My favorite recipes are the ones that impress with little effort. My go-to Apple Tart, was the first time I had consistent success with a recipe like this. My other stand-bys include roasted rack of lamb and a simple ginger (or garlic) shrimp. Easy and impressive. The recipes that make me look good with very little work. I can whip these up for a dinner party on a Wednesday or Sunday, and enjoy our company rather than slogging away in the kitchen. These recipes just work. Recently I added another recipe to this stand by list: cheese puffs, or if you really want to be fancy about it, gougères.
Les gougères. They even sound fancy.
These puffs use a simple pâte à choux as the base. Don’t be intimidated by the pâte à choux, it sounds complicated (because it’s in French) but it’s a basic dough that is easy if you just follow a few simple tips. Plus, these score high on the wow factor and offer a nice change from the traditional crackers and cheese spread that are all too familiar at dinner parties. These little puffs also work for brunch or lunch. The best part? The freeze well for future parties!
I fell in love with the ease of making these on a Sunday afternoon a few weeks ago. I was feeling a smidge lazy, but we had a wine club tasting to attend and needed to bring a dish for our wine pairing. Enter, les gougères. Savory, light, and the perfect compliment to a variety of wines.
The other thing I love about these? They are made with pantry staples. No special planning, trips to the store, or hunt for special ingredients. Perfect, easy, and impressive. What more can we want from a recipe?
These savory puffs were a hit at our wine tasting featuring wines made by women wine makers – a crowd with sophisticated palettes. In fact, several people asked where I bought these. In a country where French bakeries are as pervasive as Starbucks in suburbia, I took the question as a compliment!
I like to serve these as an appetizer, but make them a little bigger and they offer a nice alternative to a standard dinner roll. I’ve seen recipes that stuff these puffs with prosciutto or other meats for a picnic or heartier brunch spread. I aspire to try these, but honestly straight out of the oven is already pretty close to perfection.
I hope you give these a try the next time you want to treat yourself or your guests. These come together very quickly and can be made in advance and stored in an air-tight container for 2 days in the refrigerator. Just re-warm them in the oven for a few minutes before serving.
A few tips to ensure success:
- Drier cheeses tend to work better, to ensure that the dough will puff and give a crispy outside. I like using Gruyère, but Parmesan, Manchego, or an aged White Cheddar works well too.
- The dough needs to be dry before adding the eggs. It’s going to look like the dough is starting to stick to the bottom of the pot. This is a good thing. The dough should pull away from the pan, and leave a thin coating of starch on the bottom of the pan.
- Be patient. Don’t skip cooling the dough. It needs to cool so that you don’t cook the eggs.
- If you are not using a food processor, make sure each egg is very well incorporated before adding the next. Don’t rush this part. Don’t panic if it looks like it’s not going to come together, or that the dough is separating (or even looks like it is curdling) at first. It’s all good. Just keep mixing.
- These puff up in the oven, so make sure you give them room to do so! It’s tempting to fit more on the baking sheet so you can get them all into the oven and start cleaning up. But they are puffs and the need room to grow. One-inch rounds should be spaced about two inches apart.
If you’d like to freeze your puffs, place them in an airtight container after they’ve cooled completely. They’ll keep for up to 3 months. When you are ready to use them, re-warm them in the oven at 350F/175C until they are warm and crisp to the touch.
Cheese Puffs (Gougères)
1/2 cup(120 ml) water
1/2 cup (120 ml) milk, (whole milk is ideal)
8 tablespoons (113g) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1/2 teaspoon (5g) salt
1 cup (110g)all-purpose flour
4 large eggs
3 1/2 ounces shredded Gruyère cheese (about 1 cup or 100g)
Freshly ground pepper
Freshly grated nutmeg
Dash of cayenne pepper (optional)
Directions
- Pre-heat oven to 425F or 215C.
- Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a medium sauce pan, add the water, milk, butter, and salt to a boil, stirring to melt the butter and to ensure that the milk does not scorch the pan.
- Once the liquid comes to a boil, get your wooden spoon and arm muscles ready. Remove the pan from the heat and add all of the flour at once.
