Gougères!

I’m participating in a group activity!  Oh this is so exciting!  Seven hundred of my soon-to-be favorite cooking/interwebbing buddies (I hope!) and I are cooking our way through Dorie Greenspan’s fabulous new cookbook, Around My French Table.

For our first effort, we’re welcoming each other to our hundreds of respective tables with that most classic of Burgundian amuse-gueules, gougères.  Best served with that most classic of Burgundian apéritifs, the kir (not pictured, as it is also excellent for sipping while awaiting the arrival of your Friday night guests, i.e., fiddling on the laptop).

Though these posts, which (I hope) will appear most Fridays, typically will not include a recipe, I have a recipe for gougères posted elsewhere on this site, and am reproducing it below.  It differs somewhat from Mrs. Greenspan’s, but I think we can all agree that there is much pleasure to be had in these high-end, schmancy-sounding cheese puffs, no matter which way you turn it.

I’m looking forward to cooking with you!

Gougères façon MF

45g / 3T butter  |  125ml / ½ cup water  |  salt + pepper  |  60g / scant ½ cup flour  |  3 eggs  |  ½ cup grated cheese, preferably Gruyère or Comté

Heat oven to 375 F/190 C.

Combine the water, butter, and pinches of salt + pepper in a saucepan.  Heat until the butter is melted and then bring to a boil.  Dump in the flour and stir until the paste pulls off the sides of the pan.  This never seems to take more than 15 seconds.  Remove from heat and leave to cool for at least a few minutes, but longer won’t do you any harm.

Beat 2 of the eggs together and the third in a separate bowl.  (The third is for the egg wash.)  When the paste is cool enough that you can add the eggs without making scrambles, do so in several additions, beating well after each addition.  When it looks normal—as opposed to separated and clumpy—it is ready.  Then beat in the cheese.

Scrape into a plastic bag and snip off a smaller bit of the corner than you think you should.  If you have a pastry bag and want to use it, good for you.  Either way, squeeze walnut-sized amounts onto a buttered or nonstick baking sheet. If they are evenly spaced, good again for you, but it doesn’t much matter as the gougères will not spread during baking. They just need a bit of breathing room.

Use a pastry brush or paper towel to dab the top of each with the egg wash. Make sure it doesn’t drip onto the pan, as this will prevent them from rising appropriately. Bake for 30 minutes, until puffed and golden brown.

Makes quite a few; I always forget how many