Cheddar-Chive Puffs (Gougeres) Appetizers

These appetizers would be great before Thanksgiving, Christmas or before any meal. Try to serve them warm if at all possible. Each one will be small so your guests may want 3 or 4 of them before the rest of the meal is served. This is a French recipe so you know that they will be DELICIOUS!!!

Note: These need to be baked. You can place them on a lightly-greased baking sheet but they would be better if baked on a sheet of parchment paper. Otherwise, they'll tend to be oily on the bottoms. Of course, this is your choice.

1 cup water

8 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup all-purpose flour

4 large eggs

1 1/2 teaspoon DRY mustard spice (not like we use for hot dogs)

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 1/2 cup (about 6 ounces) sharp cheddar cheese

2 tablespoons minced fresh or dried chives

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Either line your baking sheets with the parchment paper or LIGHTLY grease them.

Put the water, butter and salt in a medium-sized skillet and place on MEDIUM heat. Cook, stirring while the butter melts; once melted, increase the heat to HIGH until the mixture is rapidly boiling. Turn OFF the heat and dump in the flour. Beat this mixture with a wooden spoon until it starts to pull away from the sides of the pan.

Take the pan off of the stove and set it on a heat-safe counter or hot pad and let it cool for 5 minutes.

Now, add 1 egg at a time, beat the mixture WELL between the addition of each egg. (You'll have to put muscle into this as you go along to incorporate the eggs fully.) With each addition, the dough should look glossy and slick at first, and stick to the sides of the pan, if you are doing this correctly. After beating in the last egg, stir in the mustard and cayenne. Now it is time to add the cheese and chives. Stir well.

Scoop up a heaping teaspoon of the dough. Use another spoon to push it off of the original spoon onto the prepared cooking sheet. Leave an inch of space between each gougeres. If necessary, the dough can stand for up to 30 minutes as long as it is covered by a piece of buttered waxed or parchment paper.

Bake until the gougeres are puffy and light golden in color. This will take approximately 25 minutes. Halfway through the baking, turn the baking sheet halfway.

Remove from oven, let cool slightly before serving OR turn OFF the oven and leave the door open for up to one hour.

VLE-B