Sunday, March 4, 2012

Bacon Cheese Puffs (Gougeres)

This is a combination of a recipe from the Seattle Times and one from French Women Don't Get Fat.*
yields about 40 puffs

4 strips of minced, raw bacon

4 Tblsp salted butter
1 c water

1 c flour

4 eggs
4 oz grated cheese

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Cook the bacon until crispy, set aside on a paper towel. Collect 2 Tblsp of bacon grease and put into a saucepan. Add the butter and water, bring to a rolling boil, then reduce heat to medium.

Remove from heat, add flour, stir til becomes a ball. Return to heat and stir for 10 seconds.

Transfer to a mixing bowl, cool 10 minutes.

Add eggs, cheese, and bacon. This will be a super gooey mess. Keep stirring and it will become a more homogenous bacon-flecked mess. Still pretty gooey.

Deposit in spoonfuls onto a greased baking sheet. I used one of the ice cream style scoops, but I think two spoons would have been easier since it's so very gooey.

Bake 20 - 25 minutes.

I'm not sold on pre-mincing the bacon. I still chopped it a bunch after - it's hard to cut it up small when it's raw!

* I remember enjoying reading the book, but my main takeaways were her Gougeres recipe and a belief that champagne DOES go with everything. Including pizza.