My Newest Gougères Recipe - Everyday Dorie

And so it begins...

Dorie Greenspan has published another wonderful cookbook - EVERYDAY DORIE - and I've joined a community of bloggers who'll be working our way through each and every recipe, week by week.

This time I know full well what I am getting into, and I wouldn't miss this opportunity for the world. (Last time I didn't even know what blog comments were...until dear readers ...now fast friends, starting leaving lovely ones)

Many things have changed since my adventure of cooking my way through Dorie's AROUND MY FRENCH TABLE, along with my mother (aka Nana). My captive taste tester sons have grown and left the nest and Nana has branched out long ago to start her own wonderful blog - www.ChezNanaBlog.wordpress.com.

The KitchenAid is getting some play.

But many things have remained the same - Dorie's recipes providing fabulous instructions, in addition to delicious results,  my Mom having all the recipes organized and done WAY ahead of me, giving me tips and often ingredients (like the cheese in this recipe) and my hubby being happy to help clean up the kitchen in order to get his cut of "Dorie Food".

All the toys are out. 1 1/2 tbsp scoop- check !

Indeed, Dorie's "newest gougères" recipe has us off to a wonderful start. While I enjoyed her other gougers recipe,  the addition of chopped nuts and mustard (which I adore) put this one over the edge for me.

I am also appreciate that we've  been given permission to publish the recipe this week. For those who are new here, we don't usually post the recipe as this adventure is all about purchasing the book and cooking the recipes one by one with our peers at "Cook the Book Fridays". (www.cookthebookfridays.wordpress.com) Come join in !

          

(excerpted from Everyday Dorie © 2018 by Dorie Greenspan. Photography © 2018 by Ellen Silverman. Reproduced by permission of Rux Martin Books/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved.)

 MY NEWEST GOUGÈRES

Makes about 60 gougères.Gougères are French cheese puffs based on a classic dough called pâte à choux (the dough used for cream puffs), and it’s a testament to their goodness that I’m still crazy about them after all these years and after all the thousands that I’ve made. Twenty or so years ago, when my husband and I moved to Paris, I decided that gougères would be the nibble I’d have ready for guests when they visited. Regulars chez moi have come to ex- pect them.
Over the years, I’ve made minor adjustments to the recipe’s ingredients, flirting with different cheeses, dif- ferent kinds of pepper and different spices. The recipe is welcoming.
This current favorite has a structural tweak: In- stead of the usual five eggs in the dough, I use four, plus a white—it makes the puff just a tad sturdier. In addi- tion, I’ve downsized the puffs, shaping them with a small cookie scoop. And I’ve added Dijon mustard to the mix for zip and a surprise— walnuts. 

1⁄2 cup (120 grams) whole milk
1⁄2 cup (120 grams) water
1 stick (4 ounces; 113 grams) unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
11⁄4 teaspoons fine sea salt
1 cup (136 grams) all-purpose flour
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 large egg white, at room temperature
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard (preferably French)
2 cups (170 grams) coarsely grated cheese, such as Comté, Gruyère and/or sharp cheddar 2⁄3 cup (80 grams) walnuts or pecans, lightly toasted and chopped

WORKING AHEAD  My secret to being able to serve guests gougères on short notice is to keep them in the freezer, ready to bake. Scoop the puffs, freeze them on a parchment- lined baking sheet or cutting board and then pack them airtight. You can bake them straight from the oven; just give them a couple more minutes of heat.

Position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat it to 425 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
Bring the milk, water, butter and salt to a boil over high heat in a medium saucepan. Add the flour all at once, lower the heat and immediately start stirring energeti- cally with a heavy spoon or whisk. The dough will form a ball and there’ll be a light film on the bottom of the pan. Keep stirring for another 2 minutes or so to dry the dough. Dry dough will make puffy puffs.
Turn the dough into the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or work by hand with a wooden spoon and elbow grease). Let the dough sit for a min- ute, then add the eggs one by one, followed by the white, beating until each egg is incorporated before adding the next. The dough may look as though it’s separating or falling apart but just keep working; by the time the white goes in, the dough will be beautiful. Beat in the mustard, followed by the cheese and the walnuts. Give the dough a last mix-through by hand.
Scoop or spoon out the dough, using a small cookie scoop (11⁄2 teaspoons). If you’d like larger puffs, shape them with a tablespoon or medium-size cookie scoop. Drop the dough onto the lined baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches between each mound. (The dough can be scooped and frozen on baking sheets at this point.)
Slide the baking sheets into the oven and immediately turn the oven temperature down to 375 degrees F.