- Stir vigorously with a wooden spoon to incorporate all of the flour. Even after the dough starts to come together, keep stirring until the dough pulls away from the pan. The dough should be smooth and look like mashed potatoes.
- Place the dough back on medium-low heat for 3-4 minutes and keep stirring to dry out the dough. A thing starchy film will start to coat the bottom of the pan. This is ok. The dough should be thick, smooth, and shiny.
- Remove the dough from the heat and transfer the dough to the bowl of a food processor and let the dough cool for 2-3 minutes. Don’t skip cooling the dough step, otherwise the eggs might cook when you add them.
- Add the eggs, cheese, pepper, nutmeg, and cayenne (if using) to the dough and pulse until the eggs are completely incorporated and the dough is shiny and smooth. If you are using a mixer: Beat in the eggs one at a time, making sure each egg is fully incorporated and the dough is smooth before adding the next egg. See tip 4, above. Then beat in the cheese and spices after all of the eggs are incorporated.
- Scoop the dough onto the lined baking sheets, leaving at least 1.5 inches between each ball. For snack sized puffs, use rounded tablespoons. You can double the size if you want to make sandwiches, just remember to leave lots of space in between them (Many recipes will instruct you to fill a pastry bag with the dough to pipe them out, but this is just extra hassle in my book. The recipe works great just dropping the dough directly onto the sheet).
- Bake for 6-7 minutes at 425F/215, then reduce heat to 350F/175C and bake for another 15-20 minutes. The puffs should be golden, dry to the touch, and sound hollow.
- Cool and serve.
- ½ cup(120 ml) water
- ½ cup (120 ml) milk, (whole milk is ideal)
- 8 tablespoons (113g) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
- ½ teaspoon (5g) salt
- 1 cup (110g)all-purpose flour
- 4 large eggs
- 3½ ounces shredded Gruyère cheese (about 1 cup or 100g)
- Freshly ground pepper
- Freshly grated nutmeg
- Dash of cayenne pepper (optional)
- Pre-heat oven to 425F or 215C.
- Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a medium sauce pan, add the water, milk, butter, and salt to a boil, stirring to melt the butter and to ensure that the milk does not scorch the pan.
- Once the liquid comes to a boil, get your wooden spoon and arm muscles ready. Remove the pan from the heat and add all of the flour at once.
- Stir vigorously with a wooden spoon to incorporate all of the flour. Even after the dough starts to come together, keep stirring until the dough pulls away from the pan. The dough should be smooth and look like mashed potatoes.
- Place the dough back on medium-low heat for 3-4 minutes and keep stirring to dry out the dough. A thing starchy film will start to coat the bottom of the pan. This is ok. The dough should be thick, smooth, and shiny.
- Remove the dough from the heat and transfer the dough to the bowl of a food processor and let the dough cool for 2-3 minutes. Don’t skip cooling the dough step, otherwise the eggs might cook when you add them.
- Add the eggs, cheese, pepper, nutmeg, and cayenne (if using) to the dough and pulse until the eggs are completely incorporated and the dough is shiny and smooth. If you are using a mixer: Beat in the eggs one at a time, making sure each egg is fully incorporated and the dough is smooth before adding the next egg. See tip 4, above. Then beat in the cheese and spices after all of the eggs are incorporated.
- Scoop the dough onto the lined baking sheets, leaving at least 1.5 inches between each ball. For snack sized puffs, use rounded tablespoons. You can double the size if you want to make sandwiches, just remember to leave lots of space in between them (Many recipes will instruct you to fill a pastry bag with the dough to pipe them out, but this is just extra hassle in my book. The recipe works great just dropping the dough directly onto the sheet).
- Bake for 6-7 minutes at 425F/215, then reduce heat to 350F/175C and bake for another 15-20 minutes. The puffs should be golden, dry to the touch, and sound hollow.
- Cool and serve.
I'm a food lover, travel addict, career counselor, professor, and lawyer living in Tunisia (and sometimes Washington, DC). 
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