Gougeres aka Fancy Cheese Puffs

 

To ring in the New Year my husband, Brian, and I decided to have a quiet night at home after a busy week. This meant lots of time to cook for me! I’ve always wanted to make pate a choux pastry and these gougeres aka fancy cheese puffs were an easy way to try this dough. To make it a bit more fun I tried three different types of cheeses – gruyere, gouda, and brie. The traditional gruyere was by far the best. I also folded in some chopped chives into the dough for a little more flavor and color. These are best served piping hot but you can make the dough and bake them the day before and reheat them with a sprinkle of cheese on top.

 

This recipe is from Alain Ducasse one of the cooking greats and makes about 24 gougeres.

 

Ingredients:

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup milk

1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons

Large pinch of coarse salt

1 cup all-purpose flour

4 large eggs

3 1/2 ounces shredded Gruyère cheese (1 cup), plus more for sprinkling

1/2 tsp. ground black pepper

1/2 tsp. grated nutmeg

1 Tbsp. minced chives

 

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

2. In a medium saucepan, combine the water, milk, butter, and salt; bring to a boil. Add the flour and stir it in with a wooden spoon until a smooth dough forms; stir over low heat until it dries out and pulls away from the side of the pan, about 2 minutes.

3. Scrape the dough into the bowl of a stand mixer; let cool for 1 minute. Beat the eggs into the dough, one at a time, beating thoroughly between each one. Add the cheese, chives, pepper and nutmeg.

4. Using a 1 inch ice cream scoop, scoop mounds of the dough onto the parchment lined sheet leaving about 2 inches between each mound. Sprinkle with cheese and bake for 22 minutes, or until puffed and golden brown.

Serve hot, or let cool and refrigerate. Reheat in a 350°F oven until piping hot.