Gougeres

In yesterday's post, my baby sister made her Darling Mermaid Darlings Apple Pie.  A side effect of this tremendous pie was a good hunk of leftover gruyere.  Now, gruyere is not cheap cheese; additionally it is delicious.  The Bradarich family fridge is something of a black hole.  You put in a beautiful hunk of cheese, move on to something else, and before you know it your cheese has made it to the back of the drawer and goes to work growing mold.  Yuck.  Such a fate could not be allowed to befall our beautiful gruyere!  Enter, gougeres, delicious French cheese puffs.  This recipe was closely adapted from here, but since I loathe nutmeg, I decided to go for a different flavor.  Finally, a warning: your family will hate and love you for making this-- they are delicious and you can eat them like popcorn.

Gougeres

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup butter (1 stick), cut into tablespoons

   generous pinch sea salt

1 cup flour

4 large eggs (actually, we only had three, so I used that carton egg white crap too-- turned out fine)

1 cup shredded grueyere (about 3 1/2 ounces)

  pinch black pepper

  pinch garlic powder

1. Preheat oven to 400 F.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. In a small saucepan, combine milk, water, butter, and salt.  Heat over medium until boiling.
3. Reduce heat to low.  Stir in flour with a wooden spoon until it becomes a smooth dough,
4. Heat dough over low heat, about 2 minutes, until it pulls away from the pan.
5. Transfer dough into a small mixing bowl and let cool 1 minute (pictured below).
6. Thoroughly beat eggs into dough, one at a time (don't worry, it'll mix thoroughly, just keep working).
7. Stir in pepper and garlic.  Stir in cheese.
8. Transfer dough to (a) pastry bag with 1/2" round tip; or (b) the corner of a plastic bag, then cut the tip off.
9. Pipe dough onto parchment, two inches apart, about 1 tablespoon each mound (pictured below).
10. Sprinkle lightly with more sea salt.
11. Bake 22 minutes or until puffed and golden brown.
12. Serve warm.

If you are concerned about eating all of the gougeres, or if you want to make them in advance for a party, cool completely, then freeze in a plastic bag.  Reheat at 350 F until hot.

Dough before adding eggs.

Super-appetizing piped dough

The finished product again.