Cheese Gougères

Recipes

Nov 11

Gougères, aka pâte à choux, aka puff daddies

At first glance, this recipe looks intimidating but once you know what to look for, and catch on to the technique, it’s a great way to impress guests! And there are so many good ways to enjoy them.

Ingredients

1 cup water or ½ water and ½ milk for added richness
½ cup butter, cubed
Generous pinch of salt
Seasoning- cayenne and/or dijon mustard if going for savory. Or less salt and 1 T of sugar if going for sweet
1 cup all-purpose flour
4 eggs
½ cup grated hard cheese – Gruyère is classic but cheddar, asiago and gouda are all good

Directions

Put water, butter & seasoning in a saucepan and bring to full boil, making sure the butter is fully melted.

Remove from heat and immediately add flour.

Vigorously beat mixture. Put back on heat and continue working the mixture until it starts to look relatively dry and pulls aways from the sides of the pan and begins to leave a film on the saucepan. The dough will resemble mashed potatoes at this point.

Transfer to a mixing bowl, allow to cool below 140℉ and mix in eggs on low speed, one at a time. Make sure each egg is fully incorporated before adding the next. The dough should be shiny but firm and will pull away from the bowl in thick threads.

If desired stir in ½ cup grated hard cheese – Gruyère is classic but cheddar, asiago and gouda are all good.

Pipe onto a parchment lined sheet pan in golf ball-sized mounds. A tablespoon works great for this. You should end up with about 50 gougeres.

Bake at 425℉ for 15 minutes, leaving the oven door closed (no peeking!), then turn the oven down to 250℉ and bake until golden brown on the outside and dry on the inside, approximately 10 minutes. Occasionally break open a pastry to test for doneness; if moist and eggy, continue baking.

Remove from the oven and immediately pierce each pastry with a sharp paring knife to release excess steam.

When cooled and ready to serve, cut off the tops and fill with your preferred filling. Some of our favorites include Lisa’s Boursin + Tomato Concasse, Honeywood Cheese Salad + Crispy Country Ham, White Cheddar Mornay + Bacon, Tomato and Turkey.