Classic Gougères - Laura

Classic Gougères

Gougères! This is a great, light appetizer that comes together pretty quickly if you work efficiently. I love making things that are very easy to customize, and these are perfect for just that! 

Gougères

Difficulty: Easy-Medium

Servings: ±6-8 gougères (I usually make this many, but you can double the recipe easily)

Time: ~ 1 hour

Ingredients: 

2.5 T butter

0.5 cups water 

0.5 cups all-purpose flour

2 eggs

0.5 cups sharp cheddar (or gruyere cheese), shredded or grated

a pinch of table salt

pepper (about 0.5-0.75 tsp) 

sea salt or kosher salt 

extra cheddar for topping 

Optional: 

Large shrimp, cleaned and deveined (as many as the amount of gougères you're making)

honey mustard 

fresh Italian parsley for garnish 

shrimp marinade (I'll include the recipe for mine below) 

egg yolk 

Notes:

Using a sharp cheese is a must, as this is the only way that the taste of the cheese will cut through the pastry. Gruyere is a great cheese for this recipe, but sharp cheddar works well also. 

Process:

1. In a medium pan, combine butter and water at medium-high heat. Bring to a boil and turn off heat.  

** the next two steps should be done relatively quickly 

2. Add in flour to the boiling mixture and stir with a wooden spoon or spatula until the flour absorbs the moisture. Try to stir apart any lumps that form. 

3. Move to a medium bowl and add in eggs one at a time, stirring vigorously. Once the eggs are fully incorporated, stir in cheese, pepper (use at least 0.5 tsp, but not too much more unless you really, really like pepper), and a pinch of table salt. It should look like this: 

4.  Preheat the oven to 375° F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

5. Spoon the mixture into a pastry/piping bag and pipe onto parchment lined baking sheet (Ziploc works fine too!). I like putting an egg yolk at the center, it really adds a great contrast to the sharp cheese.  

My grandparents like the yolk fully cooked, so I put it in right after I piped the mixture onto the baking sheet. If you like running yolks like I do, pipe half the gougère mixture, bake for about 15-17 minutes of the time, and then add the yolk in and top with the other half of the mixture. This way, you'll get a beautiful runny yolk as you cut into it!:)

6. Sprinkle individually with sea salt or kosher salt (important!). I also topped mine with some more sharp cheddar. 

7. Put the gougères in the oven and bake for about 20 minutes, or until they brown. These are very volatile little cheese puffs, so be careful to watch for when they brown since the baking time also varies with the size of the gougères. 
  
8. I decided to top my gougères with marinated shrimp. Before I started, I marinated raw shrimp in a simple mixture of lemon juice, soy sauce, sesame oil, minced garlic, minced ginger, pepper, and red pepper flakes. Make sure to not marinate it for too long; I kept mine for about 10 minutes. Spray a pan with cooking spray and cook the shrimp until done.

9. Take out the gougères once they brown and serve immediately. They're the best when they're warm and straight out of the oven! I topped these with shrimp, a bit of honey mustard, and garnished with chopped fresh parsley.