Basic Cheese Puffs Recipes

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat.
• Stir water, butter, and salt together in a pot; bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to medium and whisk flour into butter mixture until a paste-like dough forms, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer dough to a bowl to cool until warm, 5 to 10 minutes.
• Whisk 1 egg, thyme, and black pepper into cooled dough until egg is completely incorporated. Add remaining egg and whisk until completely incorporated into dough. Stir 3/4 the cheese into dough until combined. Scoop 1-inch balls of dough onto prepared baking sheet. Top each with remaining cheese.
• Bake in the preheated oven until golden and puffed, 15 to 20 minutes.

Steps:

• In a large saucepan, bring the water, butter, salt and cayenne to a boil. Add flour all at once and stir until a smooth ball forms. Remove from the heat; let stand for 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Continue beating until mixture is smooth and shiny. Stir in Gruyere and mustard. , Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls 2 in. apart onto greased baking sheets. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Bake at 425° for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm or cold.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment. Set aside.
• In a saucepan, combine 1/2 cup water with the milk, butter, sugar and salt and stir over low heat until the sugar, butter and salt have melted. Raise the heat to medium and bring to a healthy simmer.
• Take from the heat and immediately add the flour. Stir with a wooden spoon until the mixture thickens, is smooth and no flour lumps remain. Return to the heat and cook, stirring, until a film forms on the bottom of the pan. Continue stirring, careful not to scrape up the film, for a minute or two more.
• Transfer the mixture (panade) to a food processor. Mix for a minute to dissipate the heat. Add the eggs one at a time with the processor running. Pay attention to the consistency of the paste. It should be smooth and shiny, so you may only need 3 of the eggs. Stir in the cheese.
• Using a small cookie scoop, scoop generous mounds onto the parchment-lined baking sheets, spacing them an inch apart. Place in the oven, immediately reduce the heat to 375 degrees F and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the cheese puffs are golden brown.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or nonstick baking mats. In a medium-size heavy saucepan, combine 1 cup water, the butter and salt, and bring to a boil. Turn off heat and add flour. Mix with a wooden spoon until dough starts to pull away from sides of pan and form a lump. Set aside, without stirring, 5 minutes.
• Add eggs 1 at a time, mixing well after each addition. With each addition, dough will look glossy and slick at first; let it come together before adding next egg. Mix in mustard, cayenne and cheese. Dough will be quite loose and sticky.
• Scoop up a heaping teaspoon of dough and use another spoon to scrape it onto lined pan; it should form a mound about an inch in diameter. Alternatively, use a pastry bag or thick plastic bag with one corner cut off, to pipe small mounds onto pan. Repeat with remaining dough, leaving 1/2 inch between puffs.
• Bake until puffy and golden, about 25 minutes, rotating pans halfway through. Remove from oven and serve immediately, or turn oven off and open door slightly to keep puffs warm up to 1 hour.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Place the butter, salt and water in a pan. Bring to a boil.
• Sift the flour onto a sheet of waxed paper, then, off the heat, add it all to the butter and water mixture and stir it in very quickly to form a thick paste that leaves the sides of the pan clean.
• Return the pan to the heat and beat the mixture with a wooden spoon for 1 minute to dry it. Remove the pan from heat and cool for 5 minutes.
• Beat in the eggs and yolk, one at a time, then add the mustard, cayenne pepper and grated cheese. (I didn't have dry mustard so I used 1 teaspoon grainy, brown mustard. I also used a dash more cayenne for an extra bite.).
• Place teaspoonfuls of the mixture onto a nonstick baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes. Lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees and cook for 15 minutes, until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack and serve cold.

Steps:

• Soften cheese and work all ingredients together with hands, and roll into balls the size of marbles.
• Bake at 350 for 15 minutes.
• Makes 6 dozen.
• Note: These can be frozen for months.
• To freeze: place on cookie sheet, freeze then store in plastic bag.
• Bake when needed.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
• Combine the flour with the salt, black pepper, thyme, chili powder, and cayenne pepper in a large bowl.
• Put the milk and butter in a large saucepan and bring to a boil. When the butter melts, turn heat to low. Add the seasoned flour all at once. Stir vigorously with a wooden spoon until the dough forms a ball. Remove from heat.
• Separate the white and yolk from one egg, reserving the yolk for glazing.
• Put the dough into a large mixer bowl. Beat at medium speed for one minute. Then beat in one egg and the extra egg white. Beat until completely absorbed into the dough. Then add the remaining 4 eggs, one at a time, waiting each time until the previous egg is completely absorbed. After all 5 eggs (plus the one egg white) have been incorporated, the dough should be smooth and satiny.
• Add the Parmesan and Gruyere cheeses, and pepperoni if you are using it. Incorporate thoroughly into the dough.
• Use a pastry bag to pipe dough onto 2 ungreased baking sheets. You can also drop dough from a teaspoon. For tiny puffs, mounds should be about 1/2 inch in diameter. From small appetizers, mounds should be 1 inch in diameter. For puffs large enough for filling, mounds should be 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Keep the size of the puffs uniform so they bake properly. Space puffs about 1 inch apart.
• Beat the remaining egg yolk with 2 tablespoons of milk to make a glaze. Lightly brush the tops of the puffs with glaze before baking. Sprinkle tops with your Parmesan cheese.
• Bake in pre-heated oven for 10 minutes (5 minutes for tiny puffs). Reduce heat to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Bake 10 minutes more for tiny puffs; 15 to 20 minutes longer for medium or large puffs, or until puffs are golden brown. Test by removing a puff from the oven and breaking it open. The inside should be baked through. If it is still doughy or wet, bake another 5 minutes.
• Remove pans from oven and leave puffs on pans until cool enough to serve.

Steps:

• In a bowl, combine all ingredients; mix well. Roll into 1-in. balls. Place at least 1 in. apart on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake at 400° for 12-15 minutes or until lightly browned. Serve warm.