This week’s Tuesdays with Dorie recipe comes from Baking with Dorie. I got my picks of the recipes this month because it’s my birthday so it’s ALL about choux this month (we made Cream Puffs with Crackle and Cream for the first recipe this month). This week we made Gouga Gougères.
Now I’m no stranger to making choux pastry – in fact just last weekend I taught a class called “Secrets of Choux Pastry” and I very often make gougères. I find choux pastry easy to make and gougères, because they don’t have to be perfect – a little rustic is ok – are the easiest apéro snack to make. I learned from Dorie ages ago that you can freeze these once you have piped or scooped them out and bake from frozen (I baked these at 425˚F for 25 minutes – my usual temp is around 400˚F, not the 350˚F called for in the recipe) and this is exactly what I did – made the dough and scooped them out in the morning, froze them and baked off in the afternoon.
I made 1/2 the recipe which made 20 gougères scooped out using a 1 tablespoon cookie scoop (not sure how a full recipe gets 55 scooped with a 2 teaspoon cookie scoop per the recipe but I always use a 1-tablespoon size so I went with that. That link is an affiliate link but I cannot recommend having cookie scoops on hand more!).
I also did a riff on the recipe and used aged cheddar and Piment d’Espelette (again, affiliate link but I LOVE this spice!). This is a good combo but I didn’t think the flavours were pronounced enough – they were lovely but I wanted more flavour – a pinch more salt would have done the trick and maybe even a couple of grinds of black pepper? Or a different cheddar? In any case, they were VERY good and made their way to our weekly pétanque game…
Paired with a rosé (spritzer for me), there’s nothing better!
And listen, they must have done some magic because my partner and I won not one but TWO games that afternoon!
Get the recipe for Gouda Gougères on p 229 of Baking with Dorie.
Buy Baking with Dorie and join us baking through the book!
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Then join us over on Tuesdays with Dorie and bake your way through the book!
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Disclosure: I was provided with a copy of “Baking with Dorie” for review purposes. I was not asked to write about the book, nor am I being compensated for doing so. All opinions are 100% my own.
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Such a simple but satisfying snack!
Yummo – the gougeres look delish.
Yours look perfect and I made a note in my book about your flavor combination to try sometime. Freezing the dough is such a great idea, I love being able to have them at hand and just baking them off as needed. I did put a little salt on the top of mine so they seemed to have enough salt, I skipped the cumin seeds, however, as I didn’t have any. Sounds like the Mr. enjoyed them…same here. I used a 2 teaspoon scoop and made half a recipe and I got 27 little cheese puffs from that size…I did increase the temp to 400 as you all seemed in agreement on that part and I was afraid to go to 425. Yours look perfect and I’m sure they were a big hit with everyone. Thanks for all the tips I made of in my book and credited to you.
Just looking at the pics, I can smell them. Yum.
Happy Birthday Mardi! I feel like congratulations are in order also for two wins haha! Never heard of the game but good job! 😍
Happy belated birthday, Mardi! I’m so glad you recommended these two puff recipes for May. Indeed, practice makes perfect. I feel like I have a better handle on puff pastry now. In addition, thanks for the tips. Helpful to know that a higher temperature and the combo flavor of aged cheddar and Piment d’Espelette will improve the outcome. I’ll have more to play with next time.