The French take their drinks very seriously before dinner. Known as the apéro (derived from the word aperitivo) it is a pre-dinner drink with appetizers and can encompass everything from olives and cured ham to elaborate snacks. The star of any pre-dinner drink, however, is gougère, the French cheese puff pastry. Light, fluffy and with a delicious cheese flavor, it feels warm and cozy at the same time. It is also the perfect accompaniment to a champagne or wine tasting. It’s no surprise that its origins are from the Burgundy district of France, where some of the best wines in the world are made.
This recipe is a
classic gougère recipe, which can be made with Gruyère, Comté or Emmental, all hard cow’s milk cheeses with a slightly nutty flavor, my favorite is definitely the Gruyère. Add to that a pinch of freshly grated nutmeg and you are in fluffy cheese heaven. The recipe is deceptively simple and the puffs don’t have to look symmetrical and perfect.
Now, bring the champagne!
Gougères – French cheese puff pastry
This recipe makes 40 small puffs, which is enough if you serve for pre-dinner drinks to about 8-10 people.
Preparation time: about 20 minutes
Cooking time: about 25 minutesRest time: none; You can eat them hot or cold, they’re great both waysTotal time: 45-50 minutes
Ingredients
100 g (or 3.5 oz)
butter 0.25 L (or 1 cup) water 150 g (or 5.3 oz) simple flour 4 medium eggs 1 egg yolk (for icing) Salt and pepper Freshly grated nutmeg 170 g (or 6 oz) Gruyère cheese (for pastry) 30 g (or 1 oz) Gruyère cheese (to sprinkle on top)
- Turn on the oven at 180° Celsius (about 350° Fahrenheit). Line a baking sheet with paper.
- Grate the cheese and set the smaller batch aside.
- Start by adding butter and water to a pan and bring to a boil
- Remove from heat and add flour, beating quickly. (I prefer to use a low- to medium-speed electric mixer for the entire recipe, but it really only takes a few seconds to mix each time, so be careful not to mix the dough too much.) When combined, add the four eggs, one by one, beating in the middle. The texture of the dough will vary, going from thick and a little crumbly to soft when the last egg is added.
- Add salt, pepper and freshly ground nutmeg. Add the largest batch of cheese and stir or mix. The cheese will melt into the dough fairly quickly. Try and decide if you want to add more of the spices.
- Put the dough in a piping bag. (Tip: Place the piping bag in a vase or tall pitcher before and fold the top edge of the bag over the top of the vase or pitcher.) Place the dough in tablespoons the size of a walnut. Leave some space between the puffs, as they will swell, you guessed it, when baking. (The opening of the piping bag should not be too small because the dough is quite thick and dense. You can also use two spoons instead of the piping bag to make the spoonfuls.) Don’t worry if the tops are too pointed; They will be smoothed once they are glazed with the egg yolk.
- Glaze with the egg yolk and add a small amount of the leftover cheese on top of each gougère.
- Bake in the middle of the oven for about 25 minutes. Gougères should have a touch of golden color, but no more.
- Remove puffs from the baking sheet. Ready to serve!
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(By the way, if there are any left the next day, heat them in the oven for a few minutes. Delicious with some salted butter..)
enjoy your meal!
Posted on Tuesday, December 26th, 2017 at 6:40 am in Food & Drink. You can follow any response to this post via the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a reply or trackback from your own site.
