Gougères (French Cheese Puffs)
French cheese puffs (gougère) are easy to make and great for parties. They are made with choux dough with grated cheese that is piped onto a baking sheet. When you bake them, they puff up and are light and airy.
Don’t let the fancy name fool you. These French cheese puffs are actually quite easy to make and great for entertaining.
Gougère is made with choux pastry mixed with cheese. After they’re baked, I love the slight crispy texture and the pastry taste. These are light and bite-sized, the perfect snack for parties.
A few months ago, I had gougères at a restaurant that I didn’t enjoy, so I decided to try making my own.
I searched food blogs and found a couple of good recipes. But before I got a chance to try them out, I found a recipe by Chef Ludo of the famous Ludo Bites, whose culinary creations I’ve yet to try, but I badly want to do so.
So I went ahead and made some French cheese puffs this weekend. Most of the recipes I’ve seen (including this one) call for Gruyere cheese. But I didn’t have any and I didn’t want to go out and buy some and grate it just to make these. So instead, I substituted for some shredded Monterey jack and cheddar. You can also use Swiss cheese or Parmesan cheese. They still tasted scrumptious.
Ingredients
- Water
- Whole milk
- Salted butter – you can also use unsalted butter, but you may want to add a pinch or so more of salt.
- Kosher salt
- All-purpose flour
- Large eggs
- Grated Gruyère cheese
These didn’t take very long to prepare and they came out so well! I thought they would only taste good warm, but I ate a bunch of them cold the next day and they still tasted good and the pastry maintained its crispy exterior. I gave some to BF and told him this is what a gougere should taste like. He loved it.
I followed Chef Ludo’s recipe exactly except for the cheese substitution. I also chose to pipe mine because I think they look better piped. If you don’t have a piping bag, you can just use a sandwich bag or freezer bag and cut a hole at one end. I did two swirls for each puff.
Recipe Instructions
Preheat oven to 400°F. and either grease a baking sheet or you can line it with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
Combine the water, milk, butter, and salt in a large saucepan. Bring the pan to a boil over medium-high heat.
Once it’s boiling, lower the heat to medium and add the flour all at once. Constantly stir with a wooden spoon until the flour is completely mixed in. The dough will form and firm up after about five minutes. It should be smooth and a little shiny.
Place the choux dough in a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or in a large bowl with a hand mixer). Beat the dough on low speed for about a minute. Add the eggs, one at a time, and continue beating at low speed between each addition. Mix in the grated cheese and beat on low speed for 30 seconds. The cheese will melt a bit into the dough.
Transfer the dough to a pastry bag and pipe 1 inch balls or mounds spaced 1 inch apart on the prepared baking sheet. Bake the puffs for about 25 minutes or until they have puffed up and turned golden brown. When you lightly rap on the bottom of one it should sound hollow.
French dishes can often be complicated and intimidating. But these are easy to put together and manage to taste fancy and delicious. Definitely a contender for my next party menu.
More Appetizer Ideas
- Bacon Cheddar Pull-Apart Bread
- Crispy Salt and Black Pepper Tofu
- Honey Mustard Pretzel Chicken Bites
- Brazilian Cheese Bread
Gougères (French Cheese Puffs)
Ingredients
- 8 1/2 tbsp water
- 8 1/2 tbsp whole milk
- 7 tbsp salted butter
- 1 pinch of kosher salt
- 1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 4 large eggs
- 7 oz Gruyere cheese, grated
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F. Grease a baking sheet and set aside.
- In a large saucepan, bring the water, milk, butter and salt to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to medium and stir in all the flour at one time. Cook, stirring constantly, until the flour is completely incorporated for about 5 minutes. The mixture will form a large, slightly firm ball of dough with a smooth and slightly shiny surface.
- Place the dough ball in a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat the dough on low speed for about a minute. Add the eggs, one at a time, and continue beating on low speed until each is incorporated before adding another egg. Add the cheese and beat on low speed for 30 seconds. The cheese will melt a bit into the dough.
- Transfer the dough to a pastry bag and pipe 1-inch balls 1-inch apart on the prepared baking sheet. Bake for about 25 minutes or until the puffs have risen, are golden brown and sound hollow when tapped. Serve warm.
Hey, that’s a great idea! Savory cheesy pastries for Super Bowl 🙂 I suppose you can just mix the basic pate au choux and stir in shredded cheese? I bet these would be good with Parmesan, too. I might not get into the trouble piping them though. The first time I made cream puffs I scooped the dough with a small ice cream scooper and they came out of the oven relatively round but they were totally hollow in the center. LOL!
I think these would be good with almost any cheese. If you look at the article/link, it shows the steps, but yeah basically after making the dough you add the cheese towards the end before piping it. The article shows the ingredients and then you have to click on the pictures for the directions.