French Puffs Recipes

GOUGèRES (FRENCH CHEESE PUFFS)

Steps:

• Position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat it to 425°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Bring the milk, butter, and salt to a boil in a medium saucepan over high heat. Add the flour all at once, lower the heat to medium and, using a wooden spoon, immediately start stirring energetically. The dough will form into a ball and there will be a light film on the bottom of the pan. Keep stirring for another two minutes or so to dry the dough: Dry dough will make puffier puffs.
• Turn the dough out into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or work by hand in a large bowl with a wooden spoon and elbow grease). Let the dough sit for a minute to cool, then add the eggs one by one, followed by the white, beating on medium speed until each one is incorporated before adding the next. The dough may look as though it's separating or falling apart -- just keep going, and by the time the egg white goes in, the dough will be smooth. Beat in the mustard, followed by the cheese. Give the dough a last mix-through by hand.
• Scoop or spoon out heaping tablespoon-sized balls of dough (I use a 1.5-tablespoon cookie scoop), and drop the dough on the prepared baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches between the mounds. (The scooped dough can be frozen on the baking sheets.)
• Slide the baking sheets into the oven and immediately turn the temperature down to 375°F. Bake for 15 minutes, then rotate the pans from front to back and top to bottom. Continue baking until the gougères are puffed, golden, and firm enough to pick up, another 15 to 17 minutes. Serve immediately -- these are best directly from the oven. Storing: Although the puffs are best served hot out of the oven, they are still nice (although flatter) at room temperature that same day. If you want to keep baked puffs longer, freeze them and then reheat in a 350°F-oven for a few minutes.
• Make-Ahead/Freezer Instructions: Scoop the dough and freeze on a parchment-lined baking sheet, then pack them in an airtight container. You can bake them straight from the freezer; just give them a few more minutes in the oven.
• Note/Variation: Dorie adds ⅔ cup walnuts or pecans, lightly toasted and chopped, to these gougères. My family prefers them without nuts but it's a nice variation to try. Add them along with the cheese.

FRENCH TOAST PUFFS

Steps:

• For the ginger butter: Place the butter, agave and ginger in a food processor and process until smooth. (If no processor is available, you may use softened butter and whisk all ingredients instead.) The butter should have a smooth consistency, ready to be dipped into.
• For the french toast puffs: Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F, using convection if available. Spray a large baking sheet with cooking spray.
• Put the bananas, oat milk, coconut, sugar, cinnamon, turmeric, nutmeg, vanilla and salt in a blender and blend until smooth. If there are a few small chunks of banana, don't worry, it will add to the texture of the puffs.
• Put 1 loaf's worth of bread chunks in a large mixing bowl, followed by the batter. With a spatula or fingertips, gently fold everything together. Take care not to overmix. Homogenous is boring, so we are looking for the bread to be mostly intact, moistened by the batter. Let sit for 5 minutes. The texture should now be soft and wet, not soupy (if it's soupy, add more bread).
• When the correct texture is achieved, it will be easily scoopable with a golf-ball-sized cookie scoop. Scoop out all of the bread-batter mix onto the prepared baking sheet. Keep it funky and scoop larger amounts than the scoop can hold, like a scoop of hard ice cream. Bake until golden brown and crispy on the outside, 10 to 15 minutes. (Browned and slightly crunchy on the outside, and soft on the inside, is our goal.) Eat with hands, dipping into Vermont maple syrup and ginger butter.

FRENCH BREAKFAST PUFFS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease 12 muffin cups or line cups with paper muffin liners.
• In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg. In a separate bowl, cream together 1/2 cup sugar and shortening. Beat in egg. Stir flour mixture into shortening mixture alternately with milk. Beat well. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.
• Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes. While muffins are baking, combine 1/2 cup sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon.
• Remove muffins from oven and muffin pan. Immediately, dip the tops of the muffins into the melted margarine, then into the sugar/cinnamon mixture. Repeat with each muffin, until all muffin tops are covered. Serve warm.

FRENCH BREAKFAST PUFFS

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350°F. Grease 15 medium muffin cups, 2 1/2x1 1/4 inches.
• Mix shortening, 1/2 cup sugar and the egg throughly in large bowl. Stir in flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg alternately with milk. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups.
• Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown.
• Mix 1/2 cup sugar and the cinnamon. Roll hot muffins immediately in melted butter, then in sugar-cinnamon mixture. Serve hot.

FRENCH VANILLA CREAM PUFFS

Steps:

• In a saucepan, bring water and butter to a boil. Add flour and salt all at once; 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. Beat until mixture is smooth and shiny., Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls 2 in. apart onto greased baking sheets. Bake at 400° for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Remove puffs to wire racks. Immediately cut a slit in each for steam to escape. Cool. Split puffs and remove soft dough., For filling, in a bowl, beat milk and pudding mix on low speed for 2 minutes. Refrigerate for 5 minutes. Fold in whipped topping and chips. Fill cream puffs just before serving; replace tops. Dust with confectioners' sugar.

FRENCH BREAKFAST PUFFS

Steps:

• In a small bowl, beat shortening, 1/2 cup sugar and egg until smooth. Combine the flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg; add to the sugar mixture alternately with milk. , Fill greased muffin cups two-thirds full. Bake at 350° for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan., Meanwhile, combine cinnamon and remaining sugar in a shallow bowl. Roll the warm puffs in butter, then in cinnamon-sugar. Serve immediately.

FRENCH BREAKFAST PUFFS

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease 12 muffin cups.
• In a large bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg. Set aside.
• In a separate large bowl, cream together the sugar and shortening. Add the eggs and mix again. Alternate adding one-third of the flour mixture and one-third of the milk to the creamed mixture, beating well after each addition.
• Fill the muffin cups two-thirds full. Bake until golden, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove the muffins from the pan and set aside.
• To make the coating, melt the butter in a bowl or glass pan. In a separate container, combine the sugar and cinnamon.
• Dip the warm muffins in the butter, coating thoroughly.
• Then roll in the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Don't be afraid to really coat 'em up. Let the kids help!

GOUGERES FRENCH CHEESE PUFFS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 425.
• Add butter, salt, pepper and nutmeg to 1 cup water in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
• When butter melts, reduce the heat to low.
• Add flour to saucepan all at once and beat with a wooden spoon over low heat for about a minute until mixture pulls away from sides of the pan.
• Remove pan from heat.
• Add cheese to pan and beat with wooden spoon until thoroughly mixed.
• Add 4 eggs, one at a time, beating each into the batter until well mixed before adding the next.
• Continue beating mixture until it is smooth, shiny and firm.
• Drop batter in small spoonfuls onto a lightly greased baking sheet.
• Beat remaining egg with 1/2 tbsp water, then brush tops of uncooked gougeres with egg wash.
• Bake in upper third of the over for 15-20 minutes or until golden and doubled in size.
• Remove from oven serve hot or can be served at room temperature.

FRENCH PUFFS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Cream oleo and sugar then add eggs one at a time.
• Sift together flour, baking powder, nutmeg, and salt.
• Add to sugar mixture then mix in milk.
• Grease and flour a muffin tin.
• Fill each cup 2/3 full of the batter.
• Bake 20 to 30 minutes, until muffins are puffed up.
• Remove from tin and cool completely.
• While puffs are cooling, mix sugar and cinnamon together.
• When the puffs are cool dip the tops into butter the in the sugar mixture.