Another go at gougères

I'm not sure if I had a dream about them the night before or what, but all day at work on Wednesday I was thinking about gougères. I had to try to make them again. Last month when I made them I overcooked them (I think) and they just didn't hit the spot. These were much better.

Here's the recipe I made up on Wednesday for gougères with Gruyère and scallions. You can substitute chives for scallions - which I think is more traditional - but I thought that the scallions provided a nice, light oniony flavor which goes very well with the cheeses. The directions follow the method used by Chef Delphin in my petit fours class a few weeks ago. It is so much easier and faster to use a stand mixer rather than making the dough on the stovetop.

Ingredients
1 c. water
1/2 c. butter
1 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. freshly ground black pepper (more or less to taste)
pinch of freshly ground nutmeg
1 tsp. paprika (more or less to taste)
1 tsp. dijon mustard
1 c. flour
4 eggs
3 scallions, white and light green parts, roughly minced (about 2 heaping Tbls., more or less to taste)
4-5 Tbls. Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, finely diced
1/4 c. Gruyère cheese, grated

mise en place

Directions
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Place the flour in the bowl of a stand mixer and attach the paddle.

In a saucepan, combine water, butter, salt, pepper, nutmeg and bring to a rolling boil; make sure butter is completely melted. Stir in the paprika and dijon mustard and remove from heat.

Pour the water mixture into the mixing bowl, all at once, and mix on medium for approximately 1 minute until the dough reaches 155 degrees.

"mashed potato" stage

With the mixer on medium, add 1 egg at a time. The dough will look like it's falling apart, but just be patient, it will be gorgeous in the end.

mixing in the eggs, one at a time

Your dough should look smooth and shiny when it's done. If it is still sticky looking, add one more egg.

beautiful!

Remove the bowl from the mixer and scrape down the sides, if necessary. Fold in the chives and the diced Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese.

in goes the scallions and cheese

Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Sprinkle a little of the grated Gruyère cheese onto each puff.

into the oven

Bake at 375 for 35 minutes. Lower temperature to 325 and bake for an additional 15 minutes until they are golden and "dry" looking (a few extra minutes may be needed, depending on how large your puffs are). Try not to open the oven during baking.

hot out of the oven

They are best warm, just out of the oven. I had mine with a little Chianti...delicious!

dinner...yum!

Bye for now...