Gougères

gruyère and cheddar cheeses

Gougères are one of my favorite little snacks.  They are very basic in terms of ingredients:  choux pastry dough mixed with cheese, either one or some combination.  Choux pastry dough is comprised of water, flour, butter and eggs.  A little salt and sometimes pepper are added as well.  The dough cooks and is puffed up by means of the high liquid content which is turned to steam.

setup for gougères

Water (sometimes milk is included) and butter are heated on the stove, but not boiled.  You don't want the water to leave as steam.  You want it all in the dough.  Once the butter is melted, flour is added and then it is completely stirred in and the whole thing becomes a paste.  You keep stirring quite vigorously until you see a film starting to coat the bottom of the pan.  The dough should be silky smooth and should not stick to the side of the pan.  Then the dough is immediately deposited in a mixing bowl.  Either let it sit for a minute or so to start to cool, or go ahead and mix on low speed just to help the heat escape.  Then eggs which have already been whisked together are slowly added while the mixer turns.  You don't want to add the eggs all at once.  They need to be incorporated slowly.  Once that is done, shredded cheese is added.  A variety of cheeses can be used, but my favorite is to combine gruyère and mild cheddar in equal parts.  Once all this is mixed, you can use a pastry bag to squeeze out portions, or do as I do and use a cookie scoop.  I like to use a medium sized scoop even though it seems most people makes these in small sizes.  But I like them a bit bigger.  I portion out the dough and then freeze it all.  The portions can be cooked right away, of course, but I like to freeze them and then store them in plastic freezer bags to make whenever the mood strikes me.  They keep very well in the freezer for a month.

finished gougères, warm and soft

They go straight from the freezer to the oven with no warm-up necessary before cooking.  They bake for about 30 minutes at 375 Fahrenheit.  And when they come out, they are warm and soft.  It is really easy to eat a whole dozen all by oneself, a feat I have done more than once.

Sometimes when I go somewhere to a dinner or buffet party, I take a bag of these frozen portions and make them right there so that everyone can enjoy them fresh from the oven.  They never fail to please.  Try making them sometime.  With a little practice you can turn out scrumptious snacks whenever needed or desired.  Bon appetit!