sharing. (Using whole wheat flour instead of regular flour proved more challenging than I anticipated.) Once I had a winning recipe, I took pictures of the popovers because it made me feel a little more like myself again as I snapped away. And then I ate three popovers in a row.

After my third popover recipe attempt, I found myself biting into whole wheat popovers that were wonderful and soft and the perfect vehicle for a slightly sweet buttery berry spread made with fresh organic strawberries and softened butter.

Whole Wheat Popovers with Berry Butter

Recipe inspired by BLT Steak’s Popovers

Makes 6 popovers

Ingredients

For the popovers:

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup whole milk, warmed
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup grated Havarti cheese
• 3 tablespoons softened butter

For the berry butter:

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
• 5 whole strawberries, smashed
• 1 tablespoon honey

Directions

For the popovers:

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Warm the muffin tin in the oven while you prepare the ingredients.
2. Place eggs in a cup of hot water for 10 minutes to bring them to room temperature.
3. Warm whole milk so it’s not too hot (you don’t want the eggs to begin cooking). Approximately 45 seconds in the microwave should work well.
4. Blend eggs and milk together in a blender. Add flour, salt and 1 tablespoon of softened butter and blend again.
5. Remove muffin tin from the oven and grease the muffin cups with the remaining two tablespoons of butter.
6. Pour batter into muffin tin (approximately 2/3 full) and use alternate muffin cups so they don’t puff up into each other.
7. Sprinkle cheese on top of each muffin cup.
8. Bake for 20 minutes. (Try hard not to open the oven to prevent them from falling.)
9. Vent the muffins with a knife to prevent them from falling. Remove from the muffin cups, slice in half and top with softened berry butter.

For the berry butter:

1. Combine softened butter, smashed strawberries and honey in a small bowl.
2. Lightly beat ingredients together until a thick, fluffy berry butter forms.

If you decide to make these popovers – whether you’re in a carb-loving (needing?) phase like me or want a warm and comforting treat to enjoy with your dinner – I hope you love them.

And don’t forget to top them with the softened berry butter. It’s important. And it’s delicious.