Hors D'oeurves in 15 Minutes

I love Easter - traditionally I've always done a big lunch, or contributed with an entree, like last year, where, as a guest I signed up for the roasted lamb; marinated in fennel and green garlic (my favorite lamb recipe)and quinoa salad.

This year, with the little monkey to attend to, I was asked to make hors d'oeurves instead. Not having very much prep time, and also low on my tank of energy, it was imperative that anything I make would be simple, tasty, and of course live up to my reputation as Chef Laura.

It didn't take me too long to figure out that bacon wrapped dates and gougeres where the two best options. 

Bacon wrapped dates have, for a long time been a perennial favorite.  I love the sweet salty taste of it, and usually combine it with a blue cheese garlic sauce that adds some good kick to it.  Also, the name of the dish really describes the recipe.  That's all there is to it - except that, of course, you have to bake it until the bacon is cooked.  (I like using the uncured bacon from Trader Joes)

Gougeres, or cheese puffs, on the other hand, do require a recipe.  They are the epitome of an amuse bouche.  Light, yet whetting your appetite, causing you to want more!  The first time I made these were way back when I was in junior high.  Not having very much experience, they were crunchy for all of two seconds, and then immediately sagged after coming out of the oven.  Regardless, they were delicious.  The nutty cheese and the light dough (chewy instead of crunchy) actually resulted in me making them the wrong way more than once!

Years later, (without engaging the recipe again) I finally learned the proper way to make them.  The secret lies in two thing.  One, cooling off the dough before adding the eggs, and two, making sure each egg is fully incorporated before the next one is added.  Make sure that you no longer can see steam coming from the dough before the eggs are added.  This excess moisture is what contributes to the "sagging".  When adding the eggs, you want to quickly beat it into the dough, lest it cook from the heat before incorporating. 

You'll get the most success using an electric mixer with a paddle attachment, but it is sometimes too cumbersome to break out the mixer just for this. As an alternative, you will need some very good fore arm strength, either yours or someone else's.  If you do it the manual way, use a wooden spoon to do the whole thing, beating very vigorously throughout the whole process.

As an added bonus, after the gougeres are cooked, turn the oven off, and leave the door cracked with the gougeres still in them to let them dry out a bit.  This also helps them retain their crunchiness after coming out of the oven.

Here's the recipe:

Gougeres

Makes about 4 dozen hors d'oeurves

1/2 cup Water
1/2 cup Milk
4 oz Unsalted butter
1 cup All Purpose flour
4 ea Eggs
4 oz Hard cheese (Gruyere, cheddar, semi soft blue will work too)

Large pinch of Salt, Pepper and ground Nutmeg

1. Preheat the oven to 400°. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. In a saucepan, combine the water, milk, butter and salt and bring to a boil.
3. Add the flour and stir with a wooden spoon until a smooth dough forms
4. Stir over low heat until dough leaves a film on bottom of pan; about 2 minutes
5. Scrape the dough into a bowl; beat vigorously with wooden spoon or in a mixer with the paddle attachment until no longer steaming about 1-2 minutes.
6. Add one egg into the dough, quickly stirring or beating until egg is properly combined
7. Repeat with remaining eggs, making sure that each egg is fully incorporated before the next is added
8. Add the cheese and a pinch each of pepper and nutmeg and combine
9. Transfer the dough to a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch round tip and pipe quarter sized mounds (or 1 teaspoon each) onto the baking sheets about 1 inch apart. Press peaks down with a wet finger to prevent brown spots
10. Bake for 22 minutes, or until puffed and golden brown.
11. Serve immediately

After dough is portioned and piped (step 9), it can be frozen, then stored.

Place frozen dough on baking sheet when ready to cook, and bake for an extra 5-10 minutes, lowering heat to 375 after 25 minutes if tops get too brown