Gougères

Good morning, good morning.  It's a very chilly day out and it's not going get any better tomorrow.  However, as we are now several days past the winter solstice, it's easy to see that the days are getting longer, so that should be of some comfort to those who don't like the cold dark nights of winter.

This week, gougères have been added to the menu.  These small cheesy puff pastries are so delicious.  I debated on adding these for a while even though I've had several people asking and hoping.  The difficulty was that they are best eaten fresh or at least very soon after coming out of the oven.  However, in the end I decided that since I freeze the portioned dough anyway, all I needed to do was to give simple instructions on how bake these.  So here you go:

I will give them out in a freezer bag with the baking time and temperature written on the bag.  Preheat the oven to 375 F.  Put them on a parchment lined baking sheet.  (I will even give you a sheet of parchment paper.)  And bake them for 30 minutes.  They go straight from the freezer to the oven with no need to thaw before baking.  

They come out nicely browned on the outside, and soft and just a little moist on the inside.

These are made by heating water, milk and butter with a dash of salt.  Then flour is added and vigorously mixed.  Then I use the stand mixer to work the dough just a bit to help cool it slightly.  Then lots of eggs are added, one at a time, and finally two different kinds of shredded cheese. 

I really love keeping a bag of the portioned dough in the freezer to have whenever I want a quick warm snack.

You'll see them on a weekly offering this month.  I hope you'll give them a try.

That's all for today.  Stay warm.  And eat well.