Gougère

Gougère, in French cuisine, is a savory choux pastry with cheese. Basically cheesy cream puffs, they are rich and gorgeous to look at and light and easy. A specialty of the Burgundy region, gougères are traditionally made with Gruyère, although other cheeses are sometimes used. For this batch, I used a combination of cream cheese, pureed peaches and cheddar cheese. Although typically baked on a greased baking sheet, I used a muffin tin to compensate for the extra moist dough due to the addition of the peaches.

1 cup cream cheese and pureed peaches, combined
1/4 cup cheddar cheese, grated
1 cup water
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon salt (omit if using salted butter)
1-1/4 cup flour
4 eggs

Preheat oven to 425F.

Bring water, butter and salt to a boil. Remove pan from heat, add flour and stir vigorously with wooden spoon. Return pan to heat and continue stirring until dough forms a ball.

Remove pan from heat and cool briefly. Beat four eggs into dough one at a time until completely mixed in. Add cheeses to the dough.

Pour dough into greased muffin tins. Bake at 425F until puffed, about 10 minutes. Reduce oven heat to 375F and bake until golden and set, about 5 minutes more.

Serve immediately drizzled with pure maple syrup. Makes 12-16 gougère.

Note: Can also be frozen. To reheat, bake at 425F for 5 minutes until puffed and hot.

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