Doritos Popovers

Fern: Do you know of any recipes for a Doritos cupcake?
Me: Ummmm.. nope.
Fern: Can you make one up?
Me: Am I not a baker?

And that's the story, well most of it anyway. My older brother's birthday is tomorrow and if there is one thing he loves - its his Nacho Cheese Doritos. Truth be told, he was on his honeymoon in France and asked a local market if they carried them in stock. I can't even begin to understand that kind of logic, or lack thereof.

Thoughts of cheesy muffins ran through my mind, then cheesy scones.. then last minute I changed my mind and decided on cheesy popovers. I had never made these before and my coworker had given me a popover pan a few months back that I have been dying to try. For this occassion it was perfect. So thank you to my brother and his crazy Doritos obsession and his loving wife Fern for this playful idea.





Recipe adapted from the Joy of Cooking

All ingredients should be at room temperature
1 cup milk
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tbspn butter, melted
1/4 tspn salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1/4 cup crushed doritos nacho cheese chips
1/8 tspn paprika
dash of red pepper flakes

1) Preheat oven to 450 degrees F and grease popover pan
2) In a medium bowl whisk together milk, flour, butter, and salt
3) In a separate bowl, mix together cheese, doritos, paprika and red pepper flakes
4) Beat in (batter bowl) one egg at a time until just combined (do not overmix)
5) Spoon 1 tbspn batter into each popover cup
6) Distribute cheese mixture evenly into each cup
7) Pour in the rest of the batter, but not more than 3/4 of the way full per cup
8) Bake for 15, then turn down to heat to 350 and bake for 18 minutes more

Serve warm ...

We asked my brother to guess the filling. He couldn't tell. No one could. It tasted more like a tamale than Doritos. Either way, I can't wait to try this with onion and chive cream cheese, or filling the popovers with jam... They are the easiest things to make. Crispy on the outside, light and fluffy in the inside. OOh I bet these would make for a great garlic/butter bread roll...