You’ll save precious time and energy if you adopt a “cocktail party” mentality for the first hour or two of Thanksgiving dinner. Skip the complicated appetizers—you have enough to worry about!—and set out just the basics: Good-quality olives, roasted nuts, crudities and drinks guests can serve themselves. One little “extra” I like to include: Gougeres!
If you’re not a fan already, gougeres are just French cheese puffs made with choux pastry dough. Despite their fancy name, gougeres are a cinch to make and a cocktail party staple in my humble, party-throwing opinion. Plus: They’re totally make-ahead! Whip up a batch this week, then store ‘em in the freezer until Turkey Day (they’ll last in there for up to 1 month).
Traditionally gougeres are made using gruyere cheese. I swapped in blue cheese for a tangy, savory twist. Since this recipe only calls for 5 ingredients, I like to use a snazzy blue cheese like Roquefort (Frenchy) or Stilton (English) but you can use whatever’s available. Many grocery stores carry pre-crumbled blue cheese now which is super convenient if you’re in a pinch.
These Blue Cheese Gougeres are best warm. To serve them, consider wrapping the cheese puffs in a kitchen towel before snuggling ‘em into a basket or bowl. Have a spare minute? Stir snipped chives or chopped, cooked bacon into the dough before baking. Now pop open some champers and enjoy—cheers!
photos by Erin Phraner
Blue Cheese Gougeres
serves: 10 to 12
½ cup dry white wine
1 stick butter
1 cup all-purpose flour
4 large eggs
⅓ to ½ cup crumbled blue cheese
PANTRY STAPLES: Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 400˚F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicon mat.
2. Bring the white wine, butter, ½ cup water and 1 teaspoon salt to a simmer in a large saucepan over medium heat.
3. All at once, add the flour and cook, stirring vigorously with a wooden spoon, until the dough pulls away from the sides of the pan and creates a film on the pan, about 3 minutes. Remove from the heat; transfer dough to a large bowl and let cool slightly.
4. One at a time, add an egg to the bowl and stir vigorously with a wooden spoon until smooth (the dough will appear separated at first but keep stirring, it’ll come together promise!) before adding the next egg. Stir in the blue cheese and ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper.
5. Transfer dough to a piping bag fitting with a medium round tip or resealable plastic bag, snipped off one corner. Pipe 11/2 inch mounds on the prepared baking sheet about 2 inches apart. Dip a finger in water and smooth the gougeres tops so they’re flat. Bake until puffed and golden, 25 to 30 minutes. Serve immediately or let cool and freeze for up to 1 month—just reheat in a 350˚ oven until thawed and crisp before eating!
*You can watch how to make these tasty little puffs right here!
Carlene Thomas RD (@CarleneRD) says
Loved your little video!
Erin Phraner (@erinphraner) says
Eeks! Thanks so much, Carlene! xo
Chelsea says
Okay, so blue cheese isn't my favorite but these look delightful. Could I sub any kind of cheese here?!
Erin Phraner (@erinphraner) says
Hey Chelsea! You can definitely use grated Gruyere or parmesan cheese instead of blue cheese if you're not a fan xo
Maggie says
You can always substitute another cheese as long as it is a hard cheese like the blue. A nice sub would be a cheddar (preferably sharp), then serve it with a pasta dish like linguine with clam sauce or even traditional spaghetti.
Alyssa says
Woah, these look amazing! I'm not a huge fan of blue cheese, but I bet they'd be yummy with gorgonzola too!
julia-tagandtibby says
this looks amazing, and simple too. I hope to try it soon! thanks for sharing 🙂
Lexi says
I think I'll make these for my company T-Day potluck. 🙂
Audrey says
These look amazing! Too bad I'm not exactly sure how to pronounce them...
Karra says
Any suggestions on what to serve these with? My (vegetarian) husband loves blue cheese, but I'm not a fan. But they look great, so I'd like to make them for him!
Erin Phraner (@erinphraner) says
Hi Karra!
If you want to stick with the French-y theme, you could serve these with baked brie—omg, gooey!—and Leah has a fantastic recipe topped with roasted strawberries (https://www.freutcake.com/tag/easy-baked-brie/) Also you could drizzle a log of soft goat cheese with olive oil, lemon zest and thyme.
Pizzaladieres Tarts (just a fancy way of saving French caramelized onion tarts) are a fantastic, meat-free appetizer option—they're surprisingly hearty. I've made this recipe from Saveur before with much success (http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Pissaladieres-Onion-and-Anchovy-Tarts). Feel free to nix the anchovy, if you don't like 'em.
And something non-vegetarian for you! You could make little monte cristo sandwiches LOVE these for parties 🙂
Hope this helps.
Cheers!
-Erin
Pat goodman says
What is the mason jar for?
Leah Bergman says
To hold the piping bag in order to make it easier to fill!
lynette says
they were delicious!! but too wet. Maybe I did not need so much water? they turned out flat
Erin Phraner (@erinphraner) says
Hey Lynette!
Thanks for letting me know. Two thoughts: Do you live somewhere particularly humid? These little guys can get a little tricky when there's a lot of moisture in the air. Another possibility, a lot of folks pull the dough off the stove before it's done cooking (you'll know when the bottom and sides of the pan have a hazy film on 'em and the dough comes together into a shiny ball) don't be afraid to keep it on there until it's really coated. I hope this helps! A quick fix if they come out too wet it to just pop them in a 200 - 250˚F oven for a few hours (or start 'em in a 300˚ oven, turn it off and let the gougeres sit in there overnight) to dry them out.
Cheers!
- Erin
Mary says
Sounds good. Thanks
Stacey martin says
Does serves 10-12 mean the recipe makes 10-12?
Erin Phraner (@erinphraner) says
Hey Stacey,
I was pretty generous with my rounds and I go about 30 gourgeres. For a cocktail party, I think that's enough for 10 - 12 (since most likely you're serving other snacks, as well) but feel free to double the recipe if you need more.
Cheers,
Erin
Ann Rohmeyer says
Made these today- much easier than I thought and they turned out just like the photo. They are great with sweet fruits like grapes.
Martine says
This was delicious with steak and easy to make! Mine looked more like blue cheese cookies lol, but so good. Thanks for the recipe! Martine
Kelly says
Tried this today with gruyere cheese, and while they are absolutely delicious and not remotely dry, they never puffed in the slightest. Looking over the recipe I realize that as I was trying to double it, I may have forgotten to double the eggs. So. Good to know they're still completely edible when you forget half the egg! Just not as pretty.
canon says
Hi, I just wonder how much is '1 stick of butter' since it might vary from countries to countries. Butter here weights 200-250 gram per pack which sounds a bit to much for 1 cup of flour.
Thanks.
Leah Bergman says
Hi! 1 stick of butter is 1/2 cup or 4oz. Hope that helps!