For the cheese themed week, I made cheese puffs. These came together very quickly and were a tasty little treat. They were quite cheesy and airy with a perfectly crisp exterior. As the author mentioned, they should be eaten as soon as possible because I found that they lost their crispy texture after the first day.

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Cheese Puffs (Gougères)

Recipe from Baking by James Peterson

Makes 40 bite-sized gougers

Ingredients

• 1 cup water
  
• ½ teaspoon salt
  
• ½ cup butter, sliced
  
• 1 teaspoon sugar
  
• 1 cup flour, sifted
  
• 4 eggs
  
• 1 egg white, plus more as needed
  
• 3 ounces dry aged cheese
  
• 1 tablespoon paprika (optional)
  
• Egg wash
  
  

  Directions
  

1. Combine the water, salt, butter, and sugar in a saucepan and bring to a simmer over high heat. There’s no need to stir. Turn the heat down to medium and add the flour all at once. Stir with a wooden spoon for about 3 minutes, or until the mixture forms a cohesive mass and pulls away from the sides of the pan, leaving a film of flour on the sides of the pan.
   
2. Transfer the panade to a bowl or a stand mixer and beat it with a wooden spoon or the paddle attachment for about 1 minute, or until slightly cooled.
   
3. Beat in the eggs, 1 at a time, until you’ve added 4. Check the consistency of the batter by pulling a wooden spoon through it. When the groove it makes slowly closes in on itself, you’ve added enough eggs. Another way to check is to see if the batter droops from the spoon when it is held sideways. If so, it is ready. Add more egg whites as needed until the batter passes the groove test. While the dough is best used right away, it will keep for several hours in the refrigerator.
   
4. Preheat the oven to 425°F. Grate the cheese finely; you should have about 1 cup. Reserve ¼ cup and mix the rest into the dough with a wooden spoon. Mix in the paprika.
   
5. Fill a pastry bag fitted with a ⅓-inch plain tip with dough. Pipe tiny dollops of dough into the corners of a sheet pan, and press a sheet of parchment paper onto them to hold it in place. Pipe the pastry in dollops about 1 inch apart, in staggered rows. When you’ve piped out the right amount—the pastry bag forms a mound about 1 inch wide at the base and about ⅔ inches high—give the tip a quick circular motion to detach it from the mound without leaving a little thread of pastry in the middle.
   
6. Brush the gougères with egg wash and smooth off the tops with the brush. Sprinkle with the reserved cheese. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until golden brown. Serve as soon as possible. They can also be frozen and gently reheated.