Recipe for Leftover Easter Ham

You could take that extra ham and make some sandwiches, but that’s a little boring.

For not much more time invested, you could make these tasty little morsels of egg-y goodness.

Popovers are light in texture and can be either savory or sweet, depending on what you add to them. These ham and ricotta treats make a perfect hand-held breakfast, lunch, snack or brunch. They’re best eaten while still warm or on the same day you make them.

I’ll be making these on Good Morning Oklahoma, KTUL Channel 8, on Tues., April 15, if you want to watch how it’s done.

Ham and Ricotta Popovers

Makes 6 popovers, but this recipe is easy to double.

Heat oven to 425.

For the batter:

• 1/3 cup all-purpose white flour
• 1/3 cup wheat flour (or you can use all white flour if you prefer)
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup whole milk

Beat ingredients well until batter is smooth.

You will also need:

• ¼ cup ricotta or cream cheese
• ½ cup finely chopped ham
• olive oil (or oil of your choice)

In a muffin tin, put a small amount (about ½ a teaspoonful) of oil (olive, sunflower, safflower) in the bottom of six of the muffin cups.

Put muffin tin in oven for about 5 minutes to heat the oil.

Take the tin out of the oven and immediately put an equal amount of batter in each of the 6 muffin cups. Each will be about half full.

Add about a teaspoon of ricotta or cream cheese to the top of the batter, and then add a little of the chopped ham, pushing down into the batter. Don’t worry about covering the cheese and ham with batter. The popovers will puff up in the oven.

Put the popovers in the oven for about 12 minutes. They will rise and become firm.

Take out, run a knife along the edges and put on a wire rack.

Now that you know how to make these simple treats, you can experiment. You could add a little chopped green onion to the ham. Or try making them with sausage or chopped hot dogs.

If you want to make sweet popovers, omit the salt and add ONE TABLESPOON of granulated sugar to the batter. Use ricotta or cream cheese, but instead of the ham, push in some blueberries. When the popovers are done, sprinkle with a little more sugar. Try other sweets such as mini chocolate chips and bananas or maybe a little raspberry jam with the ricotta or cream cheese.