How to Make Gougères

Here’s all that’s left after the gougère bender I went on this afternoon. Let’s just hope I can whip out another 40 before company comes. Ah yes, I seem to have a cup of flour left here, I’ll sift that…

…then grate up that last 2-3 ounces morsel of Gruyère that’s in the fridge.

Then I’ll get going on the batter. I’ll combine my salt, sugar, water and butter in a small sauce pan and bring it to the boiling point over medium-high heat.

Then I’ll add the flour…

…and stir to make a batter. Then I’ll turn the heat down to medium and set my timer for three minutes.

I’ll stir the batter around for the full time, not caring about the film on the pan, which is just a part of it (difficult as it is to get off).

After that I’ll transfer the batter to a large bowl and let it cool about five minutes. Then I’ll start adding my eggs one at a time…

…and stirring…

…until I have something that looks like this:

Then I’ll add my cheese, mustard and chile powder and stir it in.

I could pipe this batter, but then I do hate all the mess, especially when a spoon will work just as well. I could top these with extra cheese, chile powder or tabasco sauce if I wanted to — and most people do.

Then I shall bake them at 450 for 7-8 minutes, turn down the oven and bake at 375 for perhaps 20 minutes more, until lovely:

Oh, I’m getting hungry again…