Comté cheese puffs

Award-winning pastry chef Jean Marc Diop shares this easy-peasy recipe for melt-in-your-mouth gougères. They’re the perfect canapé if you’re entertaining guests, but we love cracking open a bottle of wine and nibbling on them in front of a movie (and that way, you don’t have to share!). Miam!

Ingredients

• 250g cold water  
• 250g whole milk 
• 11g fine salt  
• 180g unsalted butter 
• 300g strong flour (T55)  
• 10 eggs 
• 220g grated Comté cheese 

Directions

1Heat your oven to 175C (350F).

2To make the panade (batter), place the water, milk, salt, and butter in a medium saucepan. Heat to a boil.

3Break the eggs in a separate bowl.

4When the mixture starts to boil, while still on the stove, add the flour at once and mix vigorously with a spatula. The result should be a firm dough.

5Remove the saucepan from the stove and start adding the eggs in three batches, until you have a soft and smooth mixture.

6 Add the grated cheese and mix well (at this stage, the mixture should be luke warm).

7Spoon mini-heaps or form small balls with a pastry bag.

8Add a bit of grated cheese on top before placing them in the oven. Bake for at least 20 minutes.