These tasty little cheese puffs are simpler to make than you might think, and the goat cheese makes a creamy and delicious gougères filling. It’s an easy appetizer recipe for cocktail parties or holidays.
Well, here we are. I don’t know about you, but we have had a whirlwind of activity at our house this holiday season. We have finally completed renovations that have taken over a year. Not that they were complicated renovations, it’s just – well, it’s complicated. But it’s done now! We’ve got new walls, new ceilings, and new sinks. Just in time to celebrate and settle in to enjoy the house for the winter.
We are finally ready to be jolly. And fancy. These gougères will make people think you trained at the Cordon Bleu, but they are deceptively easy to make. Made from classic pâte à choux dough, once you learn how to do it, this dough can be made sweet or savory for a variety of wow-inducing recipes including éclairs, cream puffs and even a Christmas Croquembouche.
Make these cheesy gougères for Christmas Eve, Christmas Day apps or New Year’s Eve. You could even take them to the office and blow their socks off at the annual holiday potluck. I mean, really, they are cheese puffs. And everyone likes cheese puffs. Just be careful not to eat them all yourself, fresh out of the oven before you get them filled and ready for company. Maybe make a double-batch just in case…
The key to these is the stirring, and I’ll teach you a trick I learned from Rachel Khoo about filling that pastry bag to keep things neat and clean and easy peasy.
You can mix this choux pastry dough in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment if you prefer, but it’s a great workout to mix it by hand (you can do it!) and I also think it helps you to be sure you have all of the egg mixed in, and there is no shiny bit of egg white lurking in a fold somewhere.
For the gougères filling, goat cheese works well because it’s a blank canvas that you can flavor with just about anything to suit your taste, sweet or savory. Happy Holidays to all!
Related recipes: Fancy parties also call for Candied Hazelnuts.
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Parmesan-Rosemary Gougères
Pâte à choux pastry recipe adapted from Baking by James Peterson
Do ahead:
The goat cheese gougères filling can be made a day or two in advance. Allow to soften at room temp before piping into the gougères.
How to make pâte à choux:
To make pâte à choux pastry dough, you only need a few ingredients. Eggs, butter, flour and salt combine to form something truly wonderful!
Combine water, salt, and butter in a saucepan over high heat. You don’t need to stir it as it heats, just be sure that the butter melts quickly and your water doesn’t start to evaporate while you are waiting for it to melt.
Turn heat down to medium and add all flour at once. Stir with a wooden spoon for about 3 minutes until the mixture becomes cohesive, pulls away from the sides of the pan, and leaves a thin coating of flour on the sides/bottom of the pan.
Transfer to a mixing bowl and beat with a wooden spoon for about one minute to cool it down.
Beat in the eggs, one at a time, until you have added all four. You’ll know that the dough is ready when you can slide a wooden spoon down the middle and it makes a groove that slowly closes in on itself, or when it gently drops from the spoon when held sideways. If it is still too thick, you can add one egg white at a time until it comes to the proper consistency.
Add cheese and rosemary, stir gently to combine
Now here’s that trick I was telling you about. You can fill a pastry bag with a straight tip or use a large plastic freezer bag with the corner cut off. Place the opening of the bag down into a large pitcher, glass or vase. Drape the top of the bag over the sides of the opening of your vessel, and use a spatula to spoon dough into the bag. This makes things so much easier than trying to wrangle the bag with one hand and the mixture with the other. All the dough goes to the bottom and you are ready to pipe the gougères!
Line a baking sheet with parchment and pipe out bonbon sized balls of dough. Leave a good amount of space between because they will expand. You can dip your index finger in a tiny bit of water and smooth down and little peaks that may result from the piping to ensure you have a nice round puff.
Bake in the oven for 20 minutes, rotating once during baking. Cool on a wire rack.
For the gougères filling, allow the cheeses to soften at room temperature and combine all ingredients. Transfer to pastry bag or freezer bag as described above.
Once the cheese puffs have cooled, gently break open at the side and fill with a dollop of the goat cheese mixture. Don’t fill them full, you just want a bit of that tangy, bright surprise, about the size of a marble.
Ingredients
Parmesan-Rosemary Gougères
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter cut into small pieces
- 1 cup all-purpose flour sifted
- 4 eggs one additional egg white may be needed
- 1 cup Parmesan cheese shredded on the small holes of a box grater
- 2 tbsp fresh rosemary finely chopped
Gougères filling with goat cheese and mascarpone
- 8 oz goat cheese
- 4 oz mascarpone cheese
- 2 tsp lemon zest
- 3 tbsp parsley finely chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
- Combine water, salt, and butter in a saucepan over high heat. You don’t need to stir it as it heats, just be sure that the butter melts quickly and your water doesn’t start to evaporate while you are waiting for it to melt.
- Turn heat down to medium and add all flour at once. Stir with a wooden spoon for about 3 minutes until the mixture becomes cohesive, pulls away from the sides of the pan, and leaves a thin coating of flour on the sides/bottom of the pan.
- Transfer to a mixing bowl and beat with a wooden spoon for about one minute to cool it down.
- Beat in the eggs, one at a time, until you have added all four. You’ll know that the dough is ready when you can slide a wooden spoon down the middle and it makes a groove that slowly closes in on itself, or when it gently drops from the spoon when held sideways. If it is still too thick, you can add one egg white at a time until it comes to the proper consistency.
- Add cheese and rosemary, stir gently to combine
- Fill a pastry bag with a straight tip or use a large plastic freezer bag with the corner cut off. Place the opening of the bag down into a large pitcher, glass or vase. Drape the top of the bag over the sides of the opening of your vessel, and use a spatula to spoon dough into the bag. (This makes things so much easier than trying to wrangle the bag with one hand and the mixture with the other.)
- Line a baking sheet with parchment and pipe out bonbon sized balls of dough. Leave a good amount of space between because they will expand. You can dip your index finger in a tiny bit of water and smooth down and little peaks that may result from the piping to ensure you have a nice round puff.
- Bake in the oven for 20 minutes, rotating once during baking. Cool on a wire rack.
- While preparing the gougères, allow the cheeses to soften at room temperature. Combine goat cheese, mascarpone cheese, lemon zest and parsley in a large bowl. Transfer to pastry bag or freezer bag as described above.
- Once the puffs have cooled, gently break open at the side and pipe with a dollop of the goat cheese mixture. Don’t fill them full, you just want a bit of that tangy, bright surprise, about the size of a marble.
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