French Cheese Puffs (Gougeres)

Gougères, the irresistible French cheese puffs, are as delightful to eat as they are to make. Made with a dough called pâte à choux (or choux pastry) used for cream puffs and profiteroles, cheese puffs are easily prepared with either regular all-purpose flour or a gluten-free flour blend. Perfect for cocktail hour, these light, savory puffs pair beautifully with a glass of wine. While Gruyère is the traditional choice, I like to use Parmesan cheese and finely chopped chives for a flavorful twist. Whichever way you make them, gougères are always a crowd-pleaser!

Do you remember the first time you bravely attempted a new technique or a new recipe? I still remember making gougere (goo-zhare) for the first time. It was strange how the pastry dough came together, but it worked beautifully in the end. A triumph. And I still love them. The dough has a reputation for being finicky, but don't let that deter you. It's really not hard!

Jump to:

• Why You'll Like This Recipe
• Recipe Ingredients
• Substitutions and Variations
• How to Make Gougeres
• Notes For Gluten-Free Bakers
• Homemade Gluten-Free Flour Blend
• Serving Suggestions
• 📖 Recipe
• 💬 Comments

Why You'll Like This Recipe

• French cheese puffs are fun to make.
• This recipe is for a savory dough, but they can be made sweet too.
• They freeze!
• Gluten or not, both are delicious.

Recipe Ingredients

• Butter: Use unsalted butter so you control the salt level of the finished gougere. I buy high butterfat, European-style butter.
• Milk: Whole milk is preferred but you can use low fat.
• Flour: I've made them both with wheat flour and with gluten-free flour blend.
• Eggs: Standard large eggs are what you want.
• Cheese: Instead of gruyere cheese, I use finely grated Parmesan cheese for Parmesan puffs.
• Herbs: Tiny chopped gren chives add soft oniony flavor and a little color. YOu can skip them but they are a nice addition.

For measurements and quantities, please see the recipe card.

Substitutions and Variations

• Use different herbs such as Italian parsley or fresh chopped thyme.
• Change cheese, gruyere is the French class and cheddar works well too for cheddar cheese puffs.
• Skip the milk and use water, it still works.

Chef's testing notes: I tested three types of flour: organic white whole wheat flour, organic whole wheat pastry flour, and a gluten-free blend called Cup4Cup flour. All three came out great. Pastry flour is a soft wheat which contains less gluten and provides a more tender baked good. Additionally, I've included a homemade GF blend in the recipe notes.

How to Make Gougeres

The formal name for this pastry dough is choux (shoo) pastry or pate a choux (pot-ah-shoo). Bring milk and butter to a boil, dump in flour, and stir like mad until the dough pulls away from the side of the pan. Add eggs, one at a time and again, stir like mad until they are well incorporated and the dough smooths out. It's like magic.

The pastry will look odd while you stir. At first it looks curdled and slippery from the eggs and you wonder if it will come together. Suddenly it does, and forms a smooth pastry dough.

Add cheese and chives, then stir some more.  You’ll have a thick, savory dough to portion out and bake.

I’ve piped them and dropped dollops with spoons in the past. Now I use what’s called a disher.

Chef's tool tip: Call them dishers (the professional term) or cookie scoops, this is a terrific little tool I can’t live without in my kitchen. I have 5-6 sizes of them in various sizes for various tasks. They make portion control and handling ingredients easy. For small puffs I use a #40 disher that is 1 ½” across. For truly bite-sized puffs, use the #60 disher.

Notes For Gluten-Free Bakers

For gluten-free gougere I tested with a pre-made blend, Cup4Cup gluten-free flour. The dough looks little different as it forms but the process is the same. The gougere came out great. After three test batches, here are the changes from my standard recipe:

• Substitute ½ cup (72 grams) of the C4C for the wheat flour and turn oven down to 350 degrees. Bake until just golden. Time will depend on your ovens as they can vary.

Note that Bob’s Red Mill and King Arthur's make great gluten-free flour blends, available everywhere. The gluten-free batch did not puff as much as did the wheat gougere, but they tasted terrific and will be appreciated by anyone following a gluten-free diet.

My last and best batch took about 20-25 minutes in the oven. They were golden on the outside and done but a tiny bit moist on the inside.

Homemade Gluten-Free Flour Blend

My homemade flour blend mixes brown rice, sweet rice, and quinoa flours plus cornstarch and tapioca. Find the quantities in the recipe card notes. For accuracy, you will need a digital scale to blend your flours. When measuring use the tare feature, it's faster. Whisk together until well blended.

I use all Bobs Red Mill flours. This makes enough for several batches of gougeres. Save the flour blend in an airtight container, labeled and date, for future batches.

Serving Suggestions

Gougeres make the perfect snack to go with a glass of wine and are a super nibble for appetizer hour. Make them bite-sized or make them a bit larger. I've sliced them in half and filled them for catered parties with a savory cheese filling. Store them well wrapped on the counter for a few days.

For freezing: After baking, freeze them on a sheet tray and when frozen, place gougere in a freezer safe zip bag, label and date.

For another terrific cocktail nibble, try these sweet and spicy roasted maple cashews.

📖 Recipe