Breakfast Gems

Most mornings, granola is just fine. But then come the weekends. And suddenly cereal just won't cut it. So this weekend, I made Breakfast Gems. They sound great, don't they? Colorful. Tasty. And if you're like me, here's how the internal discussion went:
     "Breakfast?" "Great! I like breakfast!"
     "Gems?" "No idea. Let's try anyway!"
     "Do I have all the ingredients?" "Yes! I can't wait to eat this thing!"
     "Do I understand the instructions?" "Yep! Put all the things together, beat 5 minutes, put in a gem pan, bake 15 minutes in a hot oven. Er, wait, wait. Hmm. What's a gem pan? And could you define a hot oven a little better?"

A quick Google images search for gem pans has lots of pictures of things that resemble a muffin tin or conjoined small loaf pans but with rounded bottoms. The shapes vary and I suspect sizes do too. So I figure my muffin tin will be an acceptable substitute. And oven temperature, 400 F seems sensible. Let's see how I do.

Everything is in the bowl.

Mixed and ready to bake.

Breakfast gems: 
(adapted from The Home Cook Book, 1877)

1 cup milk
1 1/2 cup flour
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking powder

1. Preheat oven to 400 F and grease 9 cups in a standard muffin tin.
2. Beat all ingredients together for 5 minutes. (Yes, 5 whole minutes. I timed it.)
3. Pour into greased holes in prepared muffin tin filling each about half full.
4. Bake 23 to 25 minutes, or until bottoms are golden and tops are pale golden.
5. Let cool in pan 5 minutes.
6. Remove gems from pan and place on wire rack to finish cooling.

Awww... How cute. The top flopped over.

Batch the second.

Results: The batter had the consistency of pancake batter. And the flavor reminded me of pancake batter, but wasn't at all sweet. Well, of course it wasn't, there's no sugar in it. The finished result looks a bit like a popover. Taste-wise, they're a denser version of a popover. And they're great with butter. They're also best the first day.