Gougères Are Just Cheese Puffs

I was so depressed this week from gray cold, sick kids, destructive puppies, husband away, I couldn’t even write another blog post after my memoire chapter. I also felt a little vulnerable, you know, and one would hope it would hinder me from exposing myself so publicly in the future, but no – this Monday I’ll be talking about my alcohol addiction. Yippee! (Then I’ll go back into hiding).

My in-laws graciously agreed to take all three kids for the entirety of this coming week. I grasped their hands and shed tears over them while whispering, “Thank you, thank you! I didn’t even have to give birth this time!”

And of course, I would have a sick child right before disposing of my kids for a week. (I know – I’m so irreverent – I meant to say “before our tearful parting”).

The pediatrician quipped as she examined Young Knight, “Of course one of them is sick. It’s always that way. I just saw a kid with a twisted ankle who was supposed to leave tonight at 9:00 for a ski trip. Her parents have been planning this forever.”

Well I fervently hope all three of my children will be privileged enough to participate in their week of fun at the dance camp they’re signed up for so we can also get a break. Now – if I can only get rid of that dog for a week …

I know, I know. SO irreverent. Don’t mind me. He just ate my checkbook.

And since mon amour que j’aime avec tout mon coeur et puis encore plus is finally home from his travels and taking next week off, I decided to post a long overdue recipe and make it something that would thrill the socks off of him at the same time.

“Honey, do you know what a “gougères” is? I had never heard of it before.

A dreamy look came over him, as he sighed with reverence (at least someone is reverent around here), “My grandmother was not a great cook, but that was something she did well. I used to love eating her gougère.” This is pronounced goo-jhair, in case you’re wondering.

Except her gougères were one large puff pastry and most of the recipes I was seeing were for small ones. Gougères come from the Bourgignon region (like boeuf bourgignon) and both big and small puffs are okay.

Remember the puff pastry from my profiterole recipe? You can click there for better instructions than what I’m about to post. The main difference with gougère dough is that it has milk, nutmeg and pepper, and no sugar. But the procedure is the same if you want to click over and see it.

Put the milk, water, salt, nutmeg, pepper and chopped butter in a saucepan. 

And then when it comes to a boil, dump your flour in all at once. Stir vigorously until it doesn’t stick to the sides of the pan anymore – the dough needs to be somewhat dry. Then add your eggs in one by one.

Voila – stir well.

Add grated cheese and stir again.

And we won’t even bother with that pastry bag because I’m hoping you’ll actually make this recipe. Just spoon the dough on a baking sheet lined with wax paper.

I added parmesan and the lightest sprinkle of thyme to the top. 

The oven should be preheated to 180°C (350°F) and you’ll cook it at that temperature for ten minutes, before reducing the heat to 150°C (325°F) for the remaining 10 minutes.

I also needed to sprinkle extra salt when it was baked since I used Comté and Emmental (similar to Swiss) and they don’t have a lot of flavor. You can use cheddar, which won’t be very French, but will then taste just like a cheese puff!

There are just so many possibilities. I even have another recipe for plain gougères stuffed with a goat cheese filling. Shall we make that next?

Just remember – it’s easy. Seriously easy.

Gougères are just cheese puffs with a fancy name.

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