Cheese Puffs (Gougère au Gruyere)

"We need to push ourselves to make as many reductions as possible in our own energy use first.. and that takes time. But we must do this quickly.. the climate will not wait for us. - Rupert Murdoch"

When we woke up this morning, my daughter and I were dazzled at a beautiful scenery that greeted us. An imaculate white snow blankets our entire garden and all around our area. I tell you this thing happens rarely in Provence. The old granny who lives next door swear that the last time she saw this kind of snow in region was about fifty years ago. All the kids in the neihborhood were glad to play outside to enjoy this rare moment. It's not that I'm being an "Auntie Scrooge" while everyone else are having fun but I can't help and wonder what more alarming global changes is in store for us. Will it snow in Africa in the future or how about if all the ice in the north pole melts? Are we really prepared for this?

I still remember back then when I was still learning French, the very first essay I wrote was how we human beings could turn like Dinosaurs in the near future if we won't take drastic measures in protecting our environment. Already much has been said about "global warning", massive campaigns all over the world has been donen it about time we take those words into real action.


I am sending some of these cheese puffs over at Maninas at Food Matters, this weeks host of Weekend Herb Blogging. This is one of my favorite weekly blogging event were you can enjoy an array of delectable herb dishes and desserts. This even was created by Kalyn but is now in the caring hands of Haalo of Cook Almost Anything.

Gougere are French cheese puffs that are very easy to make and yet delicious. They are perfect entrée that you can serve with some salad. This is the basic recipe that you can modify to add up your favorite cheeses like goat cheese, mozzarella and others.


Basic Gougere Recipe
for about 30 pieces

125 ml of water
40 g of butter
1 teaspoon of salt
70 g of flour
2 large eggs
100 g of gruyere cheese grated
some herbs and chopped chives

Preheat the oven at 220° celsius. In a casserole put your water, salt and butter. Let it melt but not boiling the water. Wait until there's little bubble in the water. Cut the fire. Add the flour gently. Mix well. Put it back on a low fire to dry up the mixture. You just need to see that the mixture doesn't stick to the casserole anymore. Out of fire, add your eggs one by one. Continue mixing. If it's too wet you can put it back in fire to dry it up a little. Once the mixture is ready put your grated cheese, chives and thyme. Scrape the mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a wide plain tip and pipe the dough making each about the size of a small cherry tomato. Bake for ten minutes. Then lower the temperature at 190° celsius and bake for another twenty minutes.





24 comments:

♥peachkins♥ said...

what a coincidence. I just made cheese sticks today...

Finla said...

Beautiful cheesey puffs and love that snow pic.

K and S said...

that is a LOT of snow, the environment is definitely changing!

Snooky doodle said...

wow I ve never seen snow except when I went on a mountain for a holiday. that looks amazing and weary at the same time. These puffs will get you warm though. they look delicious :)

Trissa said...

The snow looks beautiful! I do hope that there is someway the world can retain it's beauty despite all the advancement. The gourgeres look so delicious - and thank goodness so simple to make!

Gloria Baker said...

Dhanggit these look absoltely beautiful, kisses to you and Mayumi, xxxgloria

Valerie Harrison (bellini) said...

I love the cheesy flavour of these little bites. They would be very comforting while your world is blanketed with snow.

Kalyn Denny said...

Oh sigh, this would not be on my diet, but they look delicious! We have snow like that around here too. Personally I hate it, but it does look pretty.

Rosa's Yummy Yums said...

Wow, that's a lot of snow! i love that kind of weather!

Mmmmhhh, cheese gougères are soooooo scrumptious!

Cheers,

Rosa

Adam said...

I sure hope we don't turn into dinosaurs... because I don't think dinosaurs eat cheese :)

While I think you're right about climates changing, but sometimes freak storms are just freaks :)

punky said...

happy new year! are you from the philippines? nice food blog! visit also mine! i've added u already to my blogroll.. tnx!

Cynthia said...

I'm looking at your winter photographs and thanking the heavens that I am somewhere warm.

Happy New Year!

pigpigscorner said...

Love snow but it's just so cold!! these cheesy balls might jsut keep me warm..yum..

Noob Cook said...

cute looking cheese puffs! can't imagine so much snow there when I'm melting in the tropical heat here haha

Lisa said...

I love these! They remind me of a great vacation and I haven't made them in so long. Yours are beautiful.

daphne said...

What great snacks they would have made-or finger food!

Manggy said...

I totally agree. No matter what the reality of global warming, we have to respect the Earth and not crap all over it.
I love gougeres, Dhang... Can't believe I've only made them once!

Anonymous said...

Hello! Thanks for taking part in the WHB. The round-up is now available at http://maninas.wordpress.com/2010/01/19/round-up-of-whb216/.

Azita Mehran said...

these cheese puffs look very delicious and they'll go well with some salad. just perfect for a Sunday brunch. great blog!

Ashley said...

These things look gorgeous and I am sure are delicious. I'm bookmarking these to try this weekend.

Bourne said...

These cheese puffs looks so cute and are definitely delicious. I'll try this at home

Fitted kitchens said...

Thanks for the recipe. Now i have designs to make of this & I am sure my mom would definitely love it.

veins said...

I am glad to have this recipe. I will be buying the book, however I can't buy everything at once, and this will keep me going.

sophia smith said...

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