OMG, gougeres!

These gorgeous.. I mean gougeres are OMG good!!! ^^

Gougeres (recipe from my favorite guy, david lebovitz ^^)
makes about 30-55 bite sized  puffs

1/2 cup/ 125ml water

3 tbsps/ 40g butter

1/4 tsp salt

big pinch of chili powder ^^, or ground black pepper

1/2 cup/ 70g flour

2 eggs

3/4 cup/ 90g grated cheese (I used 100g cheddar and more ^^ for topping ^^) 

2 tbsps grated parmesan cheese (I added this too.. keep a bit more for topping ^^)

12 chives, finely minced (or thyme) (I used a tsp of dried parsley and a tsp of oregano) 

1. Preheat oven to 425F/220C and line baking tin. Make sure all ingredients are measured and ready beforehand ^^

2. Heat water, butter, salt and chili powder in a saucepan till butter is melted.

3. Dump flour into saucepan and stir vigorously till mixture pulls away from the sides into a smooth ball. Remove from heat and rest for 2 minutes.

4. Add eggs, one at a time, stirring quickly so that eggs doesn't get "cook"-ed. Batter may appear lumpy at first, but will become smooth after a bit.

5. Add 3/4 grated cheese (I added everything, 100g of cheddar ^^ and 2 tbsps parmesan) and chives (or thyme or parsley/oregano ^^), and stir into batter till well-combined.

6. Place batter into pastry bag using a wide plain tip, and pipe dough into mounds the size of cherry tomato (The cherry tomato in my head is much smaller than david's.. as I managed to make 55 puffs instead of 30 ^^). Otherwise use a small ice cream scoop or 2 spoons to shape. Top with some grated cheese and parmesan ^^

7. Bake at 425F/220C for 10 minutes, then reduce to 375F/190C for another 20 minutes, or till golden brown. For extra-crispy puffs, david recommends poking the side of each puff with a sharp knife to release steam, 5 mins before they are done.. and return them to the oven to finish baking. ^^

8. Serve immediately from the oven! Yums!

When I brought it up to share with piggies, baby pig asked what these were.. I answered him, "OMG good!" ^^ Seriously, these french cheese puffs are AWESOME FABULOUS!!! ^^ Just trust me on this! ^^

I can't thank you enough, david! ^^ WE SOOOO LOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE IT! ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^

p.s. this is a super-duper easy and delicious recipe I-don't-know-why-I-didn't-make-sooner???!! and why-didn't-I-double-the-recipe-today???!! aaargh..

p.p.s. this is perhaps my last bake for a while.. till I get rid of thunder thighs from too much merrymaking the last few weeks! ^^|| i seriously need to go on diet!!! wish me luck.. ^^ did i hear a snicker? no, wait.. that was me ^^