Gougères from Tartine

These gougères are light and fluffy and make a delicious appetizer! They are savory and the gruyere cheese with thyme make a great flavor combination. It is essentially a French cheese puff, what could be better! This recipe is for about 30, plenty for a small get together or enough to freeze half for later.

Cookbook – Tartine Bakery

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cup non fat milk
• 10 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 6 large eggs
• 3/4 cup of gruyere cheese (and slightly more to top them later)
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1 tbsp fresh thyme, minced

Tools

• Mixer
• Non-stick frying pan
• Baking sheet

Step 1 – Prepare the dough

Preheat the oven to 350 F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or rub butter on a baking sheet.

For the dough, or choux paste, you will need the milk, butter, and salt to start. In a non-stick frying pan, pour the milk into the pan on medium heat. Cut up the butter into about 1 inch squares and place into the pan. Add the salt.

Wait until the mixture of salt, butter, and milk comes to a boil.

Take the 1 cup of flour and add it into the pan. For about 3 minutes, stir the flour continuously until it forms into a ball. This is the choux paste!

Take the choux paste and put it in the mixer with the paddle attachment. Take 5 of the eggs and add them one by one, making sure each is fully incorporated before the next is added in.

Remove the mixing bowl from the mixer. Take the pepper, gruyere cheese, and chopped thyme and add it in the bowl. Mix the ingredients together.

Using a pastry bag or a plastic bag with a tip cut off, pipe the dough into about 1 inch rounds on the baking sheet.

Take the remaining egg and salt and whisk together in a bowl. Brush this mixture on each of the grougères and top with some more gruyere cheese.

Place the baking sheet in the oven for 30 minutes, until brown. You can enjoy these warm or at room temperature. To reheat, 5 minutes in the oven at 350 F will do the trick!

• Difficulty of ingredients to find – 2/5 stars – Ingredients are straightforward, you may need to get gruyere cheese.
• Perceived difficulty going into the recipe – 2/5 stars – Did not think it would be too bad
• Difficulty after recipe – 2/5 stars – Still not too bad!
• Time taken – 2/5 stars – Less than 1 hour total
• Taste – 4/5 stars – Crowd pleaser and good flavor combination
• Make again? 4/5 stars – Would make this again!