Cheddar GougÉres Food

CHEDDAR GOUGERES

Steps:

• In a large saucepan, bring the water, butter and 1/2 teaspoon salt to a boil. Add flour all at once and stir until a smooth ball forms. Remove from the heat; let stand for 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Continue beating until mixture is smooth and shiny. Stir in cheese, chives and garlic., Drop by tablespoonfuls 1 in. apart onto greased baking sheets. Sprinkle with remaining salt. Bake at 375° for 14-16 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm.

CHEESE PUFFS (GOUGERES)

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment. Set aside.
• In a saucepan, combine 1/2 cup water with the milk, butter, sugar and salt and stir over low heat until the sugar, butter and salt have melted. Raise the heat to medium and bring to a healthy simmer.
• Take from the heat and immediately add the flour. Stir with a wooden spoon until the mixture thickens, is smooth and no flour lumps remain. Return to the heat and cook, stirring, until a film forms on the bottom of the pan. Continue stirring, careful not to scrape up the film, for a minute or two more.
• Transfer the mixture (panade) to a food processor. Mix for a minute to dissipate the heat. Add the eggs one at a time with the processor running. Pay attention to the consistency of the paste. It should be smooth and shiny, so you may only need 3 of the eggs. Stir in the cheese.
• Using a small cookie scoop, scoop generous mounds onto the parchment-lined baking sheets, spacing them an inch apart. Place in the oven, immediately reduce the heat to 375 degrees F and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the cheese puffs are golden brown.

CRANBERRY-CHEDDAR GOUGèRES

Steps:

• Turn on food processor and finely chop cranberries by dropping them in through feed tube. Remove cranberries, but don't bother cleaning bits clinging to the bowl. (Cranberries can also be chopped by hand.)
• Place 1 cup water in a 2-quart saucepan. Add butter and salt, bring to a simmer and cook just until butter melts. Remove from heat, add flour all at once and stir vigorously with a wooden spoon. Return saucepan to medium heat and cook dough, stirring, about a minute. Transfer dough to food processor.
• Heat oven to 425 degrees. Turn on food processor and add 1 egg to the dough. As soon as it's completely incorporated, add another, and continue adding eggs 1 at a time until you have used 4. Add chopped cranberries and Cheddar and pulse to blend. (This step can be done by hand, but it's a lot more work.)
• Line 1 large or 2 smaller baking sheets with parchment. Drop teaspoons of batter, in mounds about 1 inch across, on baking sheets, leaving 2 inches between them. Beat remaining egg. Brush tops of mounds with egg, taking care not to let any drip down the sides.
• Bake 15 minutes, until puffed and lightly browned. Reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake another 10 to 15 minutes, until well browned. Shut off oven, open oven door a few inches and leave gougères another 15 minutes before removing them. When completely cooled, the gougères can be transferred to a heavy plastic bag and frozen. Reheat them for 10 minutes at 350 degrees.

GOUGèRES

Steps:

• Position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment paper.
• Bring the milk, water, butter, and salt to a rapid boil in a heavy-bottomed medium saucepan over high heat. Add the flour all at once, lower the heat to medium-low, and immediately start stirring energetically with a wooden spoon or heavy whisk. The dough will come together and a light crust will form on the bottom of the pan. Keep stirring-with vigor-for another minute or two to dry the dough. The dough should now be very smooth.
• Turn the dough into the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or into a bowl that you can use for mixing with a hand mixer or a wooden spoon and elbow grease. Let the dough sit for a minute, then add the eggs one by one and beat, beat, beat until the dough is thick and shiny. Make sure that each egg is completely incorporated before you add the next, and don't be concerned if the dough separates-by the time the last egg goes in, the dough will come together again. Beat in the grated cheese. Once the dough is made, it should be spooned out immediately.
• Using about 1 tablespoon of dough for each gougère , drop the dough from a spoon onto the lined baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches of puff space between the mounds. Using about 1 tablespoon of dough for each gougère, drop the dough from a spoon onto the lined baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches of puff space between the mounds. Slide the baking sheets into the oven and immediately turn the oven temperature down to 375 degrees F. Bake for 12 minutes, then rotate the pans from front to back and top to bottom. Continue baking until the gougères are golden, firm, and, yes, puffed, another 12 to 15 minutes or so. Serve warm, or transfer the pans to racks to cool.
• Serving
• Gougères are good straight from the oven and at room temperature. I like them both ways, but I think you can appreciate them best when they're still warm. Serve with kir, white wine, or Champagne.
• Storing
• The best way to store gougères is to shape the dough, freeze the mounds on a baking sheet, and then, when they're solid, lift them off the sheet and pack them airtight in plastic bags. Bake them straight from the freezer-no need to defrost-just give them a minute or two more in the oven. Leftover puffs can be kept at room temperature over night and reheated in a 350-degree-F oven, or they can be frozen and reheated before serving.

CHEESE PUFFS (GOUGERES)

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
• Combine the flour with the salt, black pepper, thyme, chili powder, and cayenne pepper in a large bowl.
• Put the milk and butter in a large saucepan and bring to a boil. When the butter melts, turn heat to low. Add the seasoned flour all at once. Stir vigorously with a wooden spoon until the dough forms a ball. Remove from heat.
• Separate the white and yolk from one egg, reserving the yolk for glazing.
• Put the dough into a large mixer bowl. Beat at medium speed for one minute. Then beat in one egg and the extra egg white. Beat until completely absorbed into the dough. Then add the remaining 4 eggs, one at a time, waiting each time until the previous egg is completely absorbed. After all 5 eggs (plus the one egg white) have been incorporated, the dough should be smooth and satiny.
• Add the Parmesan and Gruyere cheeses, and pepperoni if you are using it. Incorporate thoroughly into the dough.
• Use a pastry bag to pipe dough onto 2 ungreased baking sheets. You can also drop dough from a teaspoon. For tiny puffs, mounds should be about 1/2 inch in diameter. From small appetizers, mounds should be 1 inch in diameter. For puffs large enough for filling, mounds should be 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Keep the size of the puffs uniform so they bake properly. Space puffs about 1 inch apart.
• Beat the remaining egg yolk with 2 tablespoons of milk to make a glaze. Lightly brush the tops of the puffs with glaze before baking. Sprinkle tops with your Parmesan cheese.
• Bake in pre-heated oven for 10 minutes (5 minutes for tiny puffs). Reduce heat to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Bake 10 minutes more for tiny puffs; 15 to 20 minutes longer for medium or large puffs, or until puffs are golden brown. Test by removing a puff from the oven and breaking it open. The inside should be baked through. If it is still doughy or wet, bake another 5 minutes.
• Remove pans from oven and leave puffs on pans until cool enough to serve.

CHEDDAR-WALNUT GOUGèRES

Steps:

• Set a rack in the center of the oven and heat to 400 degrees. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Put the butter, milk, salt and 1/2 cup water in a medium saucepan, and bring to a boil. Add the flour all at once, set heat to medium-low and stir without stopping until the mixture pulls away from the pan easily and comes together in a ball. Keep stirring energetically for 3 minutes more; the drier the dough, the better the gougères. Scrape the dough into a mixer with a paddle attachment (or into a large bowl, if you're mixing by hand), and let sit for 1 minute.
• With the mixer at medium speed, add the 4 eggs one by one, and beat for 1 minute after each goes in, scraping the bowl as needed. As you're working, the dough may break into curds; just keep going - it's always fine once the egg white goes in.
• Beat in the egg white, then the mustard. Reduce the mixer speed to low, and blend in the cheese followed by the nuts. Give the dough a few good beats with a sturdy spatula.
• Working with a small cookie scoop or 2 spoons, scoop balls, each about 2 teaspoons, onto the sheets, leaving an inch between each. (Gougères are excellent baked from frozen. They can be frozen at this point; set them in an airtight container once frozen solid.)
• Working with one baking sheet of fresh gougères at a time, slide the gougères into the oven and turn the heat down to 375. Bake for 22 to 24 minutes, or until the gougères are puffed, golden and firm enough to pick up. (If baking frozen gougères, arrange them on a lined baking sheet, and leave at room temperature while you heat the oven. You may need to bake them a couple minutes more, so keep an eye on them.) Serve immediately. Baked gougères can also be reheated briefly in a 350-degree oven.

CHEDDAR CHEESE GOUGERES WITH BACON

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper.
• In a medium saucepan, add 1 cup water, the butter and salt, and bring to a boil over high heat. Lower the heat to medium and add the flour all at once. Stir rapidly with a wooden spoon; the mixture will form a dough ball that will pull away from the sides of the pan. Continue to cook for a couple minutes.
• Remove the pan from the heat and let cool for a couple of minutes. Stir so that the dough cools more evenly; you want the dough to be warm, but not so hot that when you start adding the eggs they cook as they hit the dough. In a mixer or by hand with a wooden spoon, add the eggs one at a time, stirring after each addition until the eggs are incorporated. The dough should become rather creamy. Stir in the grated cheese, bacon, thyme and a few grinds of pepper.
• Spoon out small balls (about a heaping tablespoon) of the dough onto the baking sheet, with at least an inch separating the spoonfuls. Cook for 10 minutes; lower the heat to 350 degrees F and cook until puffed up and lightly golden, another 15 to 20 minutes.

CHEDDAR DILL GOUGèRES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
• In a small saucepan, bring the water, milk, butter and salt to a boil. Add the flour and stir until the dough pulls away from the sides of the pan, and dries out a bit. Roughly two minutes.
• Turn the dough out into a stand mixer with the paddle attachment. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing thoroughly between each one. Add the cheddar cheese, dill and pepper.
• Transfer the dough to a pastry bag with a half inch tip (or a disposable bag with the tip cut off) and pipe tablespoonfuls onto the baking sheets at least two inches apart.
• Sprinkle with cheese and additional dill. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until puffed and golden brown. Serve warm or room temperature.
• The gougères can be frozen or refrigerated. To reheat, cook in an 350 degree oven for at least five minutes, or until piping hot and crisped.

CHEDDAR-CHIVE GOUGèRES

Steps:

• Heat oven to 400°F.
• Bring water, butter and red pepper to boil in medium saucepan on medium heat, stirring frequently with wooden spoon. Add flour; stir until blended. Cook and stir 2 min. or until mixture forms ball. Remove from heat; let stand 5 min.
• Add eggs, 1 at a time, stirring after each until blended. Stir in remaining ingredients. Drop dough by level tablespoons, about 2 inches apart, into 17 mounds on baking sheets sprayed with cooking spray.
• Bake 20 min. or until puffed and golden brown. Turn oven off. Leave gougeres in oven 5 min. Serve warm.

CHEF JOHN'S PARTY CHEESE PUFFS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat.
• Stir water, butter, and salt together in a pot; bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to medium and whisk flour into butter mixture until a paste-like dough forms, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer dough to a bowl to cool until warm, 5 to 10 minutes.
• Whisk 1 egg, thyme, and black pepper into cooled dough until egg is completely incorporated. Add remaining egg and whisk until completely incorporated into dough. Stir 3/4 the cheese into dough until combined. Scoop 1-inch balls of dough onto prepared baking sheet. Top each with remaining cheese.
• Bake in the preheated oven until golden and puffed, 15 to 20 minutes.