You can always judge a pastry chef by their pâte à choux, so the saying goes. It's the only pastry dough that you make on top of the stove, which is weird. The gougères is the ultimate aperitif or wine tasting appetizer - warm from the oven, cheesy, salty, crispy on the outside, soft on the inside. I’ve seen them as big as your hand or as small as a golf ballI. I serve my gourgères as part of my cheese selection. I use good alpine cheese - imported Emmental or Conté or cave-aged Gruyère. A little grated pecorino, which is sharp and salty, balances out the alpine cheese for a pleasant one-bite trip to the Cote du Rhone in France.

Pull out your equipment first, as there are a few important steps in making a good pâte a choux: I use a box grater, a heavy-bottom All-Clad 2-quart saucepan, a solid wooden spoon, a stiff medium-sized rubber spatula, a 2-cup Pyrex liquid measuring cup and my Kitchen Aid standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Pro tip: Instead of a pastry bag, I use a small #16 ice cream scoop to form my gougères. This trick saves time and the clean up - no pastry bag to clean.

This recipe makes about 30 small gougeres, which fit snugly on a ½ sheet pan, which I line with a silicone matt. Parchment paper works too.

For the Pâte à Choux:

¾ cup (180ml) filtered water

½ t salt

½ t fine black pepper

¾ cup (110g) all-purpose flour

3 eggs, at room temp, plus one (1) extra for the egg wash

6 T. (80g) (¾ stick) unsalted butter, straight from the fridge cut into a few pieces

Cheeses:

1 ¾ cup Emmental or cave-aged Gruyere

¼ cup fine-grated pecorino romano (Italian dry-aged sheeps’s milk cheese)

To make the gougéres, preheat the oven to 400 degrees with a one rack in the center and one on the top. Crack your three eggs into a liquid measuring cup. Crack the extra egg for the egg wash in a small bowl. Grate your cheeses on a box grater onto wax paper and set aside.

In the saucepan bring the water, butter, salt and pepper to the boil. Measure and add the flour all at once. Use a wooden spoon and stir carefully for a minute or two over medium-high heat. Stir vigorously to bring the dough paste together; it is a little bit of a work out for your arms and good bakers have strong arms. The paste will come together quickly as a smooth and shiny dough - the pâte à choux. Stir well, on and off the heat, to cook the paste and dry it out a little - letting some of the steam escape is OK. A skin may form on the bottom of the pan - but leave it be, avoid scraping it back into the dough. I move the saucepan on and off the burner, mixing well until I form a smooth paste that pulls away from the sides of the pan. I beat it well for a good solid minute or two.
Next, transfer the dough to the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Turn the machine on low setting; you’ll see steam escape as the dough cools slightly.
With the machine running on low, add the first egg, watching closely as the dough absorbs the egg. It may look broken at first but it will come together - it will tell you when it is ready to absorb the next egg. Add the second egg and watch carefully as it gets absorbed into the dough. Add the third egg, mixing well to incorporate. Watch closely, the dough will tell you when it is ready.
Add the grated pecorino and gruyere cheeses and mix well on low, a few turns of the paddle to incorporate the cheese until combined. And that’s it. Ready to scoop.
Use wet fingers to clean the paddle and use a rubber spatula (dipped in water) to scrape down the sides of the bowl. The dough will be very sticky.
While the dough is still warm, work quickly, and scoop the dough with the ice cream scoop asap. Dip your scoop into the eggwash and begin scooping the gougères. Use the palm of your hand or the side of the bowl to make flat-bottomed cheese balls, arranging them in rows on the silicone matt on the sheet pan in rows about 1 inch apart..
Egg wash the gougères and top each one with a little mound of cheese - like a little hat on each soldier.
Bake the gougères for 20-30 minutes or until golden brown, rotating the pan towards the end of the cooking if they appear uneven. The cheese will have melted on top and the balls will have puffed up and should appear golden-brown, round and uniform in size. Use the top shelf for a final fast browning, if necessary. Remove from the oven and let cool slightly.
The gougeres should be served piping hot from the oven, or quite warm. Arrange the gougeres on a decorative plate and share them with your guests. BTW - kids love gougères!

Legend has it that a Bourgondian vintner’s wife always has a few eggs, flour, some butter and a few ends of cheese in her country house kitchen…so when her husband needed to entertain wine clients at home on short notice, she could whip up a batch of gougères in no time, and in high heels no less! Like her, these French cheese puffs never go out of style.

Gougères - French Cheese Puffs