goo goo gougeres

Gougeres are my favorite appetizer as of late. I mean, how can you go wrong with a cheesy little bite-sized puff?

I call these “American-sized” gougeres. Basically, I am too lazy to make proper-sized gougeres, so I just drop big spoonfuls of the batter onto the baking sheet and make golfball-sized gougeres. Heh. Yum yum in my tum tum!
Read on for the recipe.

GOUGERES – recipe from epicurious, which credits this particular recipe to the July 1960 issue of House & Garden
1 cup hot water
1 stick of butter
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp sugar
1 cup flour
4 eggs
2/3 cup grated Gruyere cheese (I used a locally made, hard cheddar cheese)
1 tsp dry mustard
cayenne
Heat oven to 375 F.
Combine the water, butter, salt, and sugar in a medium-sized pan and heat on medium-high until the butter is melted. Add the flour (some recipes tell you to turn off the heat before dumping in the flour) and stir vigorously with a wooden spoon until a firm ball of dough forms. The dough should come away from the sides of the pan. Add the eggs one at a time, beating vigorously after each one (if you are lazy or weak like me, you will seek the aid of a stand mixer for this task). The dough should come together after each egg addition. After all the eggs have been added, keep beating until the dough is firm, smooth, and waxy. Add the cheese, mustard, and a shake or two of cayenne and blend well.
Drop by spoonfuls (I use two spoons: one to scoop and one to help push the dough off) onto a greased baking sheet (or line it with parchment paper or a Silpat so you don’t have to deal with the greasing). Leave about an inch between each gougere.
Bake for 35-40 minutes (I ended up with two baking sheets of gougeres, so I rotated the sheets halfway through so they would bake evenly) or until puffed and golden. Turn the heat off and leave the gougeres in the oven for a few minutes so they can dry out (you can also take them out and poke a small hole in each one to allow the steam to escape and thus dry them out. You don’t want a gooey, weepy gougere. Gross). You can serve these hot or cold. They also freeze well (reheat in a 350 degree oven for about 3 minutes).