Gougères (French Cheese Puff Appetizer)

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Author: Delphine Fortin
Prep Time: 15 mins
Cook Time: 25 mins
Total Time: 40 minutes
Yield: 15 servings 1x
Category: Appetizer
Diet: Vegetarian

Gougères (French cheese puff appetizer) make a wonderful party food for any special occasion. The recipe itself is way easier than you think and is sure to have a wow effect among your guests!

Ingredients

* Important note: For more precision, I recommend choosing the metric measurements (grams) instead of the imperial system (cups) for this recipe.

¼ cup (60 ml) milk*
¼ cup (60 ml) water*
½ stick (50g) unsalted butter
⅔ cup (75g) all-purpose flour
2 medium eggs
3.5 ounces (100g) Gruyère**, grated
2 sprigs of thyme***
¼ teaspoon salt
Freshly ground black pepper

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Instructions

Place the empty bowl of a stand mixer (or a regular mixing bowl) in the refrigerator for 15 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C), and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
Bring the milk, water, butter and salt in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Remove from heat, and add the flour all at once, mixing it well with a wooden spatula until the flour is incorporated. Place the saucepan back to the heat, reduce to low, and keep mixing energetically with a wooden spoon until the dough dries out, about 2 minutes. The dough will form into a ball and there will be a light film on the bottom of the pan.
Transfer the dough to the cold bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment , and let the dough sit for a few minutes to cool. Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat well until completely incorporated (or work by hand in a large bowl with a wooden spoon and elbow grease). Add the grated cheese, fresh thyme leaves, black pepper, and mix again until incorporated.
Transfer to a piping bag and pipe small amounts of dough onto the parchment paper, roughly the same size of a golf ball, leaving about 2 inches between each. Or simply scoop out heaping Tablespoon-sized balls of dough and drop onto the parchment paper.
Bake for 10 minutes at 400°F (200°C), and then for 15 minutes at 350°F (180°C), or until golden. Do not open the oven door while baking to prevent gougères from collapsing (if they do collapse, not too worry too much: they will still taste good). Serve immediately when still warm!

Notes

* While the recipe calls for half water and half milk (2% or whole milk), you can still get some fairly good results using water only (1 cup/120 ml).

** The recipe also works a wonder with Emmentaler, Cheddar cheese, or for a fancier version with Comté. I do not recommend Parmesan cheese, that tends to be a little too dry for this recipe.

*** Herbs are optional in the recipe. They can also be replaced with chives or even rosemary (chopped).