My first experience of eating gougères was in the 1980’s when visiting Louis Jadot in Beaune. A huge basket of delicious cheesy choux pastry buns was passed around during our wine tasting.
Choux pastry frightens people. I understand why. It looks like an awful mess when you make it and you’re inclined to think it won’t come together in the end. But, it does. It’s actually quite easy.
These little buns freeze like a dream so you can make them in advance when you’re relaxed and bring them out when you’ve got people over for drinks. Just 2 minutes in a hot oven from frozen and you’re away.
So, how do you make them?
For about 40 or so buns you’ll need the following:
125ml milk
125ml water
100g butter cut into cubes (salted or unsalted is fine but go gently on the added salt if you use salted)
Half a teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of caster sugar
150g plain flour
4 medium eggs
Eggwash (1 egg mixed with a teaspoon of milk)
A pinch of paprika, ground nutmeg and piment d’Espelette
100g good hard strong cheese grated (Comté, Gruyère, Cheddar)
First of all get all your ingredients ready and preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F)
Method:
Put the milk, water, salt, sugar and butter in a large saucepan and bring slowly to the boil.
When it comes to the boil, remove from the heat and pour the flour in (in one go).
Put it back on the heat and stir until the mixture is smooth and leaves the sides of the pan. Keep stirring for a minute to let it dry out a bit and then put it into a bowl.
Now it’s time to add the eggs. I put mine into the Kitchenaid (which is a LOT easier as doing the next bit by hand requires lots of elbow grease).
Add the eggs one at a time and beat until each one is incorporated before adding the next one. Don’t panic, it looks like everything is splitting but it WILL come together.
When all 4 eggs have been added, add the paprika, piment and nutmeg (these additions are optional) and then mix in two thirds of the grated cheese.
Check out the pics below:
When the water, milk, butter, salt and sugar has come to the boil add all the flour 
Sir until it becomes smooth 
Transfer to a bowl or mixer and beat in the eggs one at a time 
The mixture becomes smoother with each additional egg 
Add the seasonings and two thirds of the cheese and mix 
Transfer to a piping bag or just spoon teaspoons onto a lined baking tray 
Space them well apart 
Brush with eggwash and sprinkle with the remaining cheese 
Bake for 20 minutes until crisp on the top and bottom and moist on the inside
When the mixture is ready you can either transfer it to a piping bag (which I did) or you can simply put little teaspoons of the mixture onto a baking sheet lined with baking parchment.
Brush with eggwash and sprinkle with the remaining grated cheese then pop into the hot oven for 20 minutes.
When they’re cooked, cool on a rack and as soon as they’re cool pop into bags and into the freezer (keeping some for that day of course).
When you want them just take them out of the freezer and pop into an oven at 180°C (350°F) for a couple of minutes to defrost and crisp up.
Tips:
Don’t overcrowd the baking tray. They cook better when there is plenty of space between each one.
Try not to peek at them before the 20 minutes is up. They tend to rise better that way. Just keep an eye.
40 maybe sounds like a lot but you’ll be surprised how many people can pop in with an aperitif and it makes sense seing as you can freeze what you’re not going to use that day.
