Gruyère Gougères

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, cut in pieces
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 4 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups finely grated Gruyère, divided
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• pinch of nutmeg
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard (optional)

Steps

1. Heat the oven to 400°F and line two baking sheets with mats or parchment.
2. Bring the water, milk, butter and salt to a boil in a saucepan. Add the flour all at once and stir hard with a wooden spoon until the dough forms a ball and leaves a film on the pan, about 2 minutes.
3. Move the dough to a bowl and cool 3 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing until each is absorbed; the dough should be glossy and fall from the spoon in a thick ribbon.
4. Stir in 1 1/4 cups cheese, the pepper, nutmeg and mustard.
5. Pipe or spoon 1-inch mounds 2 inches apart. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese.
6. Bake 22 to 25 minutes, until puffed and deep golden. Don't open the oven in the first 15 minutes. Serve warm.

TipFreeze unbaked mounds on the sheet, then bag them; bake straight from frozen, adding 5 minutes.