Best French Cheese Puffs Recipes

GOUGERES (FRENCH CHEESE PUFFS)

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Heat water, butter, salt, and chili powder in a saucepan over medium-low heat until the butter is melted.
• Dump in flour all at once and stir vigorously until the mixture pulls away from the sides into a smooth ball. Remove from heat and let rest for 2 minutes, to cool it down a bit. At this point, you can scrape the dough into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. If you don't have a mixer, let it cool in the pan, stirring it a few times to let the heat escape.
• Add eggs, one at a time, stirring quickly to make sure the eggs don't cook. The batter will first appear lumpy, but after 1 minute or so, it will smooth out. After the eggs have been added, let cool until tepid.
• When the dough has cooled, stir in a generous 1/2 cup Gruyere cheese until well mixed. (If dough is not cool, the cheese will melt.)
• Scrape the dough into a pastry bag fitted with a wide, plain tip. Pipe into mounds, evenly spaced apart, making each about the size of a small cherry tomato. Top each puff with a bit of the remaining cheese.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 5 minutes, then turn the oven down to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Continue to bake until completely golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes.

GOUGERES FRENCH CHEESE PUFFS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 425.
• Add butter, salt, pepper and nutmeg to 1 cup water in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
• When butter melts, reduce the heat to low.
• Add flour to saucepan all at once and beat with a wooden spoon over low heat for about a minute until mixture pulls away from sides of the pan.
• Remove pan from heat.
• Add cheese to pan and beat with wooden spoon until thoroughly mixed.
• Add 4 eggs, one at a time, beating each into the batter until well mixed before adding the next.
• Continue beating mixture until it is smooth, shiny and firm.
• Drop batter in small spoonfuls onto a lightly greased baking sheet.
• Beat remaining egg with 1/2 tbsp water, then brush tops of uncooked gougeres with egg wash.
• Bake in upper third of the over for 15-20 minutes or until golden and doubled in size.
• Remove from oven serve hot or can be served at room temperature.

TARTINE'S GOUGERES CHOUX AU FROMAGE - FRENCH STYLE CHEESE PUFFS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350F degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment.
• To make the Choux paste, combine the milk, butter and salt in a sauce pan and place over medium heat until butter melts and the mixture comes to a full boil.
• Add the flour all at once, stirring until the mixture has formed a smooth paste and pulls away from the sides of the pan, about 3 minutes.
• Transfer the paste to a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or may be mixed by hand).
• Add the eggs, one at a time, and mix on medium speed (or mix by hand vigorously), incorporating each egg completely before adding the next egg. Scrape down the sides of the bowl before adding each egg. When all of the eggs have been added the mixture will be thick, smooth and shiny.
• Add the cheese, pepper and thyme, and gently mix in by hand with a rubber spatula.
• Transfer the mixture to a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2 inch plain or round tip (no. 6 or 7), filling it about 1/3 of the way full so it is still easy to handle. Pipe the mixture out onto the parchment, making quarter size (about 1 inch) mounds. Leave about 1 1/2 inch space between the mounds. Or, you can use a spoon to drop the mounds onto the parchment, but it is harder to control the thick mixture.
• The mounds may have cheese poking out in odd directions. With a wet finger just pat the mound into a more uniform shape.
• To make the topping, whisk together the egg and salt. Brush the tops of the mounds and then sprinkle with the cheese.
• Place the Gougères immediately into the preheated oven and don�t open the door until they are nicely browned or they may collapse.
• Bake until they have puffed and are nicely browned, about 25-30 minutes.
• They are delicious served hot, warm or room temperature. They can also be frozen in an airtight container, and re-crisped directly from the freezer in an 350F degree oven for 5 minutes.

GOUGèRES AU CRABE (FRENCH CHEESE PUFFS WITH CRAB)

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400°. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper; set aside.
• Bring water, butter, salt and pepper to a boil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. When the butter is melted, reduce the heat to medium-low. Stir in the dry mustard.
• Remove pan from the heat. Add the flour and stir with a wooden spoon until the forms a ball, and continue to stir for 1 more minute. Set aside for 5 minutes to cool a bit.
• Place dough in bowl of an electric mixer with a paddle attachment. Add 1 egg at a time and beat at medium speed just until the egg is incorporated into the dough. Repeat with remaining eggs, one at a time, until the dough is smooth and glossy. Add crab, green onions and 1 cup of the cheese to the mixing bowl, and beat until well blended.
• Drop the dough by heaping tablespoons onto the prepared baking sheets 2 inches apart (as they will puff up). Or, if you prefer, you can place the dough into a pastry bag with a large plain tip, and pipe tablespoon-size mounds of dough onto the baking sheet. Sprinkle remaining cheese on top of Puffs.
• Place baking sheet on top rack of oven, and bake 20 to 25 minutes or until they're puffed and lightly browned all over.

FRENCH CHEESE PUFFS

Steps:

• You should have all the ingredients ready to go before you start. Don't let the water and butter boil away while you grate the cheese. Second is to let the batter cool for a few minutes before adding the eggs so you don't 'cook' them. Make sure when you stir in the eggs that you do it vigorously. 1. Preheat the oven to 425F (220C.) Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. 2. Heat the water, butter, salt, and chile in a saucepan until the butter is melted. 3. Dump in the flour all at once and stir vigorously until the mixture pulls away from the sides into a smooth ball. Remove from heat and let rest two minutes. 4. Add the eggs, one at a time, stirring quickly to make sure the eggs don't 'cook.' The batter will first appear lumpy, but it will smooth out. 5. Add about 3/4s of the grated cheese and the chives, and stir until well-mixed. 6. Scrape the mixture into a pastry bag pipe the dough into mounds, evenly-spaced apart, making each about the size of a small cherry tomato. 7. Top each puff with a bit of the remaining cheese, then pop the baking sheet in the oven. 8. Bake for 10 minutes, then turn the oven down to 375F (190C) and bake for an additional 20 to 25 minutes, until they're completely golden brown. Serving: The puffs are best served warm, and if making them in advance, you can simply pipe the gougères on baking sheets and cook right before your guests arrive, or reheat the baked cheese puffs in a low oven for 5-10 minutes before serving. A bit of troubleshooting: The problem folks have with pâte à choux is them being deflated. The usual causes are too much liquid (eggs), or underbaking. Make sure to use large eggs, not extra-large or jumbo. And bake the puffs until they're completely browned up the sides so they don't sink when cooling.