If you like keeping a festive snack in your freezer to quickly reheat and serve to guests when needed, gougères are a tasty option.
If you haven’t had them before, they’re golden, baked balls of goodness made with the same type of dough used for profiteroles — also known as cream puffs.
The dough, called pâte à choux or choux pastry, is made by mixing eggs into a warm dough created with milk, water, flour and other ingredients.
For these gougères, a savoury snack you could use as an appetizer, you then mix in a few other tasty ingredients, such as tangy grated cheese and seasonings including cayenne pepper and nutmeg.
The dough is then piped into small mounds on a baking sheet, and baked until puffed and golden.
You could serve the gougères hot out of the oven, or bake them in advance, cool them and freeze them solid on a baking sheet, then transfer them to a freezer bag or container and keep them frozen until needed.
When you’re ready to serve them as a snack with drinks, such as sparkling wine, simply set the frozen gougères on a baking sheet and pop them into a 350 F oven for 10 minutes or so, until piping hot.
As noted, you will need a piping bag fitted with a plain piping tip to make gougères.
After putting in the piping tip, make a two-inch cuff at the top of the bag, kind of like you would on the end of a shirtsleeve.
Slide one hand into the cuff and hold the bag; use your other hand to scoop the gougères dough into the bag.
Fill the bag only about half full, as that will give you better control when piping.
Now unfold the cuff and tightly twist the top portion of the bag until the gougères dough pokes out the end.
Squeeze from the top with one hand and direct the tip with your other hand.
After squeezing out one portion, gently twist the bag to push out the next portion.
Gougères
Savoury golden cheesy puffed bites you can serve as a snack or appetizer with drinks.
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 44 minutes
Makes: 40 to 44 gougères
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1/4 lb. cold butter, cubed
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
4 large eggs
1 1/2 cups grated Emmental, Gruyère or other Swiss cheese, grated (about 125 grams)
• pinch of ground nutmeg
• pinch or two ground cayenne pepper
Line two baking sheets with parchment paper (mine were 13 by 18 inches).
Place the milk, water, butter and salt in a pot, set over medium-high heat and bring to a boil, mixing to combine those ingredients (my pot was eight inches wide). Mix in the flour and stir it with a heatproof spatula or wooden spoon until wet dough forms. Lower heat to low and cook and stir dough until it dries out a bit and pulls away from the sides of the pot, about one to two minutes.
Transfer the dough to a mixing bowl, or bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, and let sit two minutes. Beat the eggs into the dough, one at a time, mixing thoroughly between each addition. Mix the 1 cup of grated cheese, nutmeg and cayenne into the dough.
Preheat oven to 400 F. Fit a pastry bag with a 1/2-inch round plain tip. Transfer the dough to the piping bag. Pipe 20 to 22 one-tablespoon-sized, about 1 1/2-inch-wide mounds of the dough onto each baking sheet, with the mounds about two inches apart. Top each mound of dough with a little bit of the remaining grated cheese.
Bake the gougères in the middle of the oven, one sheet at a time, for 22 minutes, or until puffed and golden.
Serve the gougères hot out of the oven, or cool to room temperature, then freeze until ready to reheat and serve. (The gougères may deflate a bit when they cool, but will puff up again when reheated).
To reheat, set the gougères on a baking sheet and pop them into a 350 F oven for 10 minutes, or until hot.
Eric Akis is the author of eight cookbooks. His columns appear in the Life section Wednesday and Sunday.
