Gougères

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Light as a feather, melt in the mouth, buttery, savoury, choux balls bursting with Comté or Gruyère cheese – ideal as an hors d’oeuvre, a fabulous treat or try serving alongside some soup. Quick to make, they disappear even more quickly and are best served warm or at room temperature.

There won’t be many parties this New Year’s Eve, but these will still be the perfect nibble for a small group of people to devour as we see in the New Year. Here’s looking forward to a better year in 2021 – I think most of us will be more than happy to see this year come to an end.

How to make Gougères

If you have made choux paste before for profiteroles or eclairs, this is made in just the same way and the ingredients are almost identical. Cheese is added to the paste and hence the butter is slightly reduced to keep the balance of fat at the correct level.

Collect all your ingredients together:

For the gougères –

• cold water
• unsalted butter
• plain/all-purpose flour
• fine salt
• finely ground black pepper
• large eggs, well beaten
• grated Comté or Gruyère cheese
• 1 spring onion, finely chopped
• Dijon mustard

Topping –

• finely grated Comté or Gruyère cheese

How to make the Gougères:

1. Prepare the baking tray by lining it with baking parchment and grease it well.
2. Spray it with water.
3. Weigh the butter and water directly into the saucepan and also weigh the flour into a bowl and add the salt and pepper – you need to add this quickly when the butter and water boil, so it is important to have it ready to tip in.
4. Melt the butter and water over a moderate heat and as soon as it has melted, bring it to the boil.
5. As soon as it comes to the boil, take it off the heat and add the flour very quickly.
6. Beat or whisk vigorously until the paste leaves the sides of saucepan and it forms a ball – I use a hand held electric whisk to do this.
7. Return back onto a moderate heat and cook for 1 minute, stirring all the time. It will form a ball – I use a wooden spoon for this stage. Let it cool for a few minutes.
8. Beat in the eggs, a little at a time, beating well after each addition until you have a smooth paste – I also use a hand-held electric whisk at this stage.
9. Fold in the grated cheese, spring onion and mustard.
10. Fill the piping bag and pipe 20 – 25 stars onto the baking tray.
11. Top each star with some of the finely grated gruyere.
12. Bake in the centre of a pre-heated oven and cook for 15 minutes.
13. After 15 minutes, reduce the oven temperature. Do not open the door and continue to cook for a further 10 minutes.
14. Take out of the oven and make a hole in the side of each star with a knife to allow the steam to escape.
15. Put back in the oven and cook for a further 5 minutes.
16. Leave on the tray for 5 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool.

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