After making various sweet cream puffs with pate a choux dough, I thought I'd make a switch to savory. I went with that classic American flavor combination of cheddar cheese and bacon.
Not very surprisingly, the fellas in my house are big fans of this flavor combo (around here, cheers ring out when I make twice baked potatoes with bacon, cheddar, and scallions) so I knew I'd have some ready taste-testers for this. I baked a handful for lunch the other day and froze the rest of the batch for another time. The ones I baked were readily polished off. These little mounds of sharp, cheesy, savory goodness are pretty easy to love. They're ever so crisp yet tender on the inside.
To make, it all starts with the familiar pate a choux dough. I added a pinch of paprika for a little extra color and you could really flavor it with a touch of whatever spice you want. The dough is quickly cooked on the stovetop and after the eggs are fully incorporated and the dough is ready, the savory part comes in. I added shredded sharp cheddar cheese and a few slices of finely chopped bacon. You could add some chives or scallions if you have it on hand.
This had me thinking back and remembering that I've actually made cheese gougeres before, years ago. One Christmas, I attempted them for a family Christmas party. What I remember was how bland those puffs turned out! For whatever reason that I can't remember now, I'd substituted a mild cheese for whatever it was I was supposed to use and I remember those gougeres had hardly any flavor as a result. Well, I'm happy to say I made up for the flavor department this time.
And speaking of Christmas, the holidays are coming up! That has me thinking of parties...appetizers, toasts, and nibbles. These are just the kind of little bites that would be great for a cocktail party, or they'd just make a nice appetizer to get a party started. These cheese gougeres would certainly go well with some bubbly (anybody else love the combination of salty potato chips with champagne?). I like to keep mini bottles of prosecco in my fridge for mimosas or whenever we might want to make a little toast to life. The next time I bake off the rest of this batch of cheddar-bacon gougeres, I'll be reaching for one of those bottles.
