Cook the Book Fridays: Gougères from Everyday Dorie

Dorie's Newest Gougere recipe from Everyday Dorie on eatlivetravelwrite.comThis week’s recipe for Cook the Book Fridays comes from Dorie Greenspan’s latest cookbook, Everyday Dorie, which released this week and I’m excited to say that the Cook the Book Fridays crew will be cooking our way through it starting today!

From the publisher:

To the hundreds of thousands who follow her on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, Dorie Greenspan’s food is powerfully cookable – her recipes instant classics. In Everyday Dorie, she invites readers into her kitchen to savor the dishes that she makes all the time, from Miso-Glazed Salmon to Lemon Goop.

What makes a “Dorie recipe”?

Each one has a small surprise that makes it special. Mustard and walnuts in the cheese puffs. Cherry tomatoes stuffed into red bell peppers and oven-charred. Cannellini beans in cod en papillote. The dishes are practical, made with common ingredients from the supermarket, farmers’ market, or pantry, like Sweet Chili Chicken Thighs, which is both weeknight simple and fine enough for company, and Eton Mess, a beautifully casual dessert of crumbled meringue, fruit, and whipped cream. They are easygoing, providing swaps and substitutions. They invite mixing and matching. Many can be served as dinner, or as a side dish, or as an appetizer, or hot, cold, or room temperature. And every single one is like a best friend in the kitchen, full of Dorie’s infectious love of cooking and her trademark hand-holding directions.

I’m so excited to work my way through the book – it will be the fourth Dorie book where I’ve cooked every recipe!

Just over EIGHT years ago (!) this month, a group of us started cooking our way through her Around my French Table (a journey that lasted nearly five years – proud to say I didn’t miss one week of cooking/ posting during that time – we made every recipe from the book!) and because the  VERY FIRST French Fridays with Dorie post from Around my French Table was gougères back in October of 2010, I thought it might be fun to start with her “newest gougères” for this very first Cook the Book Fridays post! The Cook the Book Fridays crew is, incidentally, made up of a group of people who cooked through Around my French Table and over the past 8 years have become friends and I’m so happy to be starting this new adventure with them all today!

Newest gougeres from Everyday Dorie on eatlivetravelwrite.comGougères: one of my favourite French recipes. I’ve made them a LOT since that very first post from Around my French Table. (choux pastry is a favourite!). It’s a recipe I included in my own book and a recipe I LOVE to teach people – it’s so easy but so impressive (the way we all like to cook, I think!). Dorie’s latest version includes an egg white to give the puffs a bit more structure and, curiously, mustard and chopped, toasted walnuts. I LOVED these – my walnut-adverse Mr Neil not so much but it certainly opened up the floodgates of possibility when it comes to changing things up in terms of flavours or textures. I’ll be experimenting more with these, that’s for sure!

Dorie’s publisher has kindly allowed us to share the recipe for the gougères so you can whip up a batch this weekend!

Yield: about 60 gougères

Dorie Greenspan's Newest Gougères

Dorie's Newest Gougere recipe from Everyday Dorie on eatlivetravelwrite.com

Gougères are French cheese puffs based on a classic dough called pâte à choux (the dough used for cream puffs), and it’s a testament to their goodness that I’m still crazy about them after all these years and after all the thousands that I’ve made. Twenty or so years ago, when my husband and I moved to Paris, I decided that gougères would be the nibble I’d have ready for guests when they visited. Regulars chez moi have come to expect them. Over the years, I’ve made minor adjustments to the recipe’s ingredients, flirting with different cheeses, different kinds of pepper and different spices. The recipe is welcoming. This current favorite has a structural tweak: In- stead of the usual five eggs in the dough, I use four, plus a white—it makes the puff just a tad sturdier. In addition, I’ve downsized the puffs, shaping them with a small cookie scoop. And I’ve added Dijon mustard to the mix for zip and a surprise—walnuts.

Ingredients

  • 1⁄2 cup (120 grams) whole milk 
  • 1⁄2 cup (120 grams) water
  • 1 stick (4 ounces; 113 grams) unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
  • 11⁄4 teaspoons fine sea salt
  • 1 cup (136 grams) all-purpose flour
  • 4 large eggs, at room temperature
  • 1 large egg white, at room temperature
  • 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard (preferably French)
  • 2 cups (170 grams) coarsely grated cheese, such as Comté, Gruyère and/or sharp cheddar
  • 2⁄3 cup (80 grams) walnuts or pecans, lightly toasted and chopped

Instructions

  1. Position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat it to 425 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
  2. Bring the milk, water, butter and salt to a boil over high heat in a medium saucepan. Add the flour all at once, lower the heat and immediately start stirring energeti- cally with a heavy spoon or whisk. The dough will form a ball and there’ll be a light film on the bottom of the pan. Keep stirring for another 2 minutes or so to dry the dough. Dry dough will make puffy puffs.
  3. Turn the dough into the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or work by hand with a wooden spoon and elbow grease). Let the dough sit for a min- ute, then add the eggs one by one, followed by the white, beating until each egg is incorporated before adding the next. The dough may look as though it’s separating or falling apart but just keep working; by the time the white goes in, the dough will be beautiful. Beat in the mustard, followed by the cheese and the walnuts. Give the dough a last mix-through by hand.
  4. Scoop or spoon out the dough, using a small cookie scoop (11⁄2 teaspoons). If you’d like larger puffs, shape them with a tablespoon or medium-size cookie scoop. Drop the dough onto the lined baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches between each mound. (The dough can be scooped and frozen on baking sheets at this point.)
  5. 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.
  6. Continue baking until the gougères are puffed, golden and firm enough to pick up, another 15 to 20 minutes. Serve immediately—these are best directly from the oven.

Storing: The puffs are best soon after they come out of the oven and nice (if flatter) at room temperature that same day. If you want to keep baked puffs, freeze them and then reheat them in a 350-degree-F oven for a few minutes.

Working ahead: My secret to being able to serve guests gougères on short notice is to keep them in the freezer, ready to bake. Scoop the puffs, freeze them on a parchment- lined baking sheet or cutting board and then pack them airtight. You can bake them straight from the oven; just give them a couple more minutes of heat.

Notes

Excerpted from Everyday Dorie © 2018 by Dorie Greenspan. Reproduced by permission of Rux Martin Books/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved.

Recommended Products

As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.

did you make this recipe?

please leave a comment or review on the blog or share a photo and tag me on Instagram @eatlivtravwrite !

Dorie Greenspan gougeres from Everyday Dorie on eatlivetravelwrite.comBon appétit – happy Friday and happy release week to Dorie!

Buy Everyday Dorie and join us cooking our way through the book!

Everyday Dorie cover on eatlivetravelwrite.com

Buy Everyday Dorie on Amazon (this link should bring you to the Amazon store closest to you) Or for free worldwide shipping, buy from The Book Depository then join us over on Cook the Book Fridays!

Please note: This post contains affiliate links. I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. This post also contains affiliate links from The Book Depository. This means that if you click over and purchase something, I will receive a very small percentage of the purchase price (at no extra cost to you). Thank you in advance!

__________

Disclosure: I was provided with a copy of “Everyday Dorie” for review purposes. I was not asked to write about the book, nor am I being compensated for doing so. All opinions 100% my own.

__________

MY BOOK! In the French kitchen with kids is out now! Click here for order details.

In the French Kitchen with Kids cover on eatlivetravelwrite.com

18 thoughts on “Cook the Book Fridays: Gougères from Everyday Dorie”

  1. i’m so excited to cook through this book! Looking forward to the journey. I really liked the way the Gougères were crustier on the outside from the extra egg white.

    Reply
  2. Super impressed that you managed to cook every recipe from 4 of the books! Whaaaat? I’m such a delinquent! lol I was “only” 30 shy in AMFT, but the baking ones? Forget it. I’ll never make it! lol

    Psychic gougere cheers!

    Reply
  3. Has it been 8 years? Its a pleasure to be cooking with you again Mardi! Also, I’m enjoying your book, In The French Kitchen With Kids! I have more no-knead french loaf in the fridge now:)

    Reply
  4. It was fitting that we start this journey with the same item. Still can’t believe it’s been eight years…. but so excited for another savory Dorie book.

    Reply
  5. I smile when I think how cooking through AMFT opened up a world of on-line cooking friends that I now count as “real-life” friends. This was a great choice to start off our new adventure! Bon appetit!

    Reply
  6. I too have made these over and over and over again over the years. That first recipe had an enormous impact on me that can’t be overstated. But then the AMFT project did too. So there is that. It was fun to dust off the blog and root everyone on with this recipe.

    Reply
  7. Not missing a single recipe in the entire book is an amazing feat. Don’t know how you do it! Certainly, your enthusiasm could be one of the many reasons. This is a good recipe. Thanks for putting it together so we don’t miss a beat. Lovely gougères, by the way.

    Reply
  8. This is so exciting Mardi!
    I can’t believe it has been 8 years! And that you have not missed a single recipe! That is amazing. Thank you for making this happen again 🙂
    Yours look fantastic! I made half with nuts and half without due to all the nut allergies in the house and I was surprised by how much I preferred the nut free version!

    Reply
  9. I am giddy to start this adventure again. Plus I am way overdue to be back in the kitchen playing with my “toys” and new recipes more frequently. But the recipes are only part of the fun – I am over the moon being back in touch with this amazing community. My oh my the things that have happened over those 8 years – memory lane indeed. Lovely post and photos, of course !

    Reply
  10. Thanks again for the fabulous suggestion, Mardi! You, may I say, are a beast with the keeping up every week with all these books and posts! And I agree that the recipe for this version does open eyes for things we can include and really how we can experiment with gougère additions!

    Reply
  11. As I was reading your post, Mardi, and remembering our French Fridays with Dorie group, I can
    ‘t help but think about how our lives have changed. When we started FFWD you were not a cookbook author and now you are. You’ve taken your talents to such a higher level in the almost-8 years I have known you and certainly been an inspiration and spark to me and probably all of us. Just like Dorie. Your gougères look delicious. They are my first attempt since 2010 and I’ve already made two batches. (Just so you know, I like walnuts.)

    Reply
  12. This may be a duplicate comment but I seem to have trouble trying to post. These were so delicious, great to have ready in the freezer for unexpected guests.

    Reply
  13. Mardi! Isn’t this wonderful? And your gougeres look gorgeous!! I thought this version was wonderful too, and I’m with you, it really inspires some creativity when it comes to these – though have to admit the classics are awesome too. I finally got to meet Dorie last night, more to come on that, but it’s so wonderful to start this next chapter of the adventure!

    Reply

Leave a Reply to Candy Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Skip to Recipe