Gougeres are French Cheese Puffs served with pre dinner cocktails, as finger food at parties, and in place of boring bread rolls to dunk into soups and stews. One of the best things I ate in France!
Simple to make, they reheat 100% perfectly – but the best part is smugly telling your friends “they’re French, darling” (I hear this in a posh British accent).
Gougeres recipe – French Cheese Puffs!
This Gougeres recipe comes to you via the hostess of a charming bed & breakfast called La Saura in Burgundy, France. We had a week long stay there just a couple of months ago, using it as our home base to explore the region.
And after a long day of sight seeing, there are no words to describe our delight when we arrived back at the villa to be greeted with a pile of warm cheese puffs, fresh out of the oven, washed down with sparkling Kir Royales.
So very chic. So French!!
What Gougeres taste like
They’re crusty on the outside, soft and hollow on the inside, and they’re very, very cheesy. Essentially, they are the savoury cheesy version of everybody’s favourite Profiteroles!
As with profiteroles, I’ve been tempted to pipe something into the hollow centre. But to be honest, these cheese puffs have enough flavour as they are – certainly plenty of cheese – so anything more would just make it overly rich.
Plus, the light-as-air texture is the signature feature of Gougeres! (Also, here’s how to pronounce Gougeres ?)
What you need for Gougeres (Cheese Puffs)
Here’s what you need to make Gougeres. It’s adapted from this recipe (it’s in French!), with the minor change being an increase in cheese (under instruction from Jocelyn the B&B host who gave me this recipe!?).
Best cheese for Gougeres
The cheese that is traditionally used is gruyere, Emmental or Comte. I’ve also made these with Swiss, cheddar and tasty (Aussie/NZ cheese) and they came out just as good. So I imagine they will be just fine with any other cheese as long as it’s the melting sort (ie not feta, parmesan, ricotta).
Also, I’d recommend avoiding mozzarella – it doesn’t have enough flavour or salt.
IMPORTANT: Grate the cheese yourself, unless you’re fortunate enough to be living in France in which case you have access to the finely shredded Emmental sold at the shops. Typically, store bought grated cheese is thicker than shredding your own, so it might weigh down the batter and prevent your Gougeres from puffing up which would be so sad. ?
How to make Gougeres
These French Cheese Puffs are as fabulously easy to make as they are to eat. The part where the egg is mixed in does require some vigorous mixing to incorporate the egg fully – it’s a good arm work out! If you want to take a more leisurely path, just use an electric beater. 🙂
How to serve Gougeres
Ah, the best part – how to eat them!!
In France, they are served as appetisers and on the side of meals in place of boring old dinner rolls.?
With Meals
Gougeres are placed on tables in bread baskets before the meal is served, to nibble on then to dunk into soups and thick stews, and mop plates clean. Here are a few suggestions for dishes to create your own French Provincial extravaganza!
Pre dinner nibbles
Serve them as finger food at parties, or pre dinner nibbles with cocktails – specifically, Kir Royales (French champagne cocktail) if you want to be on theme!
In fact, the actual Gougeres in the photos and most of the ones in the video (some fell into my mouth??♀️) were taken to a Christmas party the next day. They go soft after they cool down, but a few minutes in the oven was all they needed to resurrect their perfect crispy exteriors, so they are 100% perfect for making ahead! – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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French Cheese Puffs (Gougeres)
Ingredients
- 1 cup (250ml) water
- 80g / 5.5 tbsp butter , unsalted, cut into 1.5 cm / 0.5" cubes
- 1 cup (150g) flour , plain / all purpose
- 3/4 tsp salt , kosher/cooking salt
- Pinch nutmeg (powder or freshly grated)
- Pinch black pepper
- 4 eggs (~60 - 65g / 2oz each)
- 200g / 2 cups Gruyère cheese , freshly shredded (Note 1)
Topping
- 50g / 1/2 cup Gruyere cheese, extra , freshly shredded (Note 1)
- 1 egg yolk , for brushing
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 220°C / 425°F (200°C fan). Lightly grease 2 trays then line with parchment / baking paper.
- Place water, butter and salt in a saucepan over medium high heat. Bring to a boil until butter is full melted.
- Remove from stove, add flour, salt, pepper and nutmeg. Mix until incorporated.
- Return to stove on LOW heat and mix for 1 minute (this dries the mixture out, see video for before/after).
- Remove from stove, leave for 2 minutes.
- Add 1 egg, mix vigorously until incorporated - batter splits at first, but it always comes together!
- Add 3 more eggs, one at a time, mixing until incorporated before adding the next. Good arm workout! (Or use electric beater)
- Stir in 2 cups cheese.
- Drop 1 tablespoon mounds onto trays (small cookie scoop is ideal, otherwise use a measuring tablespoon and a teaspoon to scrape out. Can make larger - good for dunking!)
- Brush with yolk, then top with a pinch of reserved Cheese for topping.
- Bake 25 minutes.
- Allow to cool for 15 minutes so they become crusty and inside dries out a bit.
- Serve warm as pre dinner nibbles, finger food at gatherings, or dunk into soups and stews!
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Life of Dozer
Shopping for a new dining table. Dozer made it clear which one he approved of…
An absolute hit!
Thank you
Adding a bit of blue cheese with my latest batch
Perfect Carl!
