These tasty little cheese puffs, or gougères in French, made from pâte à choux dough 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.
When you serve these gougères made from classic pâte à choux dough people will think you trained at the Cordon Bleu. But they are deceptively easy to make.
Once you learn how to make this basic dough, it can be made sweet or savory for a variety of wow-inducing recipes including éclairs, cream puffs and even a Christmas Croquembouche. The key is the stirring. I'll also teach you a trick I learned from Rachel Khoo that makes it easy to fill that pastry bag so you are ready to pipe these cheesy bites with no muss and no fuss.
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 those.
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What are gougères?
Gougères are French cheese puffs made from pâte à choux pastry dough. This is the same dough that is used to make éclairs, profiteroles, etc. Gougères are a perfect little portable hand-held bite, so they are great to serve for cocktail party nibbles and other appetizer situations when you don't want to mess with utensils.
Ingredients you'll need
To make pâte à choux pastry dough, you only need a few ingredients. Eggs, butter, flour and salt combine to form something truly wonderful!
- Flour, water, salt, butter, eggs: These are the ingredients for the basic dough.
- Parmesan cheese and fresh rosemary: To give the gougères a distinct savory flavor and wonderful aroma.
- Goat cheese: Makes the filling nice and tangy.
- Mascarpone cheese: Sometimes called Italian cream cheese, it adds creaminess to the filling.
- Lemon zest and fresh parsley: Provide a fresh, light finish to the filling so it doesn't seem heavy.
How to make parmesan rosemary gougères
Pâte à choux pastry recipe adapted from Baking by James Peterson.
Step 1: Make the pâte à choux
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.
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Step 2: Add the cheese and rosemary
Add cheese and rosemary. Stir gently to combine.
Step 3: Pipe the gougères and bake
Transfer the dough to a pastry bag with a straight tip or use a large plastic freezer bag with the corner cut off. (See tip below.)
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.
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.
Step 4: Make the herbed goat cheese and fill the gougères
For the gougères filling, simply allow the goat cheese and mascarpone to soften at room temperature, then combine with the lemon zest and parsley. Transfer to pastry bag or freezer bag as described above.
Once the cheese puffs have cooled, gently punch a hole in the bottom or break open at the side and fill with a dollop of the goat cheese mixture.
Don't fill them too full, you just want a bit of that tangy, bright surprise, about the size of a marble.
FAQ
You can make the dough a day or two in advance and store it in the refrigerator in a pastry bag or zip-top bag.
Once the gougères have baked and cooled, they can be stored in the freezer in a zip-top bag for about a month. Reheat them in a 300 degree oven for 8 - 10 minutes before serving to get them crisp again.
Tips for making gougères
- Advantages to mixing the dough by hand: You can mix this pâte à 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.
- Here's a tipe to make filling the piping bag easier: 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 the choux 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!
- Goat cheese is the best filling: 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. It can be made a day or two in advance. Allow to soften at room temp before piping into the gougères.
More cocktail party recipes
Here are a few more nibbles to consider for your next cocktail party.
- Did you think radishes with butter could get any better? They can when you make Radishes with Radish Leaf Butter.
- Use up the rest of that fresh rosemary in this recipe for Oven Roasted Nuts with Rosemary, Sage, and Crispy Garlic.
Gougères are simple, quick, elegant and versatile!
- Pâte à choux dough takes just a few minutes to make.
- The gougères cook in about 20 minutes!
- Choose from a variety of savory fillings and herbs, customize to your taste.
- They are the perfect bite to serve with cocktails or champagne!
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Recipe
Parmesan-Rosemary Gougères with Goat Cheese Filling
Ingredients
Parmesan-Rosemary Gougères
- 1 cup water
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ 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 tablespoon fresh rosemary finely chopped
Gougères filling with goat cheese and mascarpone
- 8 oz goat cheese
- 4 oz mascarpone cheese
- 2 tsp lemon zest
- 3 tablespoon 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. (See tip below.)
- 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.
Want to save this recipe?
I will email this recipe to you, so you can come back to it later!
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Notes
- To make filling the piping bag easier, 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.)
- Use good baking sheets like these from Nordic Ware for this recipe. The gougères are delicate puffs and you don't want your baking sheet to warp sideways and ruin them!
- Be sure to read the post above for more tips and FAQs.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated as an estimate. Calorie accuracy is not guaranteed.
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