Gougeres

Gougeres, or “savory cream puffs” (don’t tell someone from France that is how I translated it), are divine. Light, airy, and crispy like a cream puff, but not sweet. Think, the pastry version of popcorn. I dare you to eat just one.

I like some sort of cheese/chive mixture in my gougere. There is something about the combination of the neutral bread (the pastry) + the saltiness/fatiness of the cheese punctuated by the slight bite of the chives that just gets me. I love it. It feels like a perfect balance between umami and texture. While I love a cheese straw, cheese ball, or just plain cheese and crackers, it doesn’t feel hyperbolic to say that a gougere is the pinnacle of the bread/cheese duo.

And so, I strongly urge you to make some. Please. Any audience will do – your best friends over for weeknight cocktails, brunch starters, or just for yourself when you are lying in bed binge watching Wednesday, Emily in Paris, Shrinking, or The Last of Us. These treats will play well right along side goth, froth, feel-good, or deadly fungus folk. And, if your bed/couch ends up being your chosen venue to enjoy your gougeres, you are less likely to have to share them. (Sidebar: If your solo TV binge involves wine, these go great with whichever white you would pair with the type of cheese you put in them. Keep that in mind.)

Tampiquena Gougeres

(adapted from Alain Ducasse)

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup milk

1 stick (4 oz) unsalted butter cut into cubes

pinch of kosher salt

1 cup AP flour

4 large eggs

3 1/2 ounces of pepper jack cheese (shredded) + more for sprinkling

pinch of salt (1/4 tsp)

Paprika/Chipotle/Aleppo spices

 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Line 2 baking pans with parchment paper.

In a medium saucepan, mix the water, milk, butter, and salt, and bring to a boil. Add in flour, and stir vigorously with a wooden spoon until a smooth dough forms. Continue to stir over low heat until the mixture pulls away from the sides of the pan, about two minutes.

Scrape into the bowl of a stand mixer. Beat in one egg at a time – one minute between – until fully incorporated.

Add shredded cheese and mix.

Scoop 1/2 in round mound onto the parchment covered baking sheets. If desired, sprinkle with other spices (paprika, chipotle, aleppo – know your audience).

Sprinkle with remaining cheese.

Bake for 22 minutes until puffed and golden brown.

Delicious hot, but also great if reheated at 350 degrees.

Fill with salpicon, chicken salad, guacamole corn salsa, or pimiento cheese.

 

Tagged as: cheese cream puffs, corn salsa, gougeres. savory cream puffs, guacamole, mexican cream puffs, salpicon