I get grumpy about Easter. In Arizona, it marks the end of all the nice weather. The days of sweat and suffering are on the way. Also, I’m expected to wear pastel clothing. I get grumpy about that, especially.

But homemade popovers with Neiman Marcus strawberry butter? This could mitigate the email I received from my mother specifying “spring-like Easter hues” for an 8 a.m. family photo on Saturday morning. Ugh.

I had huge, billowing popovers at the Arlington Club on a recent trip to New York City, and the entire table swooned. I need those for Easter, I thought, and oh, my, YES. For all future parties, brunches and breakfasts at home — YES.

The strawberry butter is key. (I’ll take my butter in spring-like Easter hues, as long as my dress can be black.)

You need a popover pan for proper puffed results. Mine was $20 at Williams-Sonoma.

The kind people at The Bitten Word tried a few popover recipes, and pronounced this concotion from Martha Stewart’s Twitter feed supreme. I agree. (Omit the Gruyere cheese if you want to serve with strawberry butter.)

Best Popovers Ever
From Martha Stewart’s Twitter Feed

Place popover pans in oven. Heat to 350 degrees.

Sift 4 cups + 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour with 2 teaspoons salt.

Heat 4 cups of milk.

In a separate bowl, whisk 8 eggs.

Slowly add milk and flour, alternating and whisking until smooth.

Remove pans from oven. Spray the hot pans w/cooking spray. Fill each cup half full with batter and top with Gruyere cheese. (You’ll need 10 ounces cheese total — omit if serving strawberry butter.)

Bake 15 minutes. Turn pans, and bake 35 minutes more. Invert to remove.  Makes 22-24.

These are best served warm, so try this: if you poke a hole in them immediately after they come out of the oven, the steam will escape and they won’t deflate. Just warm them when you want to serve.

For the strawberry butter — which is served with the popovers at Neiman Marcus restaurants, just mix one cup butter with 2/3 cup strawberry preserves and a pinch of salt. I used my homemade strawberry jam to devastating effect.

I recommend using a food processor to get the strawberries properly incorporated into the butter. I first tried mixing by hand but heard Shirley MacLaine in Steel Magnolias in my mind: “That looks like an autopsy.”

Indeed:

This is better:

The insides of the popovers are craggy and hollowed, perfectly structured to encourage rivulets of melting strawberry bliss.

Happy (grumpy) Easter.

P.S. Isn’t this the cutest (little black) Easter dress you’ve ever seen?