Happy New Year! Time to break out the Champagne and ring in 2014!
Back in the fall, I introduced you to one of my favorite baked treats... Smoky Cheddar Cheese Puffs!http://www.thisoldchef.com/blog.html/smoky_cheese_puffs__cheddar_gougres_with_parmesan_and_smoked_salt/
Now that I'm at home and celebrating the holidays in my own kitchen, and with THE champagne holiday looming, I decided to make this batch using the food-processor method. It really is magical. And so much faster!
Here's a variation to make this New Year's Eve very special indeed:
Pâté à choux is a wonderful dough to know how to make, and it's a lot of fun as well. And once you master it, gougères, cream puffs, éclairs... all of these are in your repertoire.
The basic recipe couldn't be simpler:
1C liquid (I used ½ milk and ½ water.)
1 stick unsalted butter
A good pinch of Kosher salt
1C AP flour
4 large eggs
First, bring the liquid, butter, and salt to a boil...
Dump all of the flour in at once (trust me)...
With a wooden spoon, whip to combine.
Next, with the heat on low, continue to stir vigorously for 2 minutes... until the dough begins to dry out and you see a film start to appear on the bottom of the pan...
Then put the dough in the food processor, and pulse it a few times to cool it a bit...
Now all the eggs can go in at once... turn the processor on and, literally, in seconds...
It's done! Now you have the pâté à choux.
In a bowl, beat in 3 oz. of grated gruyère cheese, a bit of nutmeg, and some black pepper. Add to this six or seven cooked, cooled and crumbled rashers of your favorite bacon. Scrape the dough into a zip-lock bag, cut a small hole in one corner, and pipe mounds onto a parchment or Silpat-lined sheet pan. The size is up to you... I like small ones because these are so rich.
So I piped out about ¾ tablespoon-sized mounds. There will be a little point at the top... dip your finger in water and smooth down that point so it doesn't burn. Sprinkle each one with more cheese (I used Parmesan for this step).
Bake in a preheated 400° oven for about 22-25 minutes until puffed and golden brown, reversing the sheet pan at the halfway point. A great thing about gougères: once they've cooled, if you have any left (you won't!!!), you can freeze them and reheat at 350° for 7-10 minutes!
Not that the hand method is laborious, but this seems instantaneous. With amazing results!
Happy New Year!