Sunday 15 May 2011

Sunday-morning gougeres

Great big hot cheesy gougeres for breakfast.*

Dead easy, even easier than the chouquettes to whom they are closely related with merely the addition of cheese, because mounds of dough are spooned onto trays instead of piped.

These were from Dorie Greenspan's Around My Kitchen Table, but there are versions all over the internet. Dorie gave the two options of baking immediately or putting the laden trays in the freezer for later reference. Neither suited me, as I wanted to bake mine the next morning and possess very little freezer room, so I spooned the dough-mounds onto three sheets of baking paper which I laid on my triple-tier cooling rack and refrigerated overnight. It didn't seem to hurt them.

In other variations, I didn't have the required amount of sharp cheddar, or any of the suggested alternatives such as gruyere, so I topped it up with pecorino, which gave it a good old-sock tang. I also added thyme leaves to the mix, because I like thyme with almost anything.

I love quick-and-easy leftover-cheese-userupperers like these. And their hollow bits could be filled with all manner of extra calorificness, such as avocado, or dill and salmon cream, or more cheese in a white sauce. The possibilities are endless.

*Lest people such as Alida Irwin get the idea that I eat like this every Sunday morning, I admit that this was last Sunday morning, not this one. And that this was the last thing I cooked before deadlines crowded my horizon every which way. It's been a week of toast and two-minute noodles, and isn't over yet, but normal services will resume shortly.

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