Gougeres With Comte Food

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.

GOUGERES FRENCH CHEESE PUFFS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 425.
• Add butter, salt, pepper and nutmeg to 1 cup water in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
• When butter melts, reduce the heat to low.
• Add flour to saucepan all at once and beat with a wooden spoon over low heat for about a minute until mixture pulls away from sides of the pan.
• Remove pan from heat.
• Add cheese to pan and beat with wooden spoon until thoroughly mixed.
• Add 4 eggs, one at a time, beating each into the batter until well mixed before adding the next.
• Continue beating mixture until it is smooth, shiny and firm.
• Drop batter in small spoonfuls onto a lightly greased baking sheet.
• Beat remaining egg with 1/2 tbsp water, then brush tops of uncooked gougeres with egg wash.
• Bake in upper third of the over for 15-20 minutes or until golden and doubled in size.
• Remove from oven serve hot or can be served at room temperature.