You want them still warm from the oven: hollow, salt and nutmeg in the crumb, a thread of Comté stretching as they tear. This is what you nibble standing up, a glass of Crémant in the other hand, before anyone sits down to dinner.
Gougères belong to the Côte d'Or — choux pastry enriched with the region's cheese, offered with the apéritif in every cave along the Route des Grands Crus. It is the same dough that makes profiteroles, turned savoury and eaten on your feet.
Beat the panade until it leaves the pan clean, then the eggs until the dough is glossy. Bake at 400°F until they are dry inside. Serve within minutes; they stale as they cool, and a cold gougère is only a cheese puff.
Method
- 01
Bring the water, butter and salt to a full boil — the butter should be entirely melted and the surface rolling. Add the flour all at once and beat over the heat with a wooden spoon until the dough comes together and leaves the pan clean, 1 to 2 minutes. You will smell a faint toasting; that is the flour cooking, and it is essential. This is your panade; it must be dry enough to take the eggs.
- 02
Take the pan off the heat and beat in the eggs one at a time, waiting until each is fully absorbed before adding the next. The dough will look a fright at first — slippery, broken — until suddenly it is glossy and holds a soft peak when you lift the spoon. Fold in most of the cheese, the nutmeg and a pinch of white pepper. Taste a scrap; it should be well seasoned, almost salty.
- 03
Pipe or spoon walnuts of dough onto a lined tray, a good inch apart — they will puff, and they need the room. Top each with a pinch of the remaining cheese so the crowns brown and crackle. Work with a light hand; if you flatten them they will not rise as they should. A piping bag makes them tidy, a spoon makes them charming; both bake perfectly well.
- 04
Bake at 400°F until they are puffed, golden, and dry inside, 20 to 25 minutes. Split one open if you are unsure; a damp interior will collapse as it cools. Serve them warm, within minutes of the oven. They stale as they sit, and a cold gougère is only a cheese puff.
