Gruyère Gougères

INGREDIENTS
1/2 Cup Milk
1/2 Cup of lukewarm Water
114 Gr. Butter – cut in 4 pieces
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
1 Cup of Flour
1 Teaspoon French Dijon-style mustard – Optional
1 Cup of grated cheese of your choice – Gruyere works beautifully
1/2 Teaspoon Hot Paprika or Cayenne or Piment d’Espelette
4 Large Eggs at room temperature

PREPARATION
Prepare a large oven pan, covered with parchment paper. Preheat your oven at 225 Celsius.
In a heavy saucepan, pour the milk, water with salt and butter. Bring to a soft boil, until the butter has melted.
Once the liquid starts to boil, pour all the flour and mix thoroughly. The mixture will be quite stiff at the beginning and will start to form a coating at the bottom of the pan. Keep stirring until the dough starts to relax. Cook the mixture on a low heat for a few minutes.
Pour the dough mixture in a bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle hook and start to mix, in order to cool off the dough mixture.
When the dough is lukewarm and manageable, you can start to incorporate the eggs one a time, until they are fully incorporated. Make sure each egg is well mixed into the dough before you start adding anymore.
Pour in the cheese, mustard and the Hot Paprika or Cayenne pepper.
Using a tablespoon, pour the mixture the size of golf ball on a parchment paper, making sure you leave a little space, so the pastry can expand during baking.
Reduce your oven to 180 Celsius and bake for 12-15 minutes –
I like mine dark and crispy, so I bake them up to 18-20 minutes.
You can substitute any cheese of your choice – Gruyere, Emmenthal or Sharp Cheddar Cheese.
You can freeze the gougères when baked or form them and freeze them on your baking tray. Once frozen, place them in freezing bag to be used at last minute… Bake at 180 Celsius for 20 minutes.

TIP DU JOUR : You can bake them right away or simply freeze them before baking. They are wonderful right off the oven.
Another option is to bake them and freeze them. You can simply reheat them at 160 Celsius for a few minutes.
You can add herbs, such a thyme which works wonderfully or snipped chives which add another dimension of flavours in these little munchkins.