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These French Gougeres are so light and delicious. They’re made with beer, which gives it a delicious flavor, and cheddar cheese. Inspired by French chef, Alain Ducasse, you won’t be able to eat just one!
If you think these are too challenging to make, think again! They are one of my favorite choux-type doughs to make. This patรฉ choux is the base for some of my favorite recipes like Churros, Pumpkin Churros and Profiteroles. They all bake or fry up into such delicious treats; and these savory gougeres are no different.
Ingredients You’ll Need for French Gougeres
- Cheddar cheese. I love using a good-quality aged cheddar cheese. There will be no cheese pulls but instead they’ll impart a delicious nutty flavor into these gougeres.
- All-purpose flour. This is going to be the base of our gourgeres.
- Eggs. All of the lift and height comes from the eggs.
- Butter. Melted butter mixed with water and flour is the base of our recipe.
- Beer. I love the beer and cheese combination.
For the rest of the ingredients, please see the recipe index card below!
How to Make French Gougeres
- Make the dough. I like to start with melting the butter into the water and beer. When the butter has melted, pour in the flour and mix until it pulls away from the pot.
- Add in the eggs. It’s a bit of a workout and you can totally get your stand-up mixer involved. Mix in the eggs one by one.
- Fold in the cheese.
- Add them to a baking sheet. You can absolutely pipe these out (like how I did with my Profiteroles) but I actually used a cookie scoop and scooped them onto a baking sheet and it worked so well and saved some time!
- Brush with egg wash. And bake!
Recipe Tip
- Beer Tip. I love these with beer and cheese. It feels very aprรฉs season or something lol. I used a Saison is a Belgium farmhouse ales that are usually made with coriander and orange peel.
- Leave out the beer. Replace the amount of beer below with water, if you’d like!
Recipe FAQs
These taste best straight out of the oven. But you absolutely can make the dough up to one day ahead. They might not be as perky as they would be if you make the dough and then bake them straight away so keep that in mind. But they’ll still taste great.
I think a flavorful smoked gouda would be wonderful.
More Cozy Baking Recipes
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Meyer Lemon Blueberry Cornbread
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Peach Maple Yogurt Cake
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Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
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French Gougeres
Equipment
- 2 Baking Sheets
Ingredients
Gourgeres:
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, cut into cubes
- 1/2 cup +3 tablespoons water
- 1/2 cup beer, I used a saison and pilsner
- 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher
- 5 ounces all-purpose flour
- 5 large eggs
- 1 cup finely shredded sharp white cheddar cheese
- Freshly ground pepper
Egg wash:
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon milk
- Pinch kosher salt
Instructions
To Make the Gougeres:
- Preheat the oven for 400 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a medium saucepan, combine the butter, water, beer and salt and bring to a slight boil. Once the mixture reaches the boil, immediately turn the heat off and pour in the flour; vigorously stir with a wooden spoon until a dough forms. Continue mixing until the dough dries out and pulls away from the pan, about 2 minutes.
- Transfer the dough into a bowl, allowing it to cool, slightly, for 2 minutes. In a small bowl, crack in one egg, being sure to remove any shells that might have fallen in.
- Pour the egg into the dough and mix—at first, the dough may seem too wet for the egg to incorporate, just keep going—it'll eventually come together. Repeat with the remaining 4 eggs. The dough should appear shiny, smooth and should fall back on itself, creating ribbons when you lift the wooden spoon. Lastly, stir in the finely grated cheese.
- You have two options here: In the past, I've always transferred the dough to a piping bag fitted with 1/2-inch tip and piped out tablespoon-size mounds onto the baking sheet, spacing them about 1-inch apart.
- On this particular day I wanted to go an easier route and used a 2-inch ice cream scooper, spacing the mounds of dough about 1-inch apart. (Some of the mounds were less than perfect so I used my finger to make the tops to look a bit more perfect.)
- In a small bowl, whisk together the egg wash ingredients: large egg, milk and salt. Lightly brush the tops of each gougeres with the egg wash and then sprinkle each one with a dash of freshly ground pepper.
To Bake the Gougeres:
- Transfer to the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until lightly golden brown. Decrease the oven's heat to 350 degrees F and open the oven so it sits ajar; bake for an additional 10 minutes. (This step will help dry out the gougeres a bit.) Another note: if your gougeres are bigger in size than mine, you may need to bake them for more time. Serve warm.
Notes
- Beer Tip. I love these with beer and cheese. It feels very aprรฉs season or something lol. I used a Saison is a Belgium farmhouse ales that are usually made with coriander and orange peel.
- Leave out the beer. Replace the amount of beer below with water, if you’d like!
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This post was originally published on February 10th, 2014. It has been since updated with new information and formatting.
Wow, really, I canโt get over that delicious taste! So simple and yet โ sooo great. Thank you for this recipe โ itโs a real keeper
That looks really, truly delicious. I think Iโm coming to live at your house ๐