How about a cheese puff? Even better, how about a spicy cheese puff?
I was looking for something online and somehow stumbled upon this recipe for Jalapeno Cheddar Gougères. It called for a delicate but super versatile batter called "choux pastry" - pronounced "shoo pastry" - and I'll be honest, I never really paid attention.
After reading up on it, I realize I've eaten my fair share of choux pastry. It plays the main role in cream puffs, profiteroles, éclairs, French crullers... I was just not aware this was what I was eating.
If you've never tried your hand at choux dough, I can tell you it's easy, although I now believe this is an art as much as a science, and so my plan is to keep working with the dough until I nail it.
Choux dough uses four common ingredients: butter, water, flour, and eggs. Instead of a leavener, it relies on high moisture content to create steam during cooking to puff the pastry.
Properly made choux falls between dough and batter. It's thick enough to hold its shape without spreading out flat like a pancake but thin enough to pipe by hand into a wide array of shapes and sizes. It's also super versatile as far as handling, storing, freezing and reheating. It is this quality that makes me want to play around with it some more. For this recipe, I used the dough to make gougères– a savory choux that typically uses Gruyere, cheddar, parmesan or some other cheese. I went a step further and added some chopped pickled jalapeno to give it a kick.
I first needed room temperature eggs, so I pulled them out of the fridge and let them sit for about an hour. I then measured out the other ingredients and sifted the flour. The recipe I was working from did not call for this step, but I watched a lot of videos and read other recipes for choux pastry and they often sifted the flour, so I sifted. There has been very little I have eaten that was made with sifted flour that was not absolutely delicious, so I sifted away.
The dough is sort of "twice cooked." I first had to heat the butter, milk and seasonings until it reached a full simmer, and then add the flour and rapidly mix it for about 30-60 seconds until all of the flour had combined. Let me say this again, because it's important - you have to beat the bejeezus out of the batter at this time as you mix the flour into the hot liquid. This is no light stir - this is a whipping frenzy and it's important if everything is going to mix well and puff up. The dough then gets cooked for a few minutes, to dry out the batter, and then it's time for the eggs.
The eggs are added one at a time and they make the dough separate and look like it's a mess, then it suddenly comes together beautifully. You'll go through this separate/blend process with each egg. At this point, when all of the eggs are blended in, the dough can be handled many different ways and is truly super versatile. You can add ingredients to make it savory or sweet, and the dough can be baked, refrigerated or frozen. It's best if you form it first, and the dough can be spooned out onto baking sheets or piped. Once baked, again, this versatile dough can be eaten right away, stored in an airtight container for a few days or frozen. They can easily be reheated in the oven for five minutes and they will be brought back to their "just cooked" glory of taste and texture.
I chose to add in diced pickled jalapeno and cheddar. After we tasted a few, we decided to add some garlic powder, onion powder, white pepper and Parmesan cheese. They were better. We're pretty sure we'd like to stay down the Italian seasoning, basil and Asiago cheese route with these. They were perfect as an appetizer before dinner and paired well with a glass of wine. They would probably travel well, too if you decide to bring them with on a brewery trip or visit to a vineyard or the beach. They were easy and tasty!
We will be playing with this recipe most of the summer and will try different add ins and mixers. It was easy to make and the results were totally snack worthy. To make a big batch of Jalapeno Cheddar Gougères to have on hand as a quick appetizer, worthy of company, is worth its weight in gold. Give them a try and let me know if you get adventurous and mix in other ingredients. Enjoy!