The first weekly recipe featured at French Fridays with Dorie is also the first recipe in Around My French Table. An inspired choice, if you ask me. After all, what better place to start than at the beginning? And I can’t think of a better recipe to kick off FFwD than Gougères. They’re light and airy cheese appetizers: think cheese-filled cream puffs.
The recipe begins with a pâte à choux, a light pastry dough consisting of eggs, milk, water, butter, salt, and flour. The dough is very wet and, unlike other pastry doughs, must be piped for spooned out because it is too soft to support itself. When baked, the dough puffs up to several times its original size. In the case of Gougères, the pâte à choux dough has Gruyère cheese added to it.
The Gougères took about 25 minutes to bake and were delicious right out of the oven. They were light, airy, and oh-so-cheesy. My family and I devoured them in no time.
I think Dorie knew what she was doing when she chose this as the first FFwD recipe. It’s simple and delicious. And it would be hard to make these and not be hooked on her new book.
I’m definitely hooked. And now I have one more reason to look forward to Fridays.
