Oh so French, gougères are savory cheese puffs made from pâte à choux, or cream-puff dough, with a generous amount of cheese folded in.  Slightly warm with a crisp shell and a cheesy, pillowy interior, they are the perfect little bite to pop in your mouth between sips of sparkling wine or cocktails.

GOUGERES RECIPE - by Mon Petit Four

Gougères are savory baked cheese puffs. Unlike sweet cream puffs, gougeres utilize cheese and are served as appetizers.

These cheese puff balls are made from the same pastry dough as cream puffs, a dough called pâte à choux. This dough is made with a paste-like batter that is either piped or scooped into round mounds onto a baking sheet.

French gougeres puff up as they bake in a hot oven and turn golden throughout. You can make a gougeres filling for your savory cheese puffs, or simply enjoy the cheesy puffs on their own.

Normally, the taste of pâte à choux is not very flavorful on it’s own. In the case of dessert puffs, the custard filling delivers all the magic. For gougeres, however, we use a bold and salty cheese like gruyere to give the dough wonderful flavor.

If you’ve never heard of it, you may be wondering what gruyere is? It just happens to be one of my favorite French cheeses. Similar to mozzarella, gruyere melts really well. Unlike mozzarella, however, it tends to be a more firm cheese and has a nutty edge.

I love using gruyere in a variety of recipes, including classic grilled cheese as well as a topping for my French onion soup.  It’s the type of cheese that turns these french cheese puffs into addictive, crowd-pleasing bites.

At the end of the day, French gougeres are simply light and hollow puff balls that are bursting with fantastic cheese flavor. If you’re wondering what to serve with gougeres, might I suggest a nice glass of bubbly champagne.The salty flavor of the gougeres compliments champagne beautifully.

Watch the video below to see just how I make them!

Ingredients

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup milk

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter cut into cubes

1 cup all-purpose flour

4 eggsdash of nutmeg

pinch of ground pepper

1 cup gruyere cheese or 3.5 oz, shredded (plus more - about 1/2 c or 3/4 c - for sprinkling on top)

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 400°F.

Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mats.

In a medium saucepan, heat the water, milk, salt, and butter over medium heat until the mixture comes to a boil. Then reduce the heat to low and add in the all-purpose flour. Stir the flour in until it's completely incorporated and the mixture pulls away from the sides of the saucepan.Let the pate a choux cool for about a minute before adding in the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each egg.

Add the nutmeg and ground pepper, then stir. Follow with the cup of shredded cheese and mix until blended in well.Use a tablespoon cookie scooper or a pastry bag to place small tablespoon-size mounds of the pate a choux onto your baking sheet. Allow 2 inches of room between each mound. Sprinkle some more shredded cheese on top of each mound.

Bake the gougères for 20 to 25 minutes, or until they're puffed up and a rich golden color. Do not open the oven until you're sure they're ready (at least until about the 15 minute mark, if your oven bakes pretty fast) or else they can deflate.

Recipe Notes

If you decide to add any extra ingredients like chopped bacon or chopped green onions, make sure to use a cookie scooper so that none of the additions get stuck behind in the pastry bag.

recipe/video Mon Petit Four www.monpetitfour.com

image - Donna Holland