Ruth Reichls Gougeres Yummy Cheese Puffs Great For Holiday Food

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.

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.

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!

RUTH REICHL'S GOUGERES (YUMMY CHEESE PUFFS!) GREAT FOR HOLIDAY!

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
• Combine the water, butter and a teaspoon of the salt into a sauce pan and bring to a boil, stirring until butter melts.
• Remove from heat, let cool slightly, stir in flour, and mix well.
• Return the pan to the heat and stir with a wooden spoon over high heat until the mixture comes away from the sides of the pan and remove from heat.
• Stir in eggs, one at a time until well combined.
• Add the diced cheese, the remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper, stirring well.
• Drop the dough by rounded tablespoons onto a well buttered baking pan. Smooth the top and sides of each gougere with a knife and sprinkle with the grated cheese.
• Bake in batches for 25 minutes or until puffed and golden.

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.

GOUGERES (FRENCH CHEESE PUFFS)

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 450F degrees.
• Combine water, butter, salt, pepper and nutmeg (if using) in a medium-sized saucepan and bring to a boil, over medium high heat.
• Once the water is boiling and the butter has melted, remove the saucepan from the stove and add all the flour at once. Stir vigorously until combined and resembling mashed potatoes. Bring the pan back to the stove, over medium-low heat, and cook until the dough dries out a bit and starts to create a film on the bottom of the pan, about 3-5 minutes.
• Transfer the dough to your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat the dough on medium low speed so it cools off a bit. Once it's just warm to the touch, start adding the eggs, one at a time. Wait for each egg to be completely incorporated before adding the next one. The final dough should be smooth and creamy.
• Add the cheese and mix until incorporated.
• Shape the Gougeres: Using a medium sized scoop, drop the dough from a spoon onto parchment-paper lined baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches of space between them. For more uniform looking Gougeres, I like to wet my hands and shape the dough into little balls before placing them on the baking sheets. You can also go the Julia Child way and scrape the dough into a pastry bag fitted with a wide plain tip and pipe the dough into mounds, about the size of a small cherry tomato.
• Brush the top of each Gougere with egg wash and sprinkle with extra grated cheese or some chopped fresh herbs.
• Bake the Gougeres for 5 minutes and then lower the heat to 350F degrees. Bake for another 20 minutes, rotating once during the baking time, or until puffed and deep golden brown.
• Remove from oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes. Remove from baking trays to cooling racks.
• Serve warm or at room temperature.