Gougères

These puffs of heaven are delicious. The recipe is fun, too because it's so strange - when adding the eggs to the dough it separates into globs at first and looks ruined, but keep mixing and there will be a magic moment when everything just comes together. And they are seriously difficult to resist! Thanks French Cooking at Home!

Yield: 50

6 Tbsps (3oz/84gr) butter

1 cup water or light chicken stock

½ tsp. salt

pepper to season

Pinch of paprika

1 cup flour

3-4 eggs depending on size

4oz Gruyere cheese, coarsely grated

Milk for brushing

1. Heat the oven to 375ºF.
2. Put the butter in a heavy saucepan with the water or stock, salt, pepper, and paprika. Bring to a boil and pull from the heat. Dump the flour in all at once, and beat until smooth with a wooden spoon. The mixture will pull away from the sides of the pan and form a ball. Put the pan back on low heat and beat for a minute to dry the paste somewhat. Remove from the heat and let cool about 3 minutes.
3. Add the eggs one at a time, beating vigorously with a wooden spoon after each addition. You want a smooth, soft, glossy paste that falls easily from the spoon, and this is dependent on the size of your eggs - if they are large, 3 should do, but if they are too small the dough will be too stiff so use 4 (or more if your eggs are really small. Stir in the cheese.
4. Using a pastry bag, pipe 1-inch/2.5 cm balls onto a buttered baking sheet, or simply drop the mixture by spoonfuls. Brush with milk so they will emerge golden and shiny - I dip my finger in milk and dab the tops. Bake until puffed up, nicely browned and not just light gold, and feather light when you pick one up, 25 to 35 minutes.