Popovers for breakfast

We had a lovely morning, lounging in our jammies, watching tv or drinking coffee, depending on age and proclivity. I made popovers - my favorite weekend breakfast. They are pretty healthy but feel slightly decadent. Delicious with coffee or hot chocolate, and we pair them with fruit or fruit butter, depending on what's around.

I use Bittman's recipe from his How to Cook Everything book. I love his recipes because they stand up to meddling - in fact he recommends and suggests variations. To me the mark of a good recipe is its ability to be messed with. I often add savoury things like cheese or bacon. Today I added some herbes de province - wow, what a difference yet somehow still subtle.

I've been experimenting with the fat I use - the recipe calls for oil or butter. Previously I used butter in the recipe and to grease the pan, but because you place the pan in the oven to pre-heat them, the butter would burn and get nasty.

So I switched to olive oil as grease and butter in the recipe. Around the same time, I moved from a gas-oven kitchen to electric. In the new house, my popovers weren't rising - they were dense little hockey pucks, and I wasn't sure of the cause. Was it the new stove, olive oil, or possibly old flour?

I also have grapeseed oil and have been using it where I want lighter oil and less taste, or oil that can stand a higher heat without burning. (I use it as my facial moisturizer - yes really. It's better than any official beauty product I've ever tried -  and I've tried most.)

I substituted the grapeseed oil in both the recipe and as pan grease. Ta da. Beautifully-rising popovers that are hollow in the center of their bottoms. My youngest felt a little ripped-off that hers was empty, as she put it.

The lightness of a popped popover makes it easier for morning digestion, and definitely looks prettier.