Green Gougères, Girl!

I'll forever stan a good savory pastry-- especially when a bunch of herbs join the party.

First off, what's a gougère? Essentially, it’s a fancy cheese puff made with pâte à choux. It's one of my longtime favorites, ever since I learned to make choux pastry working as a baker in the early 2010s (thank you, Chef Shuna). If you’ve never made choux before, it’s actually super easy and quite forgiving. It can be made by hand or with a mixer, though I prefer the latter for ease. I like piping these to make them uniform, but you can also just plop them on the pan with a spoon if piping bags scare you. However, choux can be re-piped if you make an error, so it’s the perfect medium for practicing!

In the summer of 2016, I had a gig working as a private chef in a place called Lathus-Saint-Rémy in the South of France. The American family I was cooking for regularly had last-minute dinner parties, and for one of them, I made a batch of gougères for a little amuse-bouche. The mother of the family was so obsessed with them that she asked me to teach her how to make them before I returned to Paris, where I lived at the time. I know this story sounds insane, but to be completely honest, I was only 22 at the time and not qualified to be a private chef in the first place, although I’d been working in kitchens for a few years. But there I was, in a château.

I got to enjoy the bounty of a gigantic garden on the property that was planned and managed by an amazing gardener. It was full of zucchini, cucumbers, tomatoes, herbs, kale, greens, berries, and basically anything else in season. It also connected to an apple orchard that wasn’t quite in season yet. Sometimes I would go pick my own veggies or herbs for garnishing and carry them in a little wicker basket back to the château!

some pics from the chateau, circa 2016

At times, I felt like I was in Downton Abbey: some days, the gardener, butler, housekeeper, nanny, and I, the chef, would all be buzzing around the property doing our jobs to make life for the family as easy as possible. What a dream, right? For me, it was truly hard work, and I was pretty underpaid: cooking three meals per day, six days per week, for eight people netted me €1,000 per week. In the morning, I’d have to make the father’s oeufs à la coque (soft-boiled eggs served in their shell), squeeze fresh orange juice, and have other breakfast items on the table by 8 a.m. For lunches, I prepared lighter meals: fish or meat with a big salad and a fruit and cheese platter afterward. For dinner, it was full service: starting with apéro (appetizers served with drinks), followed by a soup or similar small starter (the literal entrée or “entry to the meal”), the plat principal or main dish (what we incorrectly call “entrées” in America), and then a salad to aid digestion and/or cleanse the palate, in French fashion. Then, there was usually a cheese course. Finally, dessert and tea service came after the long meal. Writing this out, I’m really not sure how I did all of this, but it was a formative experience that I still cherish. I had never done any formal private chef work, but dayum, I did that (wtf)!!!

Okay, story time over. Let’s talk about the recipe! After baking many batches of gougères over the years, I wanted to experiment with flavors. I loved making a version with rainbow peppercorns, chives, and white cheddar. One day, I decided to try blending the herbs into the eggs, and these Shrek-coded cheese puffs were born! If you’ve baked choux pastry plenty of times, this is a fun way to restyle an old favorite and add a pop of natural color and flavor. You’re gonna need some parsley, basil, and chives, you little green goddess!

By the way, thanks for reading my official recipe first post here on Substack! This recipe previously appeared on my blog, Alexander Bakes, in 2021, but as I begin to move content over from my old hosting platform, I’ll be reworking and sharing a few of my favorite recipes. :)

Herby Green Gougères (Cheese Puffs)

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Bake Time: 40-45 minutes
Servings: 36 two-inch cheese puffs

Ingredients
4 eggs (200g)
¼ tsp kosher salt
¼ cup of parsley, basil, chives, and spinach, mixed (or other fresh herbs)
¼ cup fresh spinach
½ cup milk (118g)
½ cup water (118g)
4 tbsp butter (56g)
1 cup bread flour* (125g)
¼ cup grated Parmesan
¼ cup shredded cheddar
½ teaspoon ground black pepper

*All purpose will work too, but if you have it on hand i do like the additional strength of bread flour here since we’re adding moisture from blended herbs/greens.

Method
Prep: preheat the oven to 425ºF. line a baking sheet with parchment and fit a piping bag with a small round tip.

1. Add eggs, salt, parsley, basil, chives, and spinach to a blender or food processor. Blend just until smooth. Pour the mixture into a measuring cup and set aside.

2. Add the milk, water, and butter to a pot over medium-low heat. Cook until the butter is fully melted. Quickly whisk in the sifted flour, then switch to a heat-proof spatula or wooden spoon. Cook over low-medium heat for 2 minutes (set a timer!), stirring the mixture constantly until a film collects on the bottom of the pot and the dough forms a ball.

3. Place the dough into the bowl of a stand mixer. Mix on low speed for 2 minutes to cool, then gradually pour in the egg mixture in several additions while the mixer is running. Continue mixing for 1-2 minutes until a shiny, thick paste forms. It should be thick enough to stay in a piping bag but thin enough to be dropped from a spoon in small blobs.

4. Mix in the cheeses, then load the choux it into a piping bag fitted with a small or medium round piping tip. Pipe golf ball-sized blobs (or simply scoop them with a spoon) onto the lined baking sheet, leaving about 2 inches of space between each one. Grate fresh Parmesan over the entire tray.

5. Bake for 20 minutes at 425ºF, then lower to 375ºF (without opening the oven) for a further 20-25 minutes. The baked puffs should be brown, risen, and hollow when picked up. Enjoy them while they’re warm!

Are they done? To check for doneness, you can pull one cheese puff from the oven and rip it open or let it cool for a few minutes. If the interior is very wet, it needs more time. If it deflates while cooling, it’s not done baking. A great way to keep these crisp is to turn off the oven and let them cool with a wooden spoon stuck in the door to keep it ajar. You can also poke holes in the bottom of each puff after baking and cool them upside down to let steam escape, promoting further crispness.

Storage/Freezing: Unbaked gougères can be frozen and baked later—use an egg wash on frozen gougères to help toppings stick. These can also be frozen after baking and reheated for 10 minutes in a 350ºF oven.

Choux Troubleshooting: If your choux doesn’t puff, it usually means there wasn’t enough egg added. The batter should be flowing off of the spatula but not runny—just thick enough to stay in the piping bag and hold its shape once piped. A great test is taking a pinch of the batter between your thumb and pointer finger: if it stretches at least half an inch, you’re good to go. As a baking note, smaller-sized puffs will bake quicker than large puffs, which need more time to puff and dry out inside.