Last month, I did a guest blog post on She’s Becoming Doughmesstic. Susan, the blogger, has a “popover project“-one popover recipe a week for the entire year 2012. Seriously, it’s pretty amazing. I had never even thought of doing a dessert-y popover until I started reading her blog. I have no idea why-it makes perfect sense. Like Susan says, “Popovers are like the heavenly cross between French toast (too messy to dredge) and pancakes (not eggy enough).” Well said. Since she was attending an event in Hershey, Pennsylvania, Susan wanted a popover recipe that featured chocolate in some form.

Hmmmm. I spent the Saturday before I needed to have the post ready “researching” at World Market, trying to get some ideas for interesting flavor combinations. Two candy bars jumped out at me: a spicy chocolate bar and a chocolate orange bar. I gave my Facebook followers the task of choosing for me. The decision, by a hair, was a spicy chocolate popover with salted dulce de leche. Pretty delicious, but I promised that I would work on a chocolate-orange version for my blog.

First of all, if you haven’t had a popover…promise me you’ll make these. Or check out Susan’s blog and make one of the many amazing recipes she’s created. Popovers are an epiphany, light and puffy but dense and eggy at the same time. The beautiful rise is fleeting, but the flavor and texture aren’t. They’re wonderful on their own, but they are also made for topping….and if you make savory popovers, you can even use them as a container for other foods (chicken salad, etc.).

This chocolate-orange version is sure to take you back to unwrapping one of those chocolate oranges, the kind that comes in the round box and is shaped into sections. My sister always loved those things, although I never thought there was quite enough orange flavor. The orange curd here ensures that the amount of orange flavor will not be a problem. It’s light and summery and delicious, and popovers come together so quickly…so much easier than cake.

Please note…there are special “popover pans”, which will make six popovers (I got mine at World Market)….or you can make them in ramekins, as I’ve done here, which will produce three, or in a standard muffin tin, which will make twelve. Oh, and again, my orange curd recipe can be found here!