Cheese Puffs, a.k.a. gougeres, are made from a simple choux paste (flour, butter, water, and egg cooked quickly into paste-like dough) flavored with plenty of cheese. The puffs reheat beautifully and are, in my experience, always gobbled up in quick order.
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 45 minutes
Total Time: 55 minutes
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 cup flour
- 5 eggs
- 1 tsp. Dijon mustard
- 1/2 tsp. dry ground mustard
- 1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
- 1 1/2 cups shredded cheese – sharp cheddar, Parmesan, and/or Gruyere
- Coarse salt for sprinkling
Preparation:
- Preheat oven to 425. In a medium saucepan, bring butter and 1 cup water to a boil.
- Reduce heat to medium and quickly dump the flour into the butter-water mixture and stir thoroughly with a wooden spoon until a ball of dough forms and pulls away from the edges of the pan.
- Remove pan from heat. Add one egg at a time and stir to completely and thoroughly incorporate each egg into the dough before adding the next egg. Be warned: the dough will fall apart and look a mess as you add each egg, but have faith – keep stirring and the dough will come together again.
- Add mustards and pepper and stir to combine. Stir in cheese.
- Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper, or lightly grease them. Put teaspoonfuls of the dough about an inch apart on the baking sheets. Sprinkle with coarse salt. Bake until puffed and golden, about 30 minutes. For drier puffs, cut a slit in them and return to the oven, with heat reduced to 350, for another 10 minutes. Serve warm.
Makes about 3 dozen Cheese Puffs.
