Mini Gougeres Recipes

MINI GOUGERES

Steps:

• Heat oven to 375 degrees. Line baking sheets with nonstick baking mats; set aside.
• In a small saucepan, bring 3/4 cup water, butter, and salt to a boil. Immediately remove from heat. Add flour all at once, and beat vigorously with a wooden spoon until the mixture pulls away from the sides of the pan and a film forms on the bottom, about 30 seconds.
• Transfer to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat 4 eggs into the batter one at a time, on medium speed, letting each one incorporate completely before adding the next. Add the cheese, and continue beating batter until well combined. Transfer batter to a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch plain tip (Ateco #9807) and pipe into 1-inch mounds on the prepared baking sheets. Beat the remaining egg; brush each mound with some of the egg to glaze. If a pointy tip has formed on top, gently use your finger to flatten it.
• Bake until puffed, golden, and the center is slightly damp but no wet dough remains (test by cutting into the center of one), about 25 minutes. Let gougeres cool slightly before removing from baking sheet. Serve warm.

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.

CHEESE PUFFS (GOUGERES)

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment. Set aside.
• In a saucepan, combine 1/2 cup water with the milk, butter, sugar and salt and stir over low heat until the sugar, butter and salt have melted. Raise the heat to medium and bring to a healthy simmer.
• Take from the heat and immediately add the flour. Stir with a wooden spoon until the mixture thickens, is smooth and no flour lumps remain. Return to the heat and cook, stirring, until a film forms on the bottom of the pan. Continue stirring, careful not to scrape up the film, for a minute or two more.
• Transfer the mixture (panade) to a food processor. Mix for a minute to dissipate the heat. Add the eggs one at a time with the processor running. Pay attention to the consistency of the paste. It should be smooth and shiny, so you may only need 3 of the eggs. Stir in the cheese.
• Using a small cookie scoop, scoop generous mounds onto the parchment-lined baking sheets, spacing them an inch apart. Place in the oven, immediately reduce the heat to 375 degrees F and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the cheese puffs are golden brown.

GOUGERES (FRENCH CHEESE PUFFS)

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Heat water, butter, salt, and chili powder in a saucepan over medium-low heat until the butter is melted.
• Dump in flour all at once and stir vigorously until the mixture pulls away from the sides into a smooth ball. Remove from heat and let rest for 2 minutes, to cool it down a bit. At this point, you can scrape the dough into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. If you don't have a mixer, let it cool in the pan, stirring it a few times to let the heat escape.
• Add eggs, one at a time, stirring quickly to make sure the eggs don't cook. The batter will first appear lumpy, but after 1 minute or so, it will smooth out. After the eggs have been added, let cool until tepid.
• When the dough has cooled, stir in a generous 1/2 cup Gruyere cheese until well mixed. (If dough is not cool, the cheese will melt.)
• Scrape the dough into a pastry bag fitted with a wide, plain tip. Pipe into mounds, evenly spaced apart, making each about the size of a small cherry tomato. Top each puff with a bit of the remaining cheese.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 5 minutes, then turn the oven down to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Continue to bake until completely golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes.

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.