Gougère Cookies

French gougères which I did not make (photo, Brown Eyed Baker)

I did not learn to cook from my mother.

My mother, Mickey, was proudly from the ""I Hate to Cook" school. She mostly stuck to a rigid program, the simple, boring, 7-day menu. 

But at some memorable point in my childhood, someone in her bridge club improbably taught her to make homemade chocolate eclairs, pastry and all, and she got on an eclair kick for a while. In other words, though she didn’t know it, she was actually making a French pâte à choux (of course she filled them with instant pudding and topped them with canned chocolate frosting, but hey). Pâte à choux is also the base for those iconic Burgundy apero nibbles, gougères, little gruyère cheese puffs that you can find in any Burgundian boulangerie.

She never taught me to make the puffs, but the point of this story is: if Mickey did it, WE CAN DO THIS. Imagine impressing your guests with homemade French gougères,  or make them without the cheese for that blissful French dessert, chocolate profiteroles. Or even eclairs.

I decided to try making gougères after watching a demo last summer at one of those wonderfully campy  French village fêtes. Monsieur le chef, wearing a ridiculous looking hat which he claimed was essential to the process, taught us to make gougères at a table in the town square. He beat the dough with a flourish, but forgot to add the eggs and instead put the cheese in first, so the dough was absurdly sticky. A half hour later he was still struggling to get the dough from spoon to baking sheet, and grumbling something about refusing to do it next year unless they got him a new oven. I think we can easily improve on his technique.

 

So I turned to the American-in-Paris French cooking wiz, Dorie Greenspan, for a recipe.

Things were going well until I finished the "dough", which was in fact, a liquid. Hmm. I re-checked my recipe: I had put only half the flour they called for. Which of course was the first ingredient to be added.  So right at the end, I dumped in the rest of the flour, and a little more for good measure since my dough was still pretty thin. I guess I can't say another word about Monsieur le chef.

Ron likes to say, "If you can read, you can cook". Maybe it's the reading that's my problem?

But I soldiered on, and predictably my wayward gougères did not rise an inch. So we renamed them gougère cookies. They were actually very tasty, and we polished them all off. I'm sure when I make them again, they will be perfectly plump. Or perhaps I'm doomed to follow in my mom's footsteps?

So give this recipe a try, but beware: read carefully!

 

RECIPE: French Gougères

My gougère cookies. I do not recommend them.

Dear readers, I don't know how these will turn out if you actually follow the recipe, but I hope you will let me know.

• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 1/2 cup water
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 5 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups coarsely grated cheese, such as Gruyère or cheddar (about 6 ounces; see above)
• Position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment paper.
• Bring the milk, water, butter, and salt to a rapid boil in a heavy-bottomed medium saucepan over high heat. Add the flour all at once, lower the heat to medium-low, and immediately start stirring energetically with a wooden spoon or heavy whisk. The dough will come together and a light crust will form on the bottom of the pan. Keep stirring—with vigor—for another minute or two to dry the dough. The dough should now be very smooth.
• Turn the dough into the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or into a bowl that you can use for mixing with a hand mixer or a wooden spoon and elbow grease. Let the dough sit for a minute, then add the eggs one by one and beat, beat, beat until the dough is thick and shiny. Make sure that each egg is completely incorporated before you add the next, and don't be concerned if the dough separates—by the time the last egg goes in, the dough will come together again. Beat in the grated cheese. Once the dough is made, it should be spooned out immediately.
• Using about 1 tablespoon of dough for each gougère , drop the dough from a spoon onto the lined baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches of puff space between the mounds. Using about 1 tablespoon of dough for each gougère, drop the dough from a spoon onto the lined baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches of puff space between the mounds. Slide the baking sheets into the oven and immediately turn the oven temperature down to 375 degrees F. Bake for 12 minutes, then rotate the pans from front to back and top to bottom. Continue baking until the gougères are golden, firm, and, yes, puffed, another 12 to 15 minutes or so. Serve warm, or transfer the pans to racks to cool. 
   
  Serving: Gougères are good straight from the oven and at room temperature. I like them both ways, but I think you can appreciate them best when they're still warm. Serve with kir, white wine, or Champagne.
  Storing: The best way to store gougères is to shape the dough, freeze the mounds on a baking sheet, and then, when they're solid, lift them off the sheet and pack them airtight in plastic bags. Bake them straight from the freezer—no need to defrost—just give them a minute or two more in the oven. Leftover puffs can be kept at room temperature over night and reheated in a 350-degree-F oven, or they can be frozen and reheated before serving.

 

In the COMMENTS: Our readers have tons of ideas for what the French call "le confinement". Mariella has a great film club idea for movie buffs, and I especially love the “3 things” challenge. Mary finds peace in her woodland garden, and I imagine is busy painting too—see her beautiful landscapes and fanciful dancers here. Natalia is reading to her pups—I wonder what Vino the Bambino would make of that? Have to try it. Frank, I’m sorry you missed your trip (as we probably will) but your story of shy onions and 100 gladiolas tickled me. Debby, like us, is into chatting, with wine. Heather may have the most brilliant idea: go wild with ice cream! Anne’s taking out her frustration on her weeds, Connie’s making sourdough. Vicky, your squirrel relocation project certainly gets the unique award! Tom in France has an international dinner party going, plus French lessons—can we get in on those please?  Rachel is also learning a new language: birdsong! Kathy has rediscovered her neighborhood.

The thing that struck me about this week’s comments: how upbeat and positive everyone is, even in the midst of a frustrating time. I’ll never run out of useful and creative things to do as long as I stay in touch with y’all.  As Doris says, “Bloom where you’re planted!”.

 

PS: Speaking of pastry, a couple of posts ago, Natalia sent in a recipe for a Serbian dish called a Burek. She included the recipe, and now we have a photo. The recipe is reprinted below. Sounds exotic and delicious!

"A recipe from our Serbian roots is called Burek.Half a container cottage cheese,blended with an egg.Brush with olive oil, an Emile Henri dish 5 1/2 by 8 inches.Line bottom with three sheets phyllo dough,overlapping sides and ends..Brush with melted butter.Spoon in cottage cheese/egg mixture.Fold one sheet of overlapped phyllo dough over top.Brush with butter.Spoon on cottage cheese mixture.Fold over another layer of phyllo dough. Brush with butter.Repeat till cottage cheese mixture is used up.Top with final layer of phyllo dough.Brush generously with butter.Bake in preheated 375 degree oven for 10 or so minutes ,till golden brown.Serves one hungry person,or two if accompanied by side salad."

 

 

Comments

[Mindy]

Thanks for the recipe! And I think I can get all the ingredients from my local produce providers.

One recipe I've tried is Jaques Pepin's pizza. He used a tortilla, but I didn't have any, so I substituted lavash bread on one occasion and garlic naan on another. There's room for a lot of creativity, and it's so easy Mickey and Mindy can do it!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nRsJS619a8

[Iris]

I make gougeres pretty often, and I think 5 eggs is probably too much.
When I make them the dough needs at most 4 eggs, and sometimes
only 3. The dough should still hold its shape when you form them.
So the number of eggs probably depends on your flour, how much it
will absorb.

[zing]

Hi Lynn, How funny. My mom and Mickey must have been schoolmates! Only starting to learn to cook a couple of years ago, I now make gougeres frequently. The recipe I use says to put the dough in a bag and pipe them. However, I use a scoop for consistency. After cooking and cooling, they are placed in a plastic bag, put into the freezer, taken out, thawed and eaten at room temperature. My fave is Gruyere and bacon. Bon chance on your second attempt.

[Peggy McBride]

Hi, Lynn. This is your sister. And yes... it is amazing we both love to cook having a Mom who loved her Bloody Mary Bridge Club more than baking!! However... you must have left for college already by the time I learned Mom’s petite eclair secrets.
They were melt-in-your-mouth delights...actually piped from a bag (as one of your readers suggested) and though the inside WAS some strange instant pudding variety... the chocolat en haut was our Dad’s real “fudgey “ icing. I think French toast was our Mom’s only other international cuisine specialty! But yours is better!

[Mary James Lawrence]

i think 5 eggs is too many... I use 4 medium to 1 cup flour.....with gruyère and lots of coarse ground black pepper.

[Colleen Taylor]

Lynn, I actually have a recipe that is very close to the Gougères. I didn't know that was the name but my very old recipe card is just titled "Cheese Puffs." I have no idea where my recipe came from but they are always a hit & I do remember they freeze well. Thank you for the offical name of Gougères now that I will add to my recipe file.

[Susan]

Oh ho- I see your sister posted - but I think we were parted at birth. I know this entire story oh so well! Here's to our wonderful families that make us who we are one way or another...Amities!

[Jane Williamson]

One trick if your choux pastry is too stodgy, is, when they have finished baking make a little slit in the side and, with a teaspoon take out the extra, then put whatever you are making back into the oven to finish cooking the inside.
You can always cheat and buy your gougeres but I put a little cube of cheese, Comte or anything blue inside them and them warm up for serving.
It was a fabulous day here in Trivy yesterday and we had barbecued tiger prawns with walnut pesto. I found the prawns lurking at the bottom of the freezer when looking for something else.

[Natalia]

Dear Lynn,today's post is abdolutely one of your best!
Loved being invited into your family--"meeting" your mom,hearing from your sister--and,especially,learning(again)(forgotten lessons repeated till they are learned?)the gift of admitting a boo boo,laughing at oneself--and then moving on and trying again.
Thank you for this.Puts smiles and hugs into our Moms Day.
THANK YOU!!!
(and thank you,too,for printing the picture and the recipe for our Burek!!)
PS your gougere cookies look yummy!!!
PS2 A beautiful book for gifting(or keeping) is Paris in Bloom by Grorgiana Lane.Complete eye candy!!

[Suzanne Hurst]

I have a recipe for gougeres somewhere (over the rainbow, haha). I made them once to take to a potluck, and they were a hit, but I think they are better right out of the oven. Why did you make yours into "cookies"?