Gougères French Cheese Puffs Food

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.

GOUGèRES (FRENCH CHEESE PUFFS)

Steps:

• Position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat it to 425°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Bring the milk, butter, and salt to a boil in a medium saucepan over high heat. Add the flour all at once, lower the heat to medium and, using a wooden spoon, immediately start stirring energetically. The dough will form into a ball and there will be a light film on the bottom of the pan. Keep stirring for another two minutes or so to dry the dough: Dry dough will make puffier puffs.
• Turn the dough out into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or work by hand in a large bowl with a wooden spoon and elbow grease). Let the dough sit for a minute to cool, then add the eggs one by one, followed by the white, beating on medium speed until each one is incorporated before adding the next. The dough may look as though it's separating or falling apart -- just keep going, and by the time the egg white goes in, the dough will be smooth. Beat in the mustard, followed by the cheese. Give the dough a last mix-through by hand.
• Scoop or spoon out heaping tablespoon-sized balls of dough (I use a 1.5-tablespoon cookie scoop), and drop the dough on the prepared baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches between the mounds. (The scooped dough can be frozen on the baking sheets.)
• Slide the baking sheets into the oven and immediately turn the temperature down to 375°F. Bake for 15 minutes, then rotate the pans from front to back and top to bottom. Continue baking until the gougères are puffed, golden, and firm enough to pick up, another 15 to 17 minutes. Serve immediately -- these are best directly from the oven. Storing: Although the puffs are best served hot out of the oven, they are still nice (although flatter) at room temperature that same day. If you want to keep baked puffs longer, freeze them and then reheat in a 350°F-oven for a few minutes.
• Make-Ahead/Freezer Instructions: Scoop the dough and freeze on a parchment-lined baking sheet, then pack them in an airtight container. You can bake them straight from the freezer; just give them a few more minutes in the oven.
• Note/Variation: Dorie adds ⅔ cup walnuts or pecans, lightly toasted and chopped, to these gougères. My family prefers them without nuts but it's a nice variation to try. Add them along with the cheese.

FRENCH CHEESE PUFFS (GOUGERES)

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 220°C / 425°F (200°C fan). Lightly grease 2 trays then line with parchment / baking paper.
• Place water, butter and salt in a saucepan over medium high heat. Bring to a boil until butter is full melted.
• Remove from stove, add flour, salt, pepper and nutmeg. Mix until incorporated.
• Return to stove on LOW heat and mix for 1 minute (this dries the mixture out, see video for before/after).
• Remove from stove, leave for 2 minutes.
• Add 1 egg, mix vigorously until incorporated - batter splits at first, but it always comes together!
• Add 3 more eggs, one at a time, mixing until incorporated before adding the next. Good arm workout! (Or use electric beater)
• Stir in 2 cups cheese.
• Drop 1 tablespoon mounds onto trays (small cookie scoop is ideal, otherwise use a measuring tablespoon and a teaspoon to scrape out. Can make larger - good for dunking!)
• Brush with yolk, then top with a pinch of reserved Cheese for topping.
• Bake 25 minutes.
• Allow to cool for 15 minutes so they become crusty and inside dries out a bit.
• Serve warm as pre dinner nibbles, finger food at gatherings, or dunk into soups and stews!

GOUGèRES (FRENCH CHEESE PUFFS) RECIPE

Steps:

• Gather the ingredients.
• Position 2 racks in the upper and lower third of the oven. Preheat the oven to 375 F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment or silicone baking mats. Set aside.
• In a large saucepan, bring water, butter, and salt to a rolling boil. Once the butter has melted, add the flour.
• Stir the mixture until a sticky dough ball forms and begins pulling away from the sides of the pan, about 1 minute.
• Reduce heat to low heat and cook, stirring continually, until the mixture begins to dry out a bit, 1 to 1 1/2 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside for 5 minutes.
• Beat the eggs into the flour mixture, one at a time, until fully incorporated before adding the next.
• Mix in the cheeses, nutmeg, and pepper.
• Place heaping teaspoonfuls of dough onto the prepared baking sheets leaving one inch of room between each. Alternatively, use a pastry bag and a round tip to pipe the dough, or just snip the bottom of the bag and pipe.
• Bake, rotating the sheets halfway through, until the gougères are golden brown and puffed, 25 to 30 minutes. Serve immediately.

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.

TARTINE'S GOUGERES CHOUX AU FROMAGE - FRENCH STYLE CHEESE PUFFS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350F degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment.
• To make the Choux paste, combine the milk, butter and salt in a sauce pan and place over medium heat until butter melts and the mixture comes to a full boil.
• Add the flour all at once, stirring until the mixture has formed a smooth paste and pulls away from the sides of the pan, about 3 minutes.
• Transfer the paste to a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or may be mixed by hand).
• Add the eggs, one at a time, and mix on medium speed (or mix by hand vigorously), incorporating each egg completely before adding the next egg. Scrape down the sides of the bowl before adding each egg. When all of the eggs have been added the mixture will be thick, smooth and shiny.
• Add the cheese, pepper and thyme, and gently mix in by hand with a rubber spatula.
• Transfer the mixture to a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2 inch plain or round tip (no. 6 or 7), filling it about 1/3 of the way full so it is still easy to handle. Pipe the mixture out onto the parchment, making quarter size (about 1 inch) mounds. Leave about 1 1/2 inch space between the mounds. Or, you can use a spoon to drop the mounds onto the parchment, but it is harder to control the thick mixture.
• The mounds may have cheese poking out in odd directions. With a wet finger just pat the mound into a more uniform shape.
• To make the topping, whisk together the egg and salt. Brush the tops of the mounds and then sprinkle with the cheese.
• Place the Gougères immediately into the preheated oven and don�t open the door until they are nicely browned or they may collapse.
• Bake until they have puffed and are nicely browned, about 25-30 minutes.
• They are delicious served hot, warm or room temperature. They can also be frozen in an airtight container, and re-crisped directly from the freezer in an 350F degree oven for 5 minutes.

CHEESE PUFFS--GOUGERES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400° and lightly butter a baking sheet.
• In a large saucepan, combine the water, salt, and butter and heat gently until the butter is melted.
• Meanwhile, sift the flour onto a piece of parchment paper.
• Bring the butter mixture just to a boil; take from the heat and immediately add all the flour.
• Beat vigorously with a wooden spoon for a few moments until the mixture pulls away from the pan sides to form a ball.
• Beat for 30 seconds to 1 minute over low heat to dry the dough.
• Beat 1 egg and set aside; beat the remaining eggs into the dough, one at a time, beating thoroughly after each addition.
• Beat in enough reserved egg so the dough is shiny and just falls from the spoon.
• If too much egg is added, the dough will be too soft and not hold its shape.
• Rub the top of the dough with butter to prevent a skin from forming, and set aside until cool.
• Cut the gruyere cheese in tiny dice, or coarsely grate it, and beat it into the dough.
• Transfer the dough to a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch plain tip and pipe 1 1/2 inch mounds on the baking sheet, spacing them well apart as they will puff during baking.
• Alternately, drop mounds of dough on the baking sheet using 2 small spoons.
• Brush the mounds with the egg glaze and sprinkle with grated gruyere.
• Bake until golden brown and crisp, 25-30 minutes.
• The puffs often seem done too soon, so take out a puff and let it cool for a minute or two to check if it is ready before removing the rest.
• The puff should stay crisp on the outside and slightly soft inside.
• Gougeres are at their best warm from the oven.

GOUGERES (FRENCH CHEESE PUFFS)

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Heat water, butter, salt, and chili powder in a saucepan over medium-low heat until the butter is melted.
• Dump in flour all at once and stir vigorously until the mixture pulls away from the sides into a smooth ball. Remove from heat and let rest for 2 minutes, to cool it down a bit. At this point, you can scrape the dough into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. If you don't have a mixer, let it cool in the pan, stirring it a few times to let the heat escape.
• Add eggs, one at a time, stirring quickly to make sure the eggs don't cook. The batter will first appear lumpy, but after 1 minute or so, it will smooth out. After the eggs have been added, let cool until tepid.
• When the dough has cooled, stir in a generous 1/2 cup Gruyere cheese until well mixed. (If dough is not cool, the cheese will melt.)
• Scrape the dough into a pastry bag fitted with a wide, plain tip. Pipe into mounds, evenly spaced apart, making each about the size of a small cherry tomato. Top each puff with a bit of the remaining cheese.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 5 minutes, then turn the oven down to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Continue to bake until completely golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes.

FRENCH GOUGèRES (FRENCH CHEESE PUFFS)

Steps:

• Place 1 oven rack in top third of the oven and a second rack in the bottom third of the oven. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
• Line two rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper, lightly greased with non-stick cooking spray.
• In a 3- to 4-quart pan over medium heat, bring the water, butter, and salt to a simmer, stirring until the butter melts. Add flour all at once, and stir rapidly with a wooden spoon until the mixture is a smooth, thick paste with no lumps.
• Remove pan from heat and allow mixture to cool.
• Using a hand-held mixer, beat in one egg at a time until all six are incorporated. Stir in cheeses and pepper.
• Using a tablespoon, drop 48 equal mounds of dough onto the parchment-lined baking sheets, spacing each mound 3 inches apart.
• Bake at 400 until dough is puffed, and looks dry and golden brown (about 30 minutes). To ensure even baking, reverse the positions of the baking pans halfway through cooking.