CHEESE PUFFS (Gougères)

(Thank you, to all of the good sports that "endured" my April Fools Joke Yesterday!) This recipe is wonderfully easy and people will think you are a whiz in the kitchen. It is just a basic pâte à choux (cream puff) dough that you add minimal spice to as well as 2 cups of grated cheese. The French word for these delicate puffs is gougères, which?according to the Internet, is pronounced: goozsh-air ?but that?s too complicated for me?I prefer to call them cheese puffs. These versatile bite sized treats are full of big air pockets inside...and a cheesy-crispy crust outside. You can eat them just as they come from the oven or fill them with anything savory since they are (almost) hollow (see photo below).

1 cup milk
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
¼ teaspoon salt
pinch of cayenne pepper
1 cup all purpose flour
3 large eggs at room temperature
½ teaspoon paprika (not the hot kind)
½ cup grated parmesan cheese
1½ cups grated gruyere cheese
coarse salt to sprinkle on top
Combine the milk, butter, ¼ teaspoon salt and cayenne in a saucepan and bring it to a boil. Once it starts to boil, remove it from the heat and add the flour all at once (mixing like crazy with a sturdy spatula) until the mixture comes together like this:
Return the pan to the heat and cook over medium heat for about a minute to dry out any excess moisture (stirring occasionally). Remove from heat and put into a food processor and let it cool for five minutes. After the five minutes, process the dough for about 5 seconds. Add the paprika and eggs (one egg at a time) mixing well after each egg. Remove from food processor and let dough cool for about 10 minutes. Mix in grated cheese and stir just enough to mix well.

Using a measuring tablespoon, scoop out a LEVEL tablespoon of the dough and push it off of the spoon (with your finger) onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet (try and keep the puffs as round as possible (but it isn?t critical). Place them about 2? apart. Top each puff with a pinch of parmesan and just a mini-pinch of coarse salt. Bake at 375° for 30 minutes (watch them the last 2 or 3 minutes so they don?t get too dark). Serve warm or at room temperature. Just as soon as they come out of the oven, pierce the side of the puff with the tip of a small knife (to let any steam escape), this will keep them crispy longer. They look like this inside....light as air!

CLICK ON THIS PHOTO TO GET A BETTER LOOK AT THE INSIDE OF THE PUFF NOTE: Make sure you have everything ready to go before you start making these puffs (cheese grated, flour measured, etc.) so that the liquid volume doesn?t boil away while you are grating your cheese, etc.
NOTE: Let the batter cool a little before you add the eggs so they don?t cook when they hit the hot dough.
NOTE: Lets talk about cheese. You can use any cheese you want but your results will vary
significantly?depending on what you use. The dough will puff-up best when you use a hard, dry cheese. If you use a wet cheese (cheddar etc.) your puffs MIGHT try to deflate when you take them out of the oven. If they do deflate, it is totally ok?lots of people think they look more like artisan puffs if they deflate a little...very trendy.
NOTE: If you are going to use the traditional gruyere cheese?note that there are several different kinds of gruyere. You want the dry hard one, not the semi-soft one.
NOTE: The recipe calls for a pinch of coarse salt on the top of each puff, but we don?t care for that?the parmesan and gruyere are pretty salty already.
This sounds like a lot of hassle, but once you make these, you will see that they are a snap and I have only one warning?they are addictive!!