Gougères!

French Fridays with Dorie

Gougères
The interwebs are about to be inundated with posts featuring this elegant yet simple appetizer so I’m piling on the bandwagon. In a spasm of silly impetuousness (which I am sure to regret soon) I agreed to join the ranks of those whom I have previously (and lovingly?) referred to as “The Doristas“. They are the intrepid group of fans of cookbook queen (and James Beard award winner) Dorie Greenspan who crank out recipes weekly from her award winning books. The Tuesday group was focused on her baking book (which I received for Christmas) but now there is a Friday group to usher in the release of her latest masterpiece, Around My French Table: More than 300 Recipes From My Home to Yours.” Now I adore Dorie (obviously, or I wouldn’t commit to cooking my way through her book) but I do giggle thinking about a lady named “Greenspan” having a French table from which to share all her recipes. Oh well…I’m just glad she does! One look through the book and you can see that Dorie has the cred to pull it off and I love the idea of a cooking group (or is it a genius marketing gimmick?) where I can interact with the author and other blog chefs while I plan out the week’s recipe. Whatever it is, it is fantastic! N’est-ce pas?

Gougères

Seeing as this was the inaugural recipe of the group I decided to do Dorie’s recipe exactly as printed (using Gruyere and a handful of cheddar) although you can do plenty to this recipe to mix it up a bit. When I made them a few years ago I put 1/4 teaspoon of dried mustard powder into the dough with a small amount of pepper for extra flavor and bite. They really don’t need it. The small amount of browning their bottoms get on the sheet pan gives just a hint of that fabulous crispy, toasty cheese flavor and in my opinion that flavor carries the snack. They will take amazingly to whatever herb might be your particular favorite. Chive was tempting when I made these but I restrained myself for the sake of purity. (That’s just how I am.) Check out some of the varieties here on Tastespotting and you will see what I mean about flexibility.

(UPDATE: Tastespotting approved my photo! Pretty cool considering how many they must have recieved! )

This time, I made them as specified and as the French do. I then settled down with a glass of wine, just as a lady named Greenspan recommends.

Gougères

Gougères

The recipe is silly easy and it was the perfect thing to start the group. So much of French cooking starts with this basic choux recipe. The group leaders frown on its members copying out the recipe on their blogs as the idea here is to encourage people to actually get the book. As such, I can’t put the recipe here as I would usually do in this space. If someone else posts it I will update a link but lets just say that Google is your friend. Most other recipes for gougeres will achieve the same basic result so go for it. You just mix some cheese into a basic choux pastry and mound by the tablespoonful onto a baking sheet. Mine here are a little larger…about 1 1/2 tablespoon mounds.

Update: Dorie herself shared the recipe here so there you go!

About Trevor Kensey

I don't know what “Sis. Boom. [blog!]" means either. But, if a post makes even a small 'boom' in your day, I would be happy. Please don't call me a "foodie", or even a food blogger. I prefer "food raconteur" thank you very much.
Each bite tells a story...

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  1. great job!

  2. hehe Doristas….so true.

    They look so inviting with the wine 🙂

  3. Joanne and I are way ahead of you and Dorie, hon: http://figslavendercheese.blogspot.com/2010/06/who-do-you-want-in-your-kitchen.html

    Love that you can mix up this basic recipe in so many ways depending on what’s in season and what cheese you have on hand.

  4. Yours are especially gorgeous, especially in that second photo. I think I should have baked mine a tiny big longer to achieve that beautiful dome. (And I think I accidentally deleted a comment of yours from the comments on my blog … it got stuck in my spam queue. If that was you, I’m sorry, and thanks for stopping by.)

  5. Cindy, you are ahead of me in so many regards! I actually copied your recipe down but never got to it. I’m going to do these with chives next as that is what I have a ton of these days.

    (THANK YOU Ann, Charli, and Haden!)

  6. These look so tasty! Do you think they would be good with some rosemary?

  7. Lovely job!

  8. Beautiful! So easy and elegant!

  9. Nice job! They are beautiful.

    I made these a week ago and am looking forward to making them again soon.

  10. How perfectly round are your gougeres! I musta missed that trick. I completly love your sense of humor. Great blog too. I’m sure I’ll be visiting often

  11. Yummy! Your gougeres turned out perfect! So glad you joined the group of “doristas” – love that term! – mary
    p.s. The jam is coming up in a future post! 😉

  12. Love your photos and I’m totally stealing the phrase ‘silly easy’!

  13. I truly LOVE all your pictures – you should really turn yourself into a food photographer … oh and I may have to come to California so I can have you cook for me 🙂 everything looks fabulous. Now could you make them all “diet” friendly too?

    If you can I’m moving in!

  14. They look delicious, cheri! Those photos are so beautiful, what kind of camera do you use? You’re very professional!
    When I made Gougère, I always made it into a large crusty loaf, used gruyère cheese of course and served it with homemade soup.
    The little ones are just a nice size for serving; plus one gets more crusty surfaces, which adds to the pleasure of eating it.
    I love your blog and your humor too.

  15. They look perfect! This is going to be a fun group.

  16. What a terrific ending to a great experience. I love the “sit down” and enjoy part – or maybe the creation? Can’t decide. So glad you enjoyed making them – as did I (and practically everyone else)! Kudos!

  17. I placed the mufnifs in an airtight container overnight and thought they were just fine the next day other than I felt they were bland. The addition of blueberries (to half of the batter) helped in the flavor dept. Glad you liked them!

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