When it comes to baking... i suck.. exact measurement's, sifting, blah blah blah take away from the fun..i like cooking like a mad scientist...everything is an experiment....throw in a little of this, a little of that... mix mix mix, taste.....until it's golden. With baking, if you screw up.. you dont know until the first bite... then it ruins the whole day. ..at least it ruins mine. my arch nemesis is bread baking. As much as i love the idea of baking bread, i am much too impatient to deal with the whole yeast rising thing, too lazy for the dough pounding, and hate the clean up of all the damn sprinkling of flour. Oh... and i guess i have to mention the kids wanting to ruin... i mean help mommy in the kitchen. well that's a whole mess all together. OK, i'm getting off track.... moving on..
Gougeres are a french pastry...they are made from choux paste...same shit that eclairs
and cream puffs are made out of.... but in this case, these are a savory puff with gruyere cheese grated into the batter. These were so freakin simple to make...and they make you feel like you spent years studying at some foo foo cooking school. Here's how the song goes....
Preheat the oven to 400...in a medium sauce pan combine 1/2 c water and 1/2 c milk and 1 stick of butter (cubed up), and a pinch of salt
bring to a boil, and mix in 1 c of flour....mix mix mix, and the dough will start to pull itself in a ball. 
transfer your dough ball into a bowl...let it cool for a min, then mix in 4 large eggs, one at a time into it. The key to success is to make sure each egg is incorporated into the dough ball of goodness before adding the next one. then finally mix in 1 c of gruyere, a couple of cracks of pepper and voila... dough be done.
(excellet egg in action picture taking by Amelia)
transfer that to a pastry bag... or in my case.. a zip lock freezer bag, snip the end, pipe it out into little doo doo piles... i made mine pretty small...like 1 1/2 inch rounds. Sprinkle with more cheese, bake for 20 mins, until golden and perfect.
meanwhile...i had myself some sushi...pretty sweet layout eh?
these mutha suckas were awesome.
. Amelia enjoys one and exclaims, "ma mère peut danser le robot!"
they can be piped with other good stuff since they come equipped with little hallow entrails....maybe finely chopped mushrooms, or what the hell... more cheese??
my bread baking dream is permanently on hold. these will hold me over for some time. Personally, i like to eat these piping hot...they have a perfect crust on the outside, and the trapped steam trapped in the belly of the pastry is so airy and cheesy good! but they are still pretty amazing at room temp.
oh! they also freeze really really well...when you're ready to reheat...just pop them in the oven @ 350 for a couple of mins...and by golly you've got yourself instant party food... in case company stops by...but who the hell does that asshole move??
