Friday, October 1, 2010

French Fridays with Dorie - Gougeres


The collective buzz you've heard is the sound of hundreds of bloggers blissing out over Around My French Table, the new cookbook by Dorie Greenspan. It was released early and those of us who pre-ordered it raced home to find a lovely surprise from Amazon on our doorsteps. I was so blown away by the book that I could only cover 20 pages at a sitting. Each page I thought "This is it...this is the first thing I'm going to make from the book." Then I'd turn the page and think "No, this is the one." And so on. With its eye popping photos, mouth watering recipes, and evocative prose, this is the most impressive cookbook I've seen since Ad Hoc at Home.

French Fridays with Dorie is the brainchild of Laurie of slush. Laurie formed Tuesdays with Dorie when she committed to cooking her way through Baking From My Home to Yours. The group is so popular that Laurie had to close the group to new members, and several hundred people have been patiently waiting for a group to tackle the new book.

The dilemma of what to make first was solved for me when Dorie herself picked the recipes for the first month of French Fridays with Dorie. And the first recipe for the group is gougeres, the classic French cheesy puff. A group of my Twitter buddies set a date for a Twitter bake-along, and we grated cheese, tweeted and had a great time.

Gougeres are made from choux, and they are easy and delicious. It's very helpful to have all of the ingredients measured and ready. I used my small cookie scoop to measure out the gougeres, and the recipe yielded 46 petit gougeres. I baked some to enjoy for lunch, and the rest went to the freezer (freeze on sheet pans until solid, then transfer to a zip top bag). To prepare frozen gougeres, place them on a baking pan lined with parchment paper or a Silpat, and bake them without defrosting.

These were sooo delicious, they were almost irresistible. They'd make the perfect hors d'oeuvres for a party or an ideal snack if you have company drop by. You can vary the cheese (I used Gruyere) and even add spices to change up the flavor.

Thanks, Dorie, for getting the group off to such a great start with this delicious and easy recipe. If you'd like to see how other FFwD cooks fared, you can find them here. And check out the book here. It's getting rave reviews, and not just from those of us who have followed Dorie for quite some time.

22 comments:

Cristine said...

Your gougere looks perfect!

Shandy said...

Golden and perfect! Love your gourgere. I was so excited about posting our first recipe this morning. I love that we get to share in Dorie's excitement over her new cookbook! =)

Mary Ann said...

I love this cookbook too- It is so beautiful. I thought these were wonderful. Yours turned out great!

Trevor Sis Boom said...

that is the most perfect puff I've seen today!!! You win!

Welcome to our crazy blessed life said...

How fun to do the bake along on Twitter. I will have to keep my eyes open for future bake alongs. :) Glad you liked these!

Joyti said...

I've been eyeing the cook on Amazon. Thanks for the recommendation. The gougeres sound delicious.

TeaLady said...

A perfect puff of cheese in a great post. Very well written intro to FFwD. Thanks for a delightful read.

Katrina said...

Yep, looks perfect in your photo.
Two attempts and mine weren't really puffy. Sigh. Not sure why, but they still taste good.

Anonymous said...

Lovely! I used a cookie scoop too, and thought that worked really well. These were just fabulous. I haven't dug into the book as much as I should, but that's what the group is for!

Nancy/n.o.e said...

Your gougere picture really makes me wish I had one sitting in front of me right now! These were delicious. I baked them and photographed them, but I might not get the post written today. But I am very excited about the new book and the possibility of more cook-alongs.

Jayne said...

What a perfect little gougere! I had the same feelings when I was first looking through AMFT. I'm so excited to be cooking through this book!

Unknown said...

I enjoyed reading your post very much. I'm excited to be part of this cooking group. I think I'll learn a great deal. Your gougeres look amazing!

Kayte said...

Perfection!

Shirley said...

Very nice gougere! I've been thinking of buying the book.

Judy said...

That's one gorgeous gougere. I assume all the others were just as fabulous.

Di said...

Your gougere looks perfect! I wish I could have joined in the twitter bake, but I know there will be lots more opportunities. I'm so glad that so many of us are doing the new group.

Unknown said...

Beautiful work on the gougeres! I think tiny puffs are the way to go - I made mine larger than specified and while they baked up nicely, they could have been a touch more...elegant, I guess...

Serene @ MomFood said...

Lovely! Good job. I really look forward to cooking and baking with the whole #FFwD gang.

Pamela said...

They do look perfect! I'm absolutely glad I have some extra in the freezer, that's for sure.

Anonymous said...

I agree - simple is better. What's better than 1 gorgeous gougeres? :) Wonderful job - glad you enjoyed them and are FFwD - looking forward to exciting recipes ahead!
mike
FFwD blog
web.me.com/mikejdunlap

spike. said...

it was a great start! I'm totally blissed out!!

AmyRuth said...

Ingenious! The scoop that is. I have two sizes that I like to use and neither was the perfect 1 T size. So I used a T measure and careful scooped w/my finger for the little ball shaped puff. Didn't you just feel so Parisian when you were making these, well and eating them as well? LOL Beautiful!
AmyRuth

PS I was a little surprised Dorie didn't call for a pastry bag.