Cheddar Gougères for Day 3 of our Recipe Advent Calendar! 🧀 Gougères are essentially French cheese puffs and they are DELICIOUS. We love them as a holiday appetizer, especially paired with champagne 🥂 Gougères are made with choux pastry dough, so they puff up into crisp, hollow, light and airy puffs. They can be enjoyed plain or filled! They’re typically made with gruyère, but we also love them with extra sharp cheddar. Recipe below AND link in bio for the printable recipe with lots more info on our website! Cheddar Gougères Makes 16-20 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes 1/4 cup water 1/4 cup whole milk 1/4 tsp black pepper 1/2 tsp salt 2 large eggs, room temperature 1/2 cup all purpose flour 3 oz extra sharp cheddar cheese, divided Preheat to 500˚F and line a sheet pan with parchment paper. In a stainless steel saucepan over low heat, combine butter, water, milk, salt and pepper. Once butter is melted, bring to a boil. Add the flour, stirring vigorously and remove from heat right away. Continue mixing until thoroughly combined. Return to medium heat and cook for a few minutes, stirring often, until a thin film covers the bottom of the pan and the dough pulls away from the sides. Transfer the dough to a separate mixing bowl and stir, spreading the dough up the sides of the bowl (to help steam evaporate). Keep stirring and spreading for a few minutes to cool the dough – it needs to be below 140˚F to prevent the eggs from cooking. In a separate small bowl, beat the eggs with a whisk. Pour ~3/4 of the egg mixture into the dough and beat with an electric mixer on low speed at first, then increase to medium speed. The mixture will separate at first but will come back together into a sticky dough. Keep adding additional egg until the dough is glossy but still firm enough to hold its shape if you run a finger through it. You may end up with leftover egg, or you may need a little more egg. To test if the dough is ready, get some dough on a spatula and lift it straight up. The dough should form a “v”. Stir in 2.5 oz of the cheddar cheese. Transfer the dough to a piping bag with a 1/2-inch round tip. Pipe about 1 1/2 tablespoons of dough onto silpat or parchment paper, keeping the tip in the same place and keeping the bag vertical. Wet the tip of your fingers and gently flatten the tops of each puff (otherwise they will burn). Sprinkle remaining cheddar cheese on top. Place in the 500˚F oven, then immediately turn the oven off. Set a timer for 15 minutes and do NOT open the door of the oven. After 15 minutes, turn oven back on to 350˚F and bake for another 10 minutes. Optional: after 5 minutes, stab each one with a fork - this will make them crispier on the inside. #gougeres #cheese #cheesetok #christmasrecipe #appetizer - @crowdedkitchen