- 4 large eggs (room temperature)
- 1 1/4 cup of water
- 3/4 cup of all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup of butter
- 1 tablespoon of sugar
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- 1 teaspoon of black pepper
- 1 teaspoon of paprika
- 1/4 cup of hard grated cheese
- In a medium pan, add water, butter, sugar, salt, and cook on low heat until butter is melted. Once butter is melted, turn up to high heat until rolling boil is reached.
- As soon as water starts to rise, turn off heat, and add flour all at once and start to mix with a stiff spatula. The finished texture will eventually look like "mashed potatoes".
- Once "mashed potato" texture is reached, turn heat back on medium and continue mixing on medium heat for 1 minute.
- Crack all of the eggs in a bowl and mix with a fork.
- Slowly add eggs to "mashed potato" mixture in 3 steps to avoid mixing for too long. Add 1/3 of the eggs at a time and mix until eggs disappear into the dough. Repeat the same steps until all of the eggs are incorporated. Your dough (Pâte à choux) is ready when it is smooth and shiny.
- Pipe small gougères on a nonstick baking tray or silicone mat. (if you have small peeks on the cream puffs, smooth them out by applying water on your fingers and patting them down a bit).
- Top gougères with black pepper, paprika, and grated cheese.
- Bake for 30-40 minutes in a preheated oven at 360F (depending on the size) and be sure to not oven the oven to prevent gougères from collapsing.
- Remove from and allow 5min to cool down before eating.