New Year's Pop!

To paraphrase a dear friend, "Santa came and went, the ball dropped in Times Square, and the holidays are now officially over. Sigh!"

I feel the same way.

I truly love all of the gifts of family, friends, and food that come during the month of December, but now I am readying myself for a new year. I spent the weekend putting away the rest of my holiday decorations and finding room for all of Aidan's new treasures. Two days of picking up, boxing up and cleaning up made me yearn for one last seasonal treat.

This is a recipe from Julia Child for Popovers. I didn't make these little beauties for Christmas Eve, opting for a Yorkshire Pudding instead, although these may make the menu next time. I am sure they will go wonderfully with Prime Rib, but I found that they were perfect on their own with just a little honey.

They ended up being just the pick-me-up I needed to get through that post-holiday slump and excited for the start of 2010!

Julia's Perfect Popovers

Makes a dozen

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup whole milk

1/2 tsp salt

3 large eggs

2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

Preheat oven to 425-degrees, with rack on the lowest rung. Lightly butter or oil popover or muffin pans.

Allow of the eggs and milk to sit out to reach room temperature.

Blend all ingredients together until smooth. Fill each muffin cup with 1/4 cup of batter. Bake for 25 minutes until popovers are nicely browned. Turn temperature down to 350 and bake for another 15 minutes.

The popovers will be a little doughy in the center, which is ideal. Serve immediately. You may also freeze these in an air tight container and then reheat at 350-degrees for 10 minutes.

Enjoy!

Happy New Year!