I think Gougéres –or cheese puffs to us Anglophones– are my favorite cocktail snack. There’s really nothing better with a glass of Champagne. But they’re best eaten warm from the oven, and ordinarily the last thing I need as I’m pulling together dinner is a last-minute baking project. Fortunately, almost all of the (pretty manageable) work of making these delicious morsels can be done anytime: you can make, form and freeze the balls of dough in advance and bake them straight from the freezer as your guests arrive. Here’s a brief video to show you how. The recipe follows.
Recipe
Ingredients
1/4 cup (60ml) milk
1/4 cup (60ml) water
3 tablespoons butter (Correction: in the video I say 2, but 3 is better.)
1/4 teaspoon salt
Several grinds of black pepper (or a good pinch of cayenne pepper)
1/2 cup (120ml) flour
2 large eggs
3 oz (85g) finely grated cheese (a mixture of hard, aged cheeses). I use Gruyere and/or Comte and at least 1/3 grated Parmesan.
Instructions
1. Heat the milk, water and butter in a medium saucepan until the butter is completely melted. Turn off the heat.
2. Add the salt and pepper, and dump in the flour all at once. Stir until it forms a ball that pulls away from the sides of the pan.
3. Let it rest for 2 minutes to allow heat to dissipate.
4. Add the eggs one at a time, stirring vigorously after each addition until the egg is fully incorporated. The batter will separate at first with each addition –don’t worry. Keep stirring until it comes back together. You should get a smooth, sticky, soft dough.
5. Stir in about 3/4 of the cheese, reserving the rest.
6. Line two baking sheets with baking mats or parchment. Scrape the dough into a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch tip and pipe it into mounds about the size of a cherry tomato. (If you don’t have a pastry bag you can do this with two teaspoons.) If you’re going to bake right away, space them about 2 inches apart.
7. Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top of your mounds of dough, pressing gently so that it adheres.
8. Place the baking sheets in the freezer and freeze the dough until solid. Then, pull the frozen little knobs of dough off of the baking sheet and put them in a freezer bag. They will keep in the freezer for at least a couple of months (not that you’ll be able to wait that long to bake and eat them.)
9. When you’re ready to serve the gougéres, preheat the oven to 425F (218C). Put the frozen knobs of dough on a baking sheet lined with a baking mat or parchment about 2 inches apart. (There’s no need to defrost them.) Bake for 10-12 minutes until golden brown all over. Serve immediately, popping one in your mouth before the dish reaches the table.
As soon as you serve one batch, put in another. You’ll need it.