Your gougeres recipe has instantly become my favorite party snack! I took a batch to a Christmas dinner party — they were gobbled-up in a flash. I am bringing another batch to a New Year’s Eve party. To-day’s batch were baked in a mini muffin pan. I seemed to have better luck getting the dough/batter into the mini cups than on parchment paper. They rose beautifully and I know your reheating instructions are spot-on. Thank-you, Nagi, for another superb recipe!
Made this last week with emmenthal cheese and it tuned out fine but found the cheese bland. Made it tonight and used extra old cheddar, they didn’t puff up but tastes great. Is it the cheddar that caused it to not puff?
Hi Delia, possibly, I’ve used a cheddar blend and they have still puffed up though!
I made these cheese puffs to go with your broccoli soup. A big hit. My grandson ate many.
SUCCESS! I made them again today. They puffed beautifully and taste amazing. Thank You Nagi for another “keeper” recipe.
Wahoo!!!! I’m so glad they turned out for you Deb!
I made these and they didn’t come out puffed and hollow. They were more like a cheesy biscuit. They tasted ok but not light and hollow. Maybe I didn’t cook the flour long enough, or I grated my cheese on fine and not course . Any idea what I did wrong?
Hi Deb, not sure they they didn’t rise – it’s the egg that makes them puff! Did you follow the recipe exactly?
I thought I followed it correctly. I’m going to try it again today. I will keep you informed.
these were delicious! im thinking this would probably be very good with sliced green onions. what do you think?
Oooh yes! I’d probably chop them finely so they mix through well 🙂 N x
The batter at the end was quite runny. Even when I mixed the flour on low heat for more than the recommended 1 min. (At 1 min. if did not get dry). After the eggs were mixed, it again went back to runny. Still baked a few of them. They turned out like soft and hollow pancakes. Then in the remaining batter, I mixed in some flour to thicken it up. Success! The second batch came just fine.
Forgot to rate it! 10 stars!!
So glad you loved it Debbie! N x
I’m drooling…can’t wait to make…thanks
Yes do! They are so crazy delish! N x
Hi! I am just making a batch of these delicious beauties! I have used red cheddar cheese – actually I spooned out 28 onto the baking sheets – do you think it’s because I used quite coarsely grated cheese Nagi? Anyways, first batch just out and they look fab – and tasted delicious! Thanks for all the great recipes xx
Hi Debbie! My count always varies 🙂 But they can vary quite drastically in size and still work out exactly the same, even the same cook time! so to be honest, exact size doesn’t matter too much. 🙂 I’m glad you enjoyed them Debbie, thanks for letting me know! N x
Ha ! I do admit to my weaknesses and making both profiteroles and gougeres has been a lifelong one 🙂 ! Fail at many things but these always seem to make me proud of my kitchen efforts!! Love them with drinks and also must admit I have never ever been able to resist a Kir Royale ! On – dinner settings . . . Dozer always has displayed very good taste . . . look how he tried to get rid of certain headgear 🙂 !!
WOW! Really!! Oooh, I love hearing that Eha. I bet yours are a ripper! N x
Perfect timing! Needed to take some simple finger food to a drinks thing to meet new neighbours last night – and ran up a batch of these an hour beforehand. They looked great and tasted just as good. Perfect! And tho’ there were lots of nice things to eat that people brought along – these were the first to disappear. Thank you!
I LOVE HEARING THAT!!!!! N xx
CHEESE AND ORE VHEESE PLEASEJust looking it made me hungry shouldn’t have done it before breakfast. Would love them with soup, yum. Dozer lovers the table because it’s so roomy. Did you get one? Thank you for YUMI food and have good w/end. Got fresh broad beans from neighbour making soup and you can come with those cheese puffs. Please, pretty Please…..Ill do washing up.
Ooh YES to soup and cheer puffs! How’s the weather down there?? N x
I’ll definitely make over the holidays, what a great idea!
Love the pic of Dozer! Was this in the store? If so, think it’s pretty cool that the furniture store would allow dogs inside!
I think it’s a clever sales tactic!!! 😂
Can these be frozen?
Hi Linda! I haven’t tried but given they cooled, went soggy then resurrected to near perfection with a quick bake, I am 98% sure they will freeze great! N x
I always get Gougeres whenever I see them on a menu, as they are uniquely delicious! You make the process to make them look so easy! I’ll be trying your version soon. Dozer has good decorating taste! Did you buy his preferred choice?
Not yet!! He might have good taste…but he also has BIG taste. It was way too big! N x
squee! I first learned about these in Ruth Reichl’s “Garlic and Sapphires” but have never come across such a beautiful recipe. Now I will try.
BTW, your audience might like to know how you pronounce “gougères”. 😉
(I had to look it up on the internet.)
Ah YES! Thanks for the suggestion Philindo! N x
The batter at the end was quite runny. Even when I mixed the flour on low heat for more than the recommended 1 min. (At 1 min. if did not get dry). After the eggs were mixed, it again went back to runny. Still baked a few of them. They turned out like soft and hollow pancakes. Then in the remaining batter, I mixed in some flour to thicken it up. Success! The second batch came just fine.
These are fabulous! I have made a similar puff for parties using swiss cheese and filled with chicken salad. Vanish in a heartbeat!
Ooh – now THAT is a great idea for a filling
Amazing. Reminded me of pão de queijo. Yummy 😍
I’ve never had them!! I bet they are amazing 🙂 N x