Classic Gougeres Recipe

Classic gougères are one of the best types of pastries, in our opinion. If you are new to gougères, then let us just tell you that you're missing out! According to Explore France, gougères are "a savory pastry made from choux pastry, commonly Gruyère. A pastry with cheese? Honestly, it's a match made in heaven. These tasty little treats require just a few ingredients and 30 minutes of prep time in addition to 40 minutes of cook time. We recommend this recipe for intermediate or advanced bakers as it requires some skills that are learned through experience. 

Pâtissier Eric Ngo of Frenchie the Toast is the brains behind this yummy recipe that not only looks good but tastes fantastic. His advice to anyone who tries this recipe is "to make sure they do not open their oven during the baking time, doing so will deflate the gougère." Sounds easy enough, right? 

Keep scrolling to find out how to make this delightful little pastry puff that is perfect for an appetizer or to accompany a meal.

For the first step in this recipe and any other, you need to gather your ingredients. For starters, you will need four large eggs, 1 ¼ cup water, ¾ cup all-purpose flour, and a ½ cup of butter. In addition, you'll need a few more things that you may already have in your pantry. These items include sugar, salt, black pepper, and paprika.

Last but not least, you need ¼ cup of hard grated cheese. Ngo says that he typically uses Gruyère or Comté, but you can also use parmesan or American cheddar. 

To kick off things, take out a medium pan. Here, you can add your water, butter, sugar, and salt. Cook on low until the butter is melted. When the butter melts, turn up the heat to high. Keep the temperature up until a rolling boil is reached. Sidenote — a rolling boil is just a continuous boil.

As soon as the water starts to rise, turn off the heat and add all the flour. Mix everything together with a stiff spatula. When the mixture is done, it will look like "mashed potatoes." Once you reach the "mashed potato" texture, turn the heat back on to medium. Continue to mix over heat for about a minute.

Take out a bowl and crack all of the eggs into it. Ngo recommends that the eggs be room temperature when mixing to reduce the risk of a temperature shock when you incorporate them. Mix the eggs with a fork until they start to look like scrambled egg mix.

Now, slowly pour the eggs into the "mashed potato" mixture. You should do so in three steps to avoid mixing everything for two long. Add ⅓ of the mixture, then wait until the eggs disappear into the dough before adding another ⅓ of the egg mix. Repeat the steps until all of the eggs are incorporated. You'll know the dough (also known as Pâte à choux) is ready when it's smooth and shiny.

It's time to get out either a nonstick baking tray or a silicone mat. Pipe small gougères on the surface. Please note that if you have small peeks on the cream puffs, you need to smooth them out. You can do so by applying water to your fingers and patting them down a little. Once your gougères are on the tray, preheat the oven to 360 F. 

Before popping them into the oven, top the gougères with black pepper, paprika, and grated cheese. Now, they're ready to go in! 

Once your oven is fully preheated, you can pop in the pastries. Set your timer for 30-40 minutes depending on the size of the gougères. As Ngo mentioned before, be sure not to open the oven while the gougères bake as this could cause them to collapse. This is his biggest piece of advice so as much as you want to open the oven to peak, don't do it. 

Once the timer goes off, take the pastries out of the oven. Make sure to let them cool for at least 5 minutes before enjoying. You can also fill them with cream cheese if you'd like.

There are plenty of ways to serve up these tasty treats, including as an appetizer. "Pairing this with a charcuterie cheese board is a good option along with your choice of wine, Ngo says. "You can also cut them open and add flavored cream cheese and even smoked salmon." 

As far as leftovers go? "Leftovers are good for another day, any longer and they will become too soft, they should be eaten within two hours for best results," Ngo shares. "You can freeze them raw after they are pipped, or freeze once they are baked." Now, dig in!