Cheddar Dill Gougères Recipes

CHEDDAR GOUGERES

Steps:

• In a large saucepan, bring the water, butter and 1/2 teaspoon salt to a boil. Add flour all at once and stir until a smooth ball forms. Remove from the heat; let stand for 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Continue beating until mixture is smooth and shiny. Stir in cheese, chives and garlic., Drop by tablespoonfuls 1 in. apart onto greased baking sheets. Sprinkle with remaining salt. Bake at 375° for 14-16 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm.

CHEDDAR DILL GOUGèRES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
• In a small saucepan, bring the water, milk, butter and salt to a boil. Add the flour and stir until the dough pulls away from the sides of the pan, and dries out a bit. Roughly two minutes.
• Turn the dough out into a stand mixer with the paddle attachment. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing thoroughly between each one. Add the cheddar cheese, dill and pepper.
• Transfer the dough to a pastry bag with a half inch tip (or a disposable bag with the tip cut off) and pipe tablespoonfuls onto the baking sheets at least two inches apart.
• Sprinkle with cheese and additional dill. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until puffed and golden brown. Serve warm or room temperature.
• The gougères can be frozen or refrigerated. To reheat, cook in an 350 degree oven for at least five minutes, or until piping hot and crisped.

CHEDDAR CHEESE GOUGERES WITH BACON

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper.
• In a medium saucepan, add 1 cup water, the butter and salt, and bring to a boil over high heat. Lower the heat to medium and add the flour all at once. Stir rapidly with a wooden spoon; the mixture will form a dough ball that will pull away from the sides of the pan. Continue to cook for a couple minutes.
• Remove the pan from the heat and let cool for a couple of minutes. Stir so that the dough cools more evenly; you want the dough to be warm, but not so hot that when you start adding the eggs they cook as they hit the dough. In a mixer or by hand with a wooden spoon, add the eggs one at a time, stirring after each addition until the eggs are incorporated. The dough should become rather creamy. Stir in the grated cheese, bacon, thyme and a few grinds of pepper.
• Spoon out small balls (about a heaping tablespoon) of the dough onto the baking sheet, with at least an inch separating the spoonfuls. Cook for 10 minutes; lower the heat to 350 degrees F and cook until puffed up and lightly golden, another 15 to 20 minutes.

CHEF JOHN'S PARTY CHEESE PUFFS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat.
• Stir water, butter, and salt together in a pot; bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to medium and whisk flour into butter mixture until a paste-like dough forms, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer dough to a bowl to cool until warm, 5 to 10 minutes.
• Whisk 1 egg, thyme, and black pepper into cooled dough until egg is completely incorporated. Add remaining egg and whisk until completely incorporated into dough. Stir 3/4 the cheese into dough until combined. Scoop 1-inch balls of dough onto prepared baking sheet. Top each with remaining cheese.
• Bake in the preheated oven until golden and puffed, 15 to 20 minutes.

CHEDDAR-WALNUT GOUGèRES

Steps:

• Set a rack in the center of the oven and heat to 400 degrees. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Put the butter, milk, salt and 1/2 cup water in a medium saucepan, and bring to a boil. Add the flour all at once, set heat to medium-low and stir without stopping until the mixture pulls away from the pan easily and comes together in a ball. Keep stirring energetically for 3 minutes more; the drier the dough, the better the gougères. Scrape the dough into a mixer with a paddle attachment (or into a large bowl, if you're mixing by hand), and let sit for 1 minute.
• With the mixer at medium speed, add the 4 eggs one by one, and beat for 1 minute after each goes in, scraping the bowl as needed. As you're working, the dough may break into curds; just keep going - it's always fine once the egg white goes in.
• Beat in the egg white, then the mustard. Reduce the mixer speed to low, and blend in the cheese followed by the nuts. Give the dough a few good beats with a sturdy spatula.
• Working with a small cookie scoop or 2 spoons, scoop balls, each about 2 teaspoons, onto the sheets, leaving an inch between each. (Gougères are excellent baked from frozen. They can be frozen at this point; set them in an airtight container once frozen solid.)
• Working with one baking sheet of fresh gougères at a time, slide the gougères into the oven and turn the heat down to 375. Bake for 22 to 24 minutes, or until the gougères are puffed, golden and firm enough to pick up. (If baking frozen gougères, arrange them on a lined baking sheet, and leave at room temperature while you heat the oven. You may need to bake them a couple minutes more, so keep an eye on them.) Serve immediately. Baked gougères can also be reheated briefly in a 350-degree oven.

MINIATURE GOUGERES

Steps:

• Make pâte à chou
• In a heavy saucepan bring water to a boil with butter and salt over high heat and reduce heat to moderate. Add flour all at once and beat with a wooden spoon until mixture pulls away from side of pan.
• Transfer mixture to a bowl and with an electric mixer on high speed beat in 4 eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Batter should be stiff enough to just hold soft peaks and fall softly from a spoon. If batter is too stiff, in a small bowl beat remaining egg lightly and add to batter, a little at a time, beating on high speed, until batter is desired consistency.
• Make Gougères
• Preheat oven to 375°F. Lightly grease 2 baking sheets or line with parchment paper.
• In a small heavy skillet dry-roast seeds over moderate heat, shaking skillet, until fragrant and slightly darker, being careful not to burn them, 3 or 4 minutes. Transfer seeds to a small bowl and cool. With a mortar and pestle or in an electric coffee/spice grinder grind seeds coarse.
• Stir Gruyère and 1 teaspoon ground seeds into pâte à chou and arrange level tablespoons about 1 inch apart on baking sheets. Sprinkle tops of gougères with remaining ground seeds and bake in upper and lower thirds of oven, switching positions of sheets halfway through baking, 30 minutes, or until puffed, golden and crisp. Gougères keep, chilled in sealable plastic bags, 2 days or frozen 1 week. Reheat gougères, uncovered, in a preheated 350°F. oven 10 minutes if chilled or 15 minutes if unthawed frozen. Serve gougères warm.

CHEDDAR DILL PUFFS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375°F.
• Bring water to a boil with butter and salt in a 3-quart heavy saucepan over high heat, then reduce heat to moderate. Add flour all at once and cook, stirring vigorously with a wooden spoon, until mixture pulls away from side of pan, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and cool slightly, about 3 minutes, then add 4 eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition (batter will appear to separate but will then become smooth). Mixture should be glossy and just stiff enough to hold soft peaks and fall softly from a spoon. If batter is too stiff, beat remaining egg in a small bowl and add to batter 1 teaspoon at a time, beating and then testing batter until it reaches proper consistency. Stir in cheese and dill.
• Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment or lightly butter sheets. Fill pastry bag with batter and pipe 15 (1-inch-diameter) mounds (or spoon level tablespoons) 1 inch apart onto each sheet. Bake in upper and lower thirds of oven, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, until puffed, golden, and crisp, about 30 minutes total. Make more puffs in same manner. Serve warm.

GOUGèRES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Heat 1/2 cup water, the butter, sugar, and salt in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until butter melts and mixture boils. Remove from heat, and stir in flour with a wooden spoon. Return pan to medium heat, and cook, stirring, until mixture pulls away from side of pan and forms a film on bottom, about 4 minutes.
• Transfer batter to a bowl, and beat with a mixer on low speed until slightly cooled, about 2 minutes. Raise speed to medium, and add eggs, 1 at a time, beating after each addition. Beat 1 minute more. Batter should be shiny and form a string when pulled up with a finger; if string doesn't form, add water, 1 teaspoon at a time, until it does. Stir in Parmesan.
• Transfer batter to a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch plain tip (such as Ateco #806). Pipe about 30 mounds (1 inch in diameter) 1 inch apart onto parchment-lined baking sheets. Brush with egg yolk, and sprinkle each with about 1/2 teaspoon Gruyere.
• Bake until gougeres are puffed and lightly golden, about 10 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees, and bake until golden and a toothpick inserted into the centers comes out dry, 20 to 25 minutes more. Serve warm or at room temperature.

CRANBERRY-CHEDDAR GOUGèRES

Steps:

• Turn on food processor and finely chop cranberries by dropping them in through feed tube. Remove cranberries, but don't bother cleaning bits clinging to the bowl. (Cranberries can also be chopped by hand.)
• Place 1 cup water in a 2-quart saucepan. Add butter and salt, bring to a simmer and cook just until butter melts. Remove from heat, add flour all at once and stir vigorously with a wooden spoon. Return saucepan to medium heat and cook dough, stirring, about a minute. Transfer dough to food processor.
• Heat oven to 425 degrees. Turn on food processor and add 1 egg to the dough. As soon as it's completely incorporated, add another, and continue adding eggs 1 at a time until you have used 4. Add chopped cranberries and Cheddar and pulse to blend. (This step can be done by hand, but it's a lot more work.)
• Line 1 large or 2 smaller baking sheets with parchment. Drop teaspoons of batter, in mounds about 1 inch across, on baking sheets, leaving 2 inches between them. Beat remaining egg. Brush tops of mounds with egg, taking care not to let any drip down the sides.
• Bake 15 minutes, until puffed and lightly browned. Reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake another 10 to 15 minutes, until well browned. Shut off oven, open oven door a few inches and leave gougères another 15 minutes before removing them. When completely cooled, the gougères can be transferred to a heavy plastic bag and frozen. Reheat them for 10 minutes at 350 degrees.