I’ve decided to take a stab at joining a “Cook the Book” group! I, along with others from “Cook the Book Fridays” will be cooking from Dorie Greenspan’s Everyday Dorie! Her newest cookbook just released on October 26, 2018! First up on our list of recipes to cook is her gougères titled “My Newest Gougères”.
Have you ever had these fluffy balls of goodness? Gougères are a type of pâte à choux. The same exact dough that can be used to make cream puffs, eclairs and churros. In this recipe, we make a savoury one called gougères as they have cheese in them. The cheese is grated and then combined into the dough mixture. The one unique part of Dorie’s newest Gougères is the addition of walnuts! There is also dijon mustard for a highlight in flavour.
I loved the addition of the toasted nuts in the gougères as they gave them a bit more depth. We ended up using caved aged gruyere for our gougères as the Italian store I had purchased cheese from last night only had two options available. That likely resulted in my gougères coming out a tad salty. I’ll have to find a nice sharp cheddar or just source a regular gruyere when I give this recipe another go.
Dorie’s publisher has allowed us to share this recipe so you too can make your own batch of these savoury bites!
Dorie Greenspan’s Newest Gougères
Ingredients
- 1⁄2 cup (120 grams) whole milk
- 1⁄2 cup (120 grams) water
- 1 stick (4 ounces; 113 grams) unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
- 11⁄4 teaspoons fine sea salt
- 1 cup (136 grams) all-purpose flour
- 4 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 large egg white, at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard (preferably French)
- 2 cups (170 grams) coarsely grated cheese, such as Comté, Gruyère and/or sharp cheddar
- 2⁄3 cup (80 grams) walnuts or pecans, lightly toasted and chopped
Directions
- Position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat it to 425 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
- Bring the milk, water, butter and salt to a boil over high heat in a medium saucepan. Add the flour all at once, lower the heat and immediately start stirring energeti- cally with a heavy spoon or whisk. The dough will form a ball and there’ll be a light film on the bottom of the pan. Keep stirring for another 2 minutes or so to dry the dough. Dry dough will make puffy puffs.
- Turn the dough into the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or work by hand with a wooden spoon and elbow grease). Let the dough sit for a min- ute, then add the eggs one by one, followed by the white, beating until each egg is incorporated before adding the next. The dough may look as though it’s separating or falling apart but just keep working; by the time the white goes in, the dough will be beautiful. Beat in the mustard, followed by the cheese and the walnuts. Give the dough a last mix-through by hand.
- Scoop or spoon out the dough, using a small cookie scoop (11⁄2 teaspoons). If you’d like larger puffs, shape them with a tablespoon or medium-size cookie scoop. Drop the dough onto the lined baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches between each mound. (The dough can be scooped and frozen on baking sheets at this point.)
- Slide the baking sheets into the oven and immediately turn the oven temperature down to 375 degrees F. Bake for 12 minutes, then rotate the pans from front to back and top to bottom.
- Continue baking until the gougères are puffed, golden and firm enough to pick up, another 15 to 20 minutes. Serve immediately—these are best directly from the oven.
Storing: The puffs are best soon after they come out of the oven and nice (if flatter) at room temperature that same day. If you want to keep baked puffs, freeze them and then reheat them in a 350-degree-F oven for a few minutes.