A true holiday party classic, these cheese puffs pastries are also known as gougères. Not only are they easy to make, but they are also the perfect party snack or appetizer!
For more great cheesy snacks, why not make some Chili Cheese Dip? Or some Rice Krispies Cheese Crisps instead?
Table of Contents
Cheese Puffs (Gougères)
Traditionally made with a simple choux pastry and some cheese, these little cheese pastries are basically the French answer to the dinner roll.
Filled with rich, savory cheeses and a puffy, slightly delicate interior, these are the kind of snacks that your guests will bite into and literally not be able to believe how good it is.
While the basic recipe is pretty simple, there are a few great tricks to make sure that your cheese pastries are not only delicious but have the best texture as well.
Cheese Puffs (Gougères) Ingredients
Make sure you look at the recipe card at the very bottom for the exact amounts so that you know exactly what to buy for this recipe.
• All-purpose white flour
• Garlic salt
• Water
• Butter
• Eggs
• Chives
• Cheddar or Gruyere cheese
How To Make Cheese Puffs (Gougères)
• Whisk the flour, garlic, and salt together in a bowl and set aside
• Place the water and butter in a medium-sized pot and place on the stove on medium heat
• When the butter is melted, and it starts to boil and then removed from the heat
• Add the flour mix quickly and then beat until the pastry forms a smooth ball
• Cool for a couple of minutes, and then add in the beaten eggs one at a time
• Mix until it is a glossy paste, and then add the chives and cheese
• Grease some cookie sheets well with butter, and slightly damp them with a bit of water
• Using a cookie or ice cream scoop, or just a tablespoon, drop the pastry onto the baking sheet and bake
- Place in the oven and cook for 10 minutes at 425°F. Lower the heat to 350°F and cook for another 15-20 minutes, until they are puffed up and lightly golden brown. Do not undercook or they will flatten!
• Remove from the oven and pierce the side of each with a fork or knife to let the steam out and serve cooled
Why Dampen Your Cookie Sheets?
These cheese puffs are made from a delicate and rich choux pastry, which is famous for its tendency to stick to pretty much anything you put it on.
While slightly crispy, potentially burnt bits on the bottom of any pastry tastes great, with this pastry, it can actually ruin the texture a little bit.
The trick to stopping these cheese puffs from sticking to your pan is to get it just a little bit wet. You don’t want it dripping with water, though – you want just a little bit of water all over the pan. This water will not only stop the pastry from sticking but will also help improve the overall texture.
The steam rising up through the center of the pastry will help inflate the center, keeping it light, airy, and delicate.
You can certainly just line some cookie sheets with some baking parchment instead, but then you wouldn’t get the super delicate texture on the inside.
How To Stop Your Cheese Puffs From Getting Soggy
The biggest problem that people often experience when making choux pastry of any kind is its tendency to look super delicious and crispy, but then 5 minutes later, it is a soggy mess.
This happens because, as it cools, instead of excess moisture within the pastry venting off in the high heat of the oven, it instead starts to collect both inside and outside the pastry, making everything soggy.
The simple trick to avoiding this is to just pierce each individual pastry with a sharp, thin knife as they come out of the oven.
You can even do it with a fork for more efficiency – just like dotting shortbread, stab each puff lightly with a fork as you remove the tray from the oven.
This lets the steam vent out easily, stopping it from condensing on the inside of the pastry and ruining the delicate texture you spent so long building up.
Looking for more delicious Snack recipes? Try these out:
Enjoy!
Love,
Karlynn
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Cheese Puffs (Gougères)
Ingredients
- 2/3 cup all purpose white flour
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
- 2/3 cup water
- 1/4 cup butter plus extra for greasing plus extra for greasing
- 3 large eggs beaten
- 2 tablespoons finely minced chives
- 1 cup sharp cheddar cheese or Gruyere cheese
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 425 °F.
- Whisk the flour, garlic and salt together in a bowl and set aside.
- Place the water and butter in a medium sized pot and place on the stove on medium heat. When the butter is melted and the mixture begins to boil, remove from the heat.
- Add the flour mix quickly and continuously beat until the pastry forms a smooth ball. Cool it for a couple of minutes.
- Add in your beaten eggs one at a time and though it may seem like they are going to just slide around the dough ball, they will mix in. Just keep on mixing until it’s a beautiful glossy paste.
- Mix in the chives and the cheese.
- Grease your cookie sheets well with butter.
- To prepare your baking sheet, run it under cold water for a few seconds, then tap it a couple times to get the excess water off. You do want it slightly damp.
- Using a tablespoon cookie scoop, drop the pastry onto the baking sheet leaving space between.
- Place in the oven and cook for 10 minutes at 425°F. Lower the heat to 350°F and cook for another 15-20 minutes, until they are puffed up and lightly golden brown. Do not undercook or they will flatten!
- Remove from the oven and pierce the side of each with a fork or knife tip to let the steam out. This helps them stay puffy and not soggy. Cool completely.
- Store in an airtight container for up to 2 days, these are better fresh.
Notes
- It is very important to bake these to a golden brown so that they are cooked inside and don’t deflate!
Kay says
I had the same experience as Liz. Followed the recipe exactly and the dough was very runny. I also ended up with flat discs.
I added another 1/4 cup of flour and cheese and did the trick. They were very bland though, so on round 2, I added a pinch of cayenne pepper.
Liz says
Very confused! I followed the directions exactly as stated… what I ended up were flat, round “unknowns” with shiny bottoms (and a little to brown on the bottom) They sound so wonderful and I haven’t a clue what happened! help!
Sandy says
Have you tried these using silpats